Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[Serama Newbee]

I have read in Backyard Poultry that some guy feeds whole oats to his chickens once daily in the morning, then sends them out to forage. He says oats give them great protien, and don't make them fat. I'm looking into this, though I am not sure how I would grow my own oats, or have enough in general..

 

[galanie]

About the minnows, I've had a medium sized pond that recieved no attention at all for some years and the minnows were still flourishing. It never gets cold enough to completely freeze it and the pond does have a spot that's pretty deep, around 4 feet so I suppose they go down there when it gets too cold or too hot.

Now, of course, I have none. I had to drain it as it leaked terribly and put in a sheet of pond liner. The stuff looked like inner tubing only in a sheet. After refilling it and waiting a couple weeks, I put what minnows I'd been able to catch back in there and all died. Now it's been over a year and I'll be going to a bait shop soon to restock it. It has water lilies that grow like weeds but no duckweed.

My biggest problem with restocking it so far has been the dragonflies. The larvae get to be like huge ground crickets and easily kill and eat the smaller fish.

I'd not use goldfish simply because they are vegetarians. But I do have toads laying eggs in there and the tadpoles make pretty good use of the mosquito larvae when they're there.

 

[furbabymum]

I feed my horses beet pulp. A 50 lb bag of beet shreds goes a long way among 3 horses. A bag lasts me several months. Its high in fiber and supposed to help prevent colic. ( for ruminates )

Has anyone fed this to chickens? Is it healthy for them?

Devon

I did. They really didn't eat it. Most of it went to waste.

 

[fowlsessed]

About the minnows, I've had a medium sized pond that recieved no attention at all for some years and the minnows were still flourishing. It never gets cold enough to completely freeze it and the pond does have a spot that's pretty deep, around 4 feet so I suppose they go down there when it gets too cold or too hot.
Now, of course, I have none. I had to drain it as it leaked terribly and put in a sheet of pond liner. The stuff looked like inner tubing only in a sheet. After refilling it and waiting a couple weeks, I put what minnows I'd been able to catch back in there and all died. Now it's been over a year and I'll be going to a bait shop soon to restock it. It has water lilies that grow like weeds but no duckweed.
My biggest problem with restocking it so far has been the dragonflies. The larvae get to be like huge ground crickets and easily kill and eat the smaller fish.
I'd not use goldfish simply because they are vegetarians. But I do have toads laying eggs in there and the tadpoles make pretty good use of the mosquito larvae when they're there.

Interesting, how big across was the pond? and what kind of minnows did you have? Was it all dirt when they were originally flourishing? That might have something to do with tall the natural micro things and stuff florishing which in turn makes for better living conditions for the fish. And how do the plants do when grown with no dirt when using plastic? Sorry for all the ?'s.
Thanks,

 

[furbabymum]

Interesting, how big across was the pond? and what kind of minnows did you have? Was it all dirt when they were originally flourishing? That might have something to do with tall the natural micro things and stuff florishing which in turn makes for better living conditions for the fish. And how do the plants do when grown with no dirt when using plastic? Sorry for all the ?'s.
Thanks,

Plants do awesome. Particularly if you have ducks to fertilize them. If you don't have ducks then just throw in some chicken poo every so often. I have a lot of different varities of pond plants all doing spectacularly without dirt. Some of them I just tied to rocks so they'd sink down appropriately. Some are floating plants. Others (like cattails) have some pond clay around them and are "planted" in a combination of gravel and sand.

 

[fowlsessed]

wow, suprised to hear about the catails.

 

[fowlsessed]

So I think I’m going to try it, I’m going to build a coop and start to breed LF layers, hopefully with all self-produced/gathered feed. Check if I’ve got everything.
HAVE A LARGE RUN: check,
GROW PERENIALS: check,
HAVE A COMPOST PILE IN RUN: check,
GROW SEASONAL FEED CROPS: check,
FEED OUR SCRAPS: check,
GATHER OTHERS SCRAPS, FREE BREAD PRODUCE ECT: check,
FEED FISH CAUGHT AND EXTRA EGGS: check,
Is there anything else that I may be missing? Or does that pretty well cover everything? I know there’s “growing” fish, though that probably wouldn’t work for me know. But might try it, and when the weather gets cold and the “pond” will freeze, I’ll harvest all the fish and freeze them for use through the winter. Also, there’s “growing” worms. Though that’s mainly what I want the compost pile in the run for. I might try something along those lines for producing live bugs through the winter though. Any other Ideas, suggestions……..Thanks,

 

[fowlsessed]

Oh, are there any plants that I could plant the run with that might survive with the chickens? something that they could utilize for food too. I might have two runs to be able to rotate, maybe.

 

[Lacy Blues]

If your could plant mulberry trees in their runs... starting with young trees you'd have to fence them off til they got big enough. Then the mulberries could be for your birds. Shake a few branches and the fruit falls to t he ground for them. I've read where one person planted tomatoes to climb on the wire of the run and the chickens get all those tomatoes. Comfrey is good for them but it couldn't be in the run as they would decimate it.
\
Sounds like you have a working plan. Hope it goes well for you.

 

[galanie]

Interesting, how big across was the pond? and what kind of minnows did you have? Was it all dirt when they were originally flourishing? That might have something to do with tall the natural micro things and stuff florishing which in turn makes for better living conditions for the fish. And how do the plants do when grown with no dirt when using plastic? Sorry for all the ?'s.
Thanks,

It was concrete when flourishing and no real dirt, just decomposed leaves and plant matter that never was cleaned out. Things did wonderfully with no care at all. About 5 feet across. Most was only a foot deep but the center is an old septic tank so it goes down 4feet or so.

Now, it's back to that state but just no minnows. The original ones were just live minnows you get for fishing. I don't know the exact breed.

The liner isn't plastic, it's more like synthetic rubber? I envision plastic, I'm seeing a thin, shiny sheet. This stuff is thick as leather and a dull black just like old inner tubes.

Anyhow, the water lilies do fantastic. In fact I treat them like weeds. Twice a year I just pull out half of them with a digging fork and toss the whole water lily/rotting leaves mess onto a garden somewhere. Transplant them? Just pull them out of there w/out a care in the world and throw them in another place. They do fine and thrive no matter how badly I treat them.