How can I save $$ on chicken feed?

[FutureChickenMan]

I have about 35 chickens only 4 or which are light birds (leghorn) all the others are dual purpose. I go through a 50lb bag a week. I was going through more when I was using crumbles. I switched to pellets and that helped with the "waste" issue. I've also asked all my family to save their scraps and eggshells for me, in return I give them a 18pack of eggs for the price of a dozen. I "grow" my own meal and manure worms for treats.

I'm not very familiar with seattle area, but on the east side we have "Big R" which is like a tractor supply company. They have a big bag (55lbs?) of "grains" which is oats, corn and a few other things for about $9. I don't think there's any reason this couldn't replace the cereal you give them in the morning. It might take a little longer to cook though. Check the bags of feed for the various animals and take a peek at the ingredients, that will be your best bet.

I wouldn't let them go to long without the layer feed. Most definitely keep the protein levels up what ever you do or you could end up with some cannibalism.

Also sell as many of the extra eggs as you can. Make sure you save any broken/cracked eggs and all your shells. Cook up the broken/cracked eggs and crush all the shells and feed them back to the chickens. I don't supplement any oyster at all. I find giving them all the egg shells does the job. Another trick, if you have the means is to get you hands on some (clean) lawn clippings/weeds/bush for them to scratch around in.

Another cheap treat is popcorn (no butter or salt); mine like theirs mixed with plain yogurt (search for a recipe here on how to make your own). Another thing I just though of is ask your local bakeries if you can have their old bread. Instead of killing all the bugs roaming about your house, catch them and give them to the chickens.

If you really, really don't have any money and want to give them a treat, brace yourself... find some road kill and hang it over their coop. The maggot larve will fall from the corpse to the ground. Just make sure you hang it down wind.

 

[panner123]

Each chicken will eat about a third of a pound of food per day. Free range chickens will eat a little least. So your 20 chickens will eat about 606 pounds of food per day. Over 2 weeks that would be 92.4 lbs of food.

 

[silkiechicken]

I would not put the scratch in with the pellets and give them the scratch as a snack on the side. That might stop them from flinging out so much of their food to get to the treats (corn). I fill my hanging feeder once every other day in the summer, once a day in the winter with plain pellets. Once my brother mixed the scratch and feed together and put it in the feeder and within a few hours, it was empty, rather than lasting a day or two. So try that and see if it helps the spillage problem. If you stop the spillage, it may also stop the critters from coming to eat the stuff on the ground.

 

[chickenzoo]

If you are able, put up the feeder at night. This will cut off those buggers that steal it at night. I use a vinyl gutter with end caps attached to two 4x4 post scraps as legs, to feed my big chickens. This way they all can get to the feed at the same time, and I feed them twice a day and they free range. I have a lot of chickens so I go through about 11- 100lb bags a month( local mill is $17 per 100lb bag), plus any special stuff I add. Check with a local mill.
I also use a big white plastic tub w/lid about 3ft in diameter I found at my mill. I bought it for $10, then cut a hole 3inches in diameter every few inches, all the way around the side in a line. I drilled them high enough for the feed level I wanted to keep but low enough that each chicken can put their head through the hole comfortably. This way they can't push each other out as easily and I can feed them for a couple days with it. It has a locking lid that keeps them from getting in the top. You could go to HD and buy a large water heater plastic pan and cut it down one side to make a cone, to put on the top, to prevent perching....but I didn't get that far, he he

 

[alpinefarm]

My flock is doing a lot better on whole grains than they did before on layer pellets. They wasted so much of the pellets, didn't really like them, beaked them out. I have not tracked this carefully and can't give you # amounts or pricing even, but I believe they are eating less # per month (and are definitely happier about their food) with the whole grains. Just something that is working for me and that I'm excited about. Also, mine pasture 3 seasons and during those months, they hardly *touch* the food I set out for them, they are so busy and filled up with grass and bugs! So I really only feel the food bill crunch in the depths of winter. When they aren't laying either...and this is when my husband rumbles a bit about the grain purchases and I have to remind him how much he enjoys the orange yolked eggs the rest of the year!

 

[kristenm1975]

All very, very good tips! Thank you! The ideas that don't involve a whole lot of extra steps on my part are especially welcome as I don't have a lot of time to spare each day. I take a few hours on the weekends to prepare them for the week, and enable me to just take 5 minutes morning and night to check on their water level, top off the feed and gather the eggs.

It makes total sense that if they prefer the scratch that they are going to beak the pellets out of the way to get to it and end up wasting a ton of them. So long as I can dump the scratch out for them in the morning before I leave for work, that idea should be great. I have the light come on in the coop at 2:30am, so they're definitely up and roaming when I get up at 5. I'll just toss some out then. How much would you all recommend for 20 chickens?

I'll see if there's some way to suspend the feeder from the lean-to it sits in presently. I would imagine that would work fine. I just need to get it up high enough to keep the rats on their tiptoes and still enable my banties to reach.

A local mill sounds good, but I'm not sure if we have any here in the Seattle area. Worth checking on! I'd never considered using scratch grains instead of the oatmeal I've been feeding them. Here at my local feed store, they sell a bag of cracked corn mixed with whole wheat grains for about $9 for 25#. I just wonder if that mix will actually cook up. Worth a try!

Thanks again all!

 

[Tweeza]

Black Soldier Fly Larvae help my food bill. When they get them on a daily basis (2-3 cups per 10, 3 mo old birds) they eat alot less food. The birds think they're treats but really they're a food source. They won't help you right now but you could get some started in the spring. I wasn't sure how long mine would last but so far they don't seem to be decreasing in numbers. I got them started this past summer and won't ever be without them...unless the chickens eat them all; then it would be just a matter of waiting until spring arrives again.

 

[kristenm1975]

Hey tweeza, thanks for the tip. I've never heard of Black Soldier Fly Larvae. How would I get started with that?

 

[Sequin]

You could just cut everything down to layer crumble/pellets plus the free stuff you get. My chickens have been doing great on the Layena feed and I don't supplement all that much. Saving your egg shells and feeding them back is a great idea. You can add greens from your lawn clippings, left over salads, fruit, etc. they will probably enjoy that. It might seem odd cutting back like that, but they will still be fine, and still love you, and still produce nice eggs with good shells.

 

[annmarie]

I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make, but you might want to reconsider mixing the scratch grains with the regular feed. That's like mixing candy in with your Wheeties. Scratch should only be fed as a treat on cold days or as a way to get them to come to you when you call them.

Edited to say: Sorry, I guess I'm a slow typist, just noticed several others suggested the same thing in the time I took to type this!