How to cut the cost of feeding chickens?

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I bought a 5 pound bag of seeds specifically selected for sprouting for chickens at my local TSC for $10 or $13…might be worth giving that a try.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Other good sprouting seeds available in bulk for fairly reasonable are blank oil sunflower seeds. Whole corn is fairly cheap too…not sure how well it sprouts.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If it won't sprout, you can feed the rest of the bag to the chickens anyway, so it won't be a total waste.

You could look at all the animal feeds you already have, and try sprouting a bit of any whole grains. It doesn't really matter if it was bought for chickens or goats or horses or whatever, any whole grains have a reasonable chance of sprouting.

We don't use whole grains for anyone. Everyone has pellets

 

[McChooky]

We don't use whole grains for anyone. Everyone has pellets

I made a small batch of fermented feed out of pellets in a quart jar .I'm waiting for it to get bubbly before I feed it to them later today.I'm anxious to find out if they'll eat it.Have you tried doing it?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've sprouted generic "bird seed" I don't know how many times, usually millet (red), milo, sunflower, and the occasional corn that didn't get cracked. Have done the same with Scratch, whichever was cheapest per pound. Most difficult part was keepign the chickens out until it sprouted.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I made a small batch of fermented feed out of pellets in a quart jar .I'm waiting for it to get bubbly before I feed it to them later today.I'm anxious to find out if they'll eat it.Have you tried doing it?

Once. I'm bad about forgetting to release the gas though and didn't want to accidentally poison them or have a jar broke so I stopped

 

[McChooky]

Totally agree! I bought 4 hens from a local hobby breeder. This was my first time so was inexperienced but should have noticed the warning signs. She was keeping 200 chickens and holding a full-time job! She said they were 1- 3 months to laying. The pullets were already 20 weeks old but only started laying when they were 25 - 26.. ..far far longer than usual. She said she fed them scratch grains. I'm not sure whether this was the only stuff she fed her young pullets. She also sold me a sick bird (sneezing & coughing) which infected the rest and now one is chronically sick. Right now at least one of them is sick at any given time. My point is if you have so many chickens and am already extremely committed or not have enough manpower to care for them you may not be providing the best for them.

Respiratory diseases cause stress and lower their immunity to other diseases.I would make sure my coop has 1 square foot of ventilation above their heads 24/7. They need fresh air to replace the toxins in the coop (ammonia) Chickens can develop chronic diseases if respiratory infections aren't treated with antibiotics.

 

[McChooky]

I've sprouted generic "bird seed" I don't know how many times, usually millet (red), milo, sunflower, and the occasional corn that didn't get cracked. Have done the same with Scratch, whichever was cheapest per pound. Most difficult part was keepign the chickens out until it sprouted.

I 'd been meaning to make some fermented feed so yesterday I did.I only made a quart jar of it it and fed it to them today.Needless to say the chickens gobbled it all up .Tomorrow I'll feed them some more.I hope it'll help on my feed bill and is as good as they say.We don't have a feed store locally so I order all my feed from Chewy. My chickens wouldn't eat this bag of pellets I bought locally this week so it won't go to waste (I ran out of crumbles)My order arrived from Chewy so they have their regular crumbles too.

 

[biscuit7]

I'm trying this with my leftover garden seeds: https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2019/08/save-money-on-chicken-feed-by-sprouting.html?m=1

My neighbor gave me some bean seeds she couldn't get to grow. It's a small operation on my countertop but we'll see if it works.

 

[McChooky]

I'm trying this with my leftover garden seeds: https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2019/08/save-money-on-chicken-feed-by-sprouting.html?m=1

My neighbor gave me some bean seeds she couldn't get to grow. It's a small operation on my countertop but we'll see if it works.

I have a couple of raised beds wrapped around my coop and hope to plant some beets in them next year.Chickens love them!