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

[dotporter]

My grandpa had the most amazing coop that I've ever seen. It was HUGE. In the center was a wood stove for winter with the chimney pipe going up to a vent in the roof. He fed them corn in winter. He had a silo for it.

Some day I hope to build that coop myself.

But, I'm never going to have enough corn to fill a silo. SO I grow squash!!!! My birds prefer the high sugar squash. They love acorn squash and butternuts. But, hubbards and pumpkin do in a pinch.

I can grow squash all day long climbing up fences. Hubbards aren't going to climb and hold those big fruits. But, there are plenty of prolific squashes which will happily go upwards for as far as you'll let them. Sugar pumpkins, delicata, acorns, butternuts... they'll all climb and hang their fruit from a fence.

Most hard squash keep all winter long, and well into spring. Squash is more nutritious than corn anyways. Plus, it has a good water content meaning I need a little less water out when water would freeze.

Squash are heavy feeders, but do really well on bird crap and compost. If they are mulched well, they don't need as much water. Plus, I really like squash too, so me and the birds get to share.

 

[Folly's place]

'Old timers' had a more diverse homestead, both in plants and other small critters, than any suburban lot does now. 'Old time' chickens might have produced 80 to 100 eggs per year, and I'm being generous. This is not today's chicken!
Mary

 

[anvia]

I’m assuming “old” is referring to foraging for feed? Ours have access to acres & acres - an entire mountain which they can free range and forage in - there’s no chicken proof fencing restricting them, and no neighbours who mind them roaming, plus they have the option of being eaten by a variety of predators. But... they tend to hang around the house & barns and for preference they like to break and enter into the garden - the veg garden to be precise..... other favourite spots not surprisingly are the compost heaps and the wormery. I believe the cultivated house garden has more foragable goodies than the fields & hedges. They choose to be backyard chickens.
Personally I think they also choose to stay near the house as it gives more protection from predators - they aren’t as daft as they seem! They also like the company of people and they definitely prefer to poo on the porch step if that’s an accessible option.
As Folly’s place pointed out modern chickens have been bred for egg production - we also supply additional feed and calcium in their coop - and that means they have to wander back to the coop in their field to eat... then they usually return to the garden - we do have to defend a few plants but to be honest the hens do a lot of good too they weed and do pest control and provide & distribute fertiliser.

But I do provide fermented feed (layers mix & wild bird seed) and oyster shell as I believe our hens need that additional nutrition for good health & good strong shelled eggs. Putting morals & ethics aside it makes no financial sense to not supplement the hens with feed - a hen that isn’t well fed won’t lay. Survival first, eggs come second. If your hens aren’t healthy they aren’t laying and if they aren’t healthy they will become more vulnerable to predators - most chickens are domesticated and we humans have bred them selectively that way. Some breeds are better foragers than others - my Swedish Flower Hens are great at foraging - even in snow, but my ex commercial hens would seriously struggle without additional feed. They free range and generally manage not to get eaten by predators because they find their own cover & safety. I do find it’s when I interfere - ie cooping & fencing them in due to heavy snow - that’s when they become vulnerable if I get it wrong. All a predator has to do is get in & if the birds can’t get out then it’s a free buffet.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

Thanks for all the great stories and info! I definitely think of my chickens as pets. They are named and we hold (several of) them every day. I have been feeding my dogs a raw diet for over 20 years, even though many people and vets will say to only feed "dog food." They are healthier because of it. I am looking for that same kind of "treatment" for my chickens. When a company starts making something to sell, they give the information that helps sell their product and it may not necessarily be totally correct. I figure just like my dogs, there is a better health possible out there for my chickens than just a bag of chicken feed, no matter that the bag says "complete." So, you all have helped me fill in some of that picture. Thanks!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

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?

I hear that a lot too...and I'm sure it's a perfectly good approach. I tend to think that waste reduction is a great role for chickens, and variety is a good thing....so I feed what I have and have had no problems.

I don't keep records on egg production, but my 16 layers are giving me more than I can use and give to friends and neighbors, to the point where I've started donating eggs to the local food pantry. I have 9 youngsters, most of which I think are hens, that will soon be adding even more eggs.

Maybe I'm getting 10-15% fewer eggs than "perfect" (but maybe not), and everyone seems happy and healthy.

I feed my chickens meat scraps, and I can tell you that if there is a thumbnail sized bit of meat in a gallon-sized bucket of fruit, veggie, and grain scraps, they'll find it before it's hit the ground and fight over it like crazy.

I take good care of my chickens, and my kids get a kick out of them, but I do consider them "livestock", not "pets".