HOW TO FEED YOUR CHICKENS if there is no scratch or pellets?

[ILChickenTV]

Depends. Fish meal is subject to WIDE variations. I used the numbers from Fertrell's Fish Meal, and their published nutrition tables. Making your own, it will depend on both the fish used (white fish are lower fat than salmon, anchovies, and other oily fish) and the quality of your scrap - lots of bone means higher calcium, lower fat... To some extent, it will depend upon the means of processing, too.

What I usually end up with is slightly heavier on the salmon, with nearly as much of some kind of whitefish, and then the occasional red snapper, flounder, or other.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

I believe, and I'm going to flag him so I don't misquote, but I believe @Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay says the industry recommendation for fish meal is not to exceed 5%. But I could be misremembering, and hope he corrects me.

Correct, we try to limit the amount of fish meal in feeds. One must be careful with "fish meal" when making decisions. Menhaden is the main fish used in livestock feeds and the quality can range wildly. The concerns with any fish meal are two fold: Risk of Rancidity and Salmonella Contamination. These are two reasons many feed companies are moving away from fish meal, well that and the almost prohibitive price right now.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Correct, we try to limit the amount of fish meal in feeds. One must be careful with "fish meal" when making decisions. Menhaden is the main fish used in livestock feeds and the quality can range wildly. The concerns with any fish meal are two fold: Risk of Rancidity and Salmonella Contamination. These are two reasons many feed companies are moving away from fish meal, well that and the almost prohibitive price right now.

THANK YOU for stepping in on this. Much appreciated.

 

[kgby13]

With the current events and talk of no fertilizer. The fear of losing animal feed is real. So I've been researching going through all of my homesteading books trying to find ways to feed my chickens and keep them healthy and producing with no layer pellets and no grains. I have found a few amazing videos as well, on composting with chickens which I've been doing since I've got my chickens. (Last spring) That was one reason I was really thrilled to have my own so I didn't have to go to my friend's house and beg poop from them.

What I'm finding is that composting and letting your chickens pick through compost, they eat the bugs they turn the compost and they leave their own little nuggets of nutrients behind. Is an excellent way to grow my crops.
Also there are crops you can grow just to feed your chickens which I was doing last year to supplement but now know, that there are ways to feed and I don't have to grow an entire crop of corn for the girls, which I have been failing miserably at, just trying to grow for our own table.
Hoping that my chicken poop would help me yield a better crop of corn for our family plus all my other veggies. But I do not have to grow another crop just for my chickens?
Which I just do not have the room.

So I thought I would start sharing some of the things that I am learning on how to feed your girls and boys, if there is no rural King to supply you with your chicken feed.
Anyone else interested in this? Anyone else have their own advice to give an ideas to share? I'd be happy to hear.
Just for fun, this is fluffy. Who's not so fluffy at the moment. She's molting. Lol

Dumpster dive for food scraps.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm definitely interesting in this topic. I am mildly concerned about the possibility of chicken feed becoming unavailable. I am at least interested in finding ways to supplement the diet to reduce the feed consumption.

An idea posted on another thread was to grow black oil sunflowers, and harvest the seeds. I plan on getting a bag of black oil sunflower seeds and trying to plant some next week. Also experimenting with sporting grains, or growing fodder.

I sowed about 6 - 8 BOSS seeds about a week ago with these intentions. My biggest trepidation is understanding the space requirements needed to grow enough to be meaningful knowing I will likely lose some to birds, critters, disease, etc. So this season is mostly a learning experience while I plan for longer term contingencies.

Several months ago I purchased seed to create a feed plot for my chickens, goats, and horses. I have spring wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat, Amaranth, marshmallow, fava beans, and more. Due to various reasons, I didn't get to sow them in time for spring planting. Afraid it's too late with my climate (zone 7B) so I might hold it for next spring. I also managed to snag 200 lbs of Alfalfa & Hay pasture mix seed which also includes clover and other grasses. I'll seed that in the fall when the heat dials down. I'm relying on these pre-planned options to take up the gap in feed availability/affordability.

 

[Krugerrand]

Great thread! Just finished reading through all of it. I wish I had something to add, other than a vote of support!

 

[Roosterinthecity]

Dumpster dive for food scraps.

There was a chicken farmer who use to come and dumpster dive at the gas station I use to work at while in HS many many many moons ago. He use to take all the stale unsold donuts and anything else he could find. Got to the point we would just put those things in a bad separate from the trash for him.

 

[Weeg]

I'm not sure about everyone else, but my feed prices just sky rocketed!
Got feed yesterday, and my favorite Organic feed went from $32, to $47 a bag! I spent over $100 on two bags of feed! Wouldn't have bought it, but I have to feed the flock. I'm going to have to switch back to my old brand!
Its been so cold here my chicken garden is very very slow going. The only things I have the are surviving the cold spike is oats and field peas, BOS, and spinach and chard. Everything is stunted too.

 

[LuraGil]

You can sprout all kinds of things, I'm trying to sprout my Scratch and Peck feed right now. Not sure if it will sprout though.
You can sprout anything from oats, millet, barely, quinoa, peas, to sunflower seeds, alfalfa, etc, etc. Basically any seeds or grains.

I sprout horse oats trim the tops (feed to rabbits) throw the rest to the chickens.

 

[LuraGil]

With the current events and talk of no fertilizer. The fear of losing animal feed is real. So I've been researching going through all of my homesteading books trying to find ways to feed my chickens and keep them healthy and producing with no layer pellets and no grains. I have found a few amazing videos as well, on composting with chickens which I've been doing since I've got my chickens. (Last spring) That was one reason I was really thrilled to have my own so I didn't have to go to my friend's house and beg poop from them.

What I'm finding is that composting and letting your chickens pick through compost, they eat the bugs they turn the compost and they leave their own little nuggets of nutrients behind. Is an excellent way to grow my crops.
Also there are crops you can grow just to feed your chickens which I was doing last year to supplement but now know, that there are ways to feed and I don't have to grow an entire crop of corn for the girls, which I have been failing miserably at, just trying to grow for our own table.
Hoping that my chicken poop would help me yield a better crop of corn for our family plus all my other veggies. But I do not have to grow another crop just for my chickens?
Which I just do not have the room.

So I thought I would start sharing some of the things that I am learning on how to feed your girls and boys, if there is no rural King to supply you with your chicken feed.
Anyone else interested in this? Anyone else have their own advice to give an ideas to share? I'd be happy to hear.
Just for fun, this is fluffy. Who's not so fluffy at the moment. She's molting. Lol

I'm incorporating kudzu in the feed, using the person's square method of figuring protein it looks like a 50/50 mix will produce 18 to 20% protein, I can grow corn,sunflowers,and kudzu is wild and invasive so no owe cares if you harvest, if I only harvest leaves no worry about spreading it.