How to become self-sufficient (kinda) with chickens.

[*GEL*]

Loving this thread!

I'm so excited that I am not the only one thinking this way.......well, I figured I wasn't, but it's nice to see other people's thoughts on it validating mine. I have been trying to gently nudge my DH in this direction for about a year now. I am now trying to convince him that we need to put solar panels on the roof.......lol.......he's interested but not convinced....YET. Wait until I tell him that if we have enough of them, the electric company will start paying US instead of us paying them! I think that'll push him over the edge.

 

[beefy]

regarding calcium, while milking the cow, why not just squirt a little over in the chicken dish?

 

[1acrefarm]

If you want to be more self sufficient in the feed department it is best to have a breed of chickens that are great foragers. Games come to mind. I am switching over to games partially for that reason. I know you already have your chickens but it is not if you will get more it is when. I would start researching what breeds forage best and which ones eat least for the eggs produced. It also helps in a free range situation if your area has a light predator load. If you learn to trap some predator animals are supposed to be good eating and I am sure the chickens would not mind cleaning off the bones for you.

As far as the calcium issue goes they can get it from the wings and shells of insects. If you eat shrimp crab legs or crawfish throw them the shells. It is better to break up the crab leg shells but they can break pieces off over time. I sometimes give mine live crawfish or horny heads straight out of the creek. It is like watching a football game.

If you grow yourself a garden and give them the reject veggies as well as the trimmings it will go a long way.

 

[louis]

Back to one of the original questions about a simple recipe for homegrown food, I recently picked up a great book for chickens, self-sufficiency, etc. called The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. I would HIGHLY recommend it. It's about 900 pages of everything you need to know from a woman who's lived it her whole life: grasses, grains, & canes, gardens, herbs, orchards, food preservation, poultry, goats, cows, bee, rabbit, sheep, & pig. The layout and writing style are excellent as well.

Anyways, Carla's big on home-grown feed for the economics of it. She says free-ranging chickens tend to do just fine supplemented with table scraps (nothing moldy or citrus fruits) and grain. Table scraps should include greens, garden stuff, etc., which she says can make up to 20% of their diet. According to the book they don't even have to have grain except for during the winter, though they will grow and lay better with it. Her mixture is flexible and can be corn/buckwheat/sorghum, or corn/oats/barley, or corn/oats/wheat, or any mixture of those. That's "scratch". Other important points are chickens naturally raised by free-ranging mothers will be more efficient natural feeders and chickens, like people, need Vitamin D so if they're cooped up in the winter they need something like cod-liver oil. Like earlier posts said, bugs you grow and re-using egg shells can't hurt. You'll know how well you're doing by the health of the chickens and the quality/quantity of eggs.

I haven't grown grain personally but I know it's easier than a vegetable garden if you have the space. For one thing, there's no weeding or working in it at all. You plant, water, and wait to harvest. But there's a whole section on that in the book too. Good luck! My goal is 50% self-sufficient in the next 5 years. I just want to do it because of the sense of fulfillment from actually having a hand in directly supporting my own (and my family's) existence.

 

[chicken stalker]

very interesting thread

 

[louis]

Oh yeah, and like beefy said, milk is an excellent supplement to chickens. I also did like 1acrefarm suggested trapping a predator and they loved it. On one occasion I found a snake with a chick half down the hatch, shot the snake and they ate the whole thing. Later I trapped a raccoon who had been trying to break into their coop and they almost pecked him clean in a day. There's a great irony in that as well...

 

[The Zoo]

If you don't mind buying milk you can make your own cheese, yogurt, etc. My hens LOOOOOOOOOVE when I put out yogurt or cottage cheese. It's gone faster than anything except watermelon.

Last year (my first year with hens) I will confess to buying them goodies from the store (shocker I know). This year they get what's in the garden and leftovers. Luckily they love zucchini since I seem to be overrun.....

 

[blacksands36]

Awesome thread

I've got a supplier (first pick up will be tomorrow) for Brewer's grain. He's brewing beer and he'll have up to 100 pounds a day that he needs to get rid of...and in walks me! He may add the hops too which I can't imagine would be a bad thing unless you give them too many and it sits for too long so it ferments!

I wouldn't say that this would be a sustainable diet, but certainly should allow for the grain budget to be stretched a bit more. Perhaps you can find a local micro-brewer or someone similar that can offer their leftovers? Waste not want not -- and that goes for grocery stores too that trim bunches of veggies before putting them out on display.

Also, growing mealworms (and I'm trying superworms now too) are easy to propagate. A little initial investment to purchase a bunch of them and some time to let them procreate and you should have a great supply of protein for those non-foraging winter months. I hope to have enough worms on hand by that time to throw handfuls to my chickens on a daily basis.

 

[wildorchid053]

we live on 3.5 acres.. have planted a small orchard.. 18 variety trees.. pears, apples, cherries etc.. built a large coop and run. and let them free range when we are outside.. lots of wild life here.. fox.. raccoons hawks.. so need babysitting.. we have a large garden.. 100x100 but not big enough to sustain us.. we are looking into a wind turbine for power... we live on a hill top with a breeze constantly...we have water from a well.. and a whole house generator... trying to become off the grid and pretty much grocery store free.... i enjoy my book called.... "putting food by"... it has soap making and canning and salt curing.. lots of things done the old way.. gl to all and i think a commune where we all share is a great idea.. i am from the 60/70 era .. ex-hippie lol but it is still a good idea. we have wild turkey, deer, and lots of food running around... gla who try to live naturally. keep up the good post and ideas

 

[The Zoo]

My husband homebrews and I give the chickens the leftover grain. Not too much because I'm not sure how much nutrition is in it after it's been boiled. I keep them in the fridge and give them to them over the course of a week or two. The rest goes to my neighbors goats.

Hops are just the flowers of the hop vine so there's nothing wrong with eating those.