How to feed my chickens on a budget? Issues with roosters?

[sunrise.superman]

Barley and oats are the most affordable of the cover crops around here. I buy a 50 pound bag for $19-22. The seed grains have a tested sprout rate of 80-90 percent, as opposed to my experience with the whole feed grain of 40-45 percent. I use this to sprout for fodder, especially in the winter when there are few or no greens growing. This greatly amplifies the food value of the bag of grain. I grow my fodder in a cardboard box sitting on a metal tray (for support when I carry it), and put the entire box into the run. The cardboard disintegrates into the deep litter, and whatever doesn't disintegrate in the run I take out and add to the compost pile. I use half as much feed per bird in the winter as in the summer. I should do this all year, but I am usually too busy in the summer to set up and maintain the sprouting cycle.

I would love to do sprouting. I'm trying to get my full time working single mom hiney organized enough to fit it into the schedule. Fermenting right now is all I can handle, but winter is less time outside chasing kiddo so it could work.

 

[sunrise.superman]

I feed my chickens in a green turtle sandbox. I feed pellets & they don't fling it out when they scratch. I feed them kitchen scraps daily & a couple of days/ week they get fermented corn. I also feed them pumpkin seeds which helps them eliminate worms from their intestines. I get 7 to 9 eggs/ daily from my 10 hens.

Love the turtle sand box idea! Less scatter feed waste and can cover it up at night. Right now mine are eating fermented so they gobble it up as soon as I feed it, but I'd love a way to leave out some dried feed for the day that doesn't get scattered to the next county.

 

[Cryss]

But, OP says: "I just can't really afford 120 dollars per month for 300 lbs of food for the chickens." As I read through this again, I think I'm spending half as much as she is, but with half the amount of chickens, and they free range in my orchard. 23 chickens will produce a lot of eggs. I'm hoping OP can sell a few to help offset the cost.

Perhaps some of Connie A's suggestions or fermented feed will help. Certainly taking the food out at night would help. And I do think switching to pellets will reduce the amount of scattered loss.

Excellent point! I missed that! Wow, my bad.

I was focused on 300 pounds a month. I'm betting OPs flock is wasting feed or the local nocturnal critters are being fed well.

Pellets would work or at least a feeder raised to chicken-back- height or a feeder that reduces scatter.

Removing all feed at night.

I don't ferment but it is worth looking into.

Reducing the flock by removing he roosters. (Do you need a rooster? They eat without producing anything but more birds and maybe chicken and Dumplings if you eat your birds. Unless you're planning to breed thus increasing the size of your flock including with MORE roosters you really don't need even one rooster. Nice to have to alert hens of possible dangers, but not necessary if all you want is eggs. From the sounds of it you seriously don't want to increase your flock.)

You may want to reduce the amount of hens also to meet your budget restrictions.

Hard choices I know. Try some of the ideas here and see how it goes. Try more if you need to. Keep us updated. Ideas can be tweaked along the way. And seriously stop the corn.

 

[Cryss]

I also feed them pumpkin seeds which helps them eliminate worms from their intestines.

Is this fact? If it is it's great to know, thank you!

 

[Henry&Friends]

My local feed store sells 5 pounds of flock grower or chick starter or oyster shell for $5, and my local Walmart sells 20 pound (?) bags of layer crumble for ~$20. When I’m brooding chicks, I go through about a bag of chick starter a week, and as they grow they eat two bags a week. Once they need 3 bags a week, I’ve already integrated them with the older hens and throw both layer and flock raiser to them, with scratch grains and food scraps. You could continue buying flock raiser for the rooster, but mine haven’t had any problems with calcium... yet. If they free range, the rooster gets to eat however much he wants of whatever he wants, so he’s not just eating layer crumble. These numbers are subjective, because every chicken is different and I only have 15, while someone else could have 20 and go through 2 bags a week.

 

[ValerieJ]

Is this fact? If it is it's great to know, thank you!

Well, that made me look. I found this:

https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-truth-about-chickens-pumpkin-seeds/

 

[jane s chickens]

Is this fact? If it is it's great to know, thank you!

Look it up. I never worm mine just buy & freeze pumpkins in the fall. Dig out seeds for chickens &cook & freeze flesh for me. I love it with butter, cinnamon, Splenda.

 

[jane s chickens]

I also give my egg shells back to my chickens. Pumpkin seeds paralize the round worms. It doesn't kill the worms. I also put ac vinegar in their water.

 

[ValerieJ]

I now have 23 chickens..13 being chicks(10 weeks old)...5 being roosters...the rest are hens...Up until now I've been getting cracked corn feed/laying mash for the adult chickens..chick starter for the babies...however recently I was told that since the roosters eat with the hens(I keep their food in a no-waste feeder..even though they still scratch it out onto the ground)...that the roosters would eventually have health issues because they would be eating the laying mash as well. I tend to mix my laying mash and corn equally...So i thought about just taking layer out all together but was then told that the corn feed wasn't good for them. So I'm not sure what to do now..i started off spending 20 dollars per month on food for 3-10 chickens...now I'm going at about 60 dollars a month for the food...300 lbs of food a month...with the new food that I've been told i should buy them its going to be double the price..I just can't really afford 120 dollars per month for 300 lbs of food for the chickens...I give them things like grass..watermelon etc Any help?

@mrl8810, have we helped at all? I hope you'll let us know what you figure out to do.

 

[centrarchid]

Controlling waste is the first thing I would concentrate on. Are the birds free-range? What does your feeder look like? I keep back up roosters confined separately and keep them on a restricted ration most the time since they are neither growing nor laying eggs.