Homesteaders...do you feed your flock "the old way or combine old and new"?

[Folly's place]

Sure, you can spend more time fermenting the base diet, and grow actual foodstuffs for them, but that base diet still needs to be available free choice. It's still the least expensive item on the list per nutritional value.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

You can transform your yard into a 'Pheasants Forever' food plot, and encourage diverse plantings of fruiting shrubs, weeds, and grains, and mulch areas, or piles of developing compost. Plots of different food crops, to develop at different times of the year, will all make your flock happy and busy, at least.
My birds roam over about five acres of my property, in a spruce border, mixed pasture with horses, and under fruit trees. They don't go further from their coop, by choice, and eat lots of goodies except when there's snow on the ground. They still have free choice oyster shell, and a 20% protein all- flock feed free choice, and it gets eaten!
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Thanks for the reply. But there must be some secrets out there. I've learned about fermenting their feed, sprouting, growing fodder. There must be more hidden gems out there!

How about food scraps? They're a nice supplement to the chickens diet and are not only free, but feeding them to your flock keeps them out of a landfill. You can feed them your own home-generated scraps, any collected from neighbors, or potentially from local restaurants, grocery stores, etc.

 

[Kfults]

I am trying to practice how my grandfather did. I give them balanced feed and grit that is available all the time. I save all fruit, veggie and grain scraps and they get a portion daily. If I have more scraps than I need in a day ( I will freeze for a day I don’t have scraps) They have some free range time in a covered fenced yard where they can eat grass and weeds, bugs ect. They are healthy and happy.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

How about food scraps? They're a nice supplement to the chickens diet and are not only free, but feeding them to your flock keeps them out of a landfill. You can feed them your own home-generated scraps, any collected from neighbors, or potentially from local restaurants, grocery stores, etc.

I keep hearing the scraps should only be 10%. I don't quite know what that looks like. Veggie/fruit scraps would have a lot of water in them compared to dry feed. And if they had high protein scraps and good veggies scraps giving vitamins wouldn't that be good enough to replace some of their feed?

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

I am trying to practice how my grandfather did. I give them balanced feed and grit that is available all the time. I save all fruit, veggie and grain scraps and they get a portion daily. If I have more scraps than I need in a day ( I will freeze for a day I don’t have scraps) They have some free range time in a covered fenced yard where they can eat grass and weeds, bugs etc. They are healthy and happy.

It sounds like they should be happy! Mine are only 10 weeks old and I only let them out in my yard when they can be supervised, but they love it. Sometimes they just run/fly out in a rush only to go sit in the dirt next to their run. Doing what they were doing a few minutes before, just a few feet from where they were, but so happy about it!

 

[Folly's place]

It depends, because it's all about the balance of nutrients, including the vitamins and minerals. When feeding high producing livestock, like laying hens, dairy cows, meat birds, etc, there's much less room for 'sorta all right' in their diets. The individual must be able to eat enough of the right nutrients to support what their genetics demand of them.
Mary

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

What did "Laura Ingalls" do? I know very little about chickens, but I can't imagine they spent much time or money on feeding the chickens. Did the chickens free range over a huge area and then find there way home before dark? How did they collect the eggs? I will have to research this. Now that I have my little flock, it's all so interesting to me. Is a chicken nerd a thing?

 

[Kfults]

My grandpa’s chickens were everywhere! No secure coup or run. They roosted everywhere. He did throw feed out once a day and also threw his buckets of scraps out once a day. They had a water trough. They roamed a few acres around his house and into the field garden. They were not pets, did not have names and he didn’t give them ice blocks in summer, no fans, no heat. Strongest survived and he lost some to predators. I choose to provide a secure coup and run, I interact with them more and they have names LOL. I do way more than he ever did and he would think I was crazy. Depends on your goals

 

[TAM Farm]

I give my chickens free choice all flock 20% type feed. I have a compost heap for them to peck and scratch around in. They always have oyster shell available. They get to free range. I grow items in the garden with them in mind. It does help with the feed bill to have scraps and such to supplement the feed.

You can grow worms for your birds. Plant some grains to feed your hens next year. Ask friends and neighbors for scraps.

I think that chickens have changed and that we have changed. Back in the day eggs were smaller and seasonal. The chickens weren't loved on because they would be dinner someday.

Hopefully this makes sense I'm tired. If it is a spelling problem that doesn't matter well rested or tired I can't spell.