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

[GigitheBackyardHerbilist]

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

 

[Weeg]

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.

 

[Lor]

I've been thinking about this lately as I have been having trouble finding cat food occasionally. I think it's a great topic.

I was thinking of a small fodder system but not sure what to grow.

 

[GigitheBackyardHerbilist]

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.

We plan on planting an entire 50lb bag. They had it last week. I hope they do next week. That a great idea as well.

 

[Battlepants]

I recently stocked up on pellets and that should last me a few months. As for falling back after a grain outage, it will likely be birdseed and local plant fiber mixed in to make what ever I have last longer (in hopes that grain comes back to normal). Then if things get really bad, culling to make sure they don't suffer.

I really need to start turning my property into farmland. Currently have ~3 acres of land that gets good sun and is currently just grass. About .5 acres is over a septic leach field which would be a prime plot to grow chicken feed as the area wouldn't be good for human-consumed food anyway.

 

[Weeg]

We plan on planting an entire 50lb bag. They had it last week. I hope they do next week. That a great idea as well.

Cool! We don't have a ton of space ufortunetly, but I cold always create a garden bed within the coop if we needed more space. I could probably easily find locations to add other raised beds as well. Probably a good idea now that I'm thinking about it.
I want to plant as much as possible. Maybe grow corn, though I don't think that has a ton of nutritional value. Probably way more fresh than dried corn though.
What about soy beans? They are a pretty complete protein source. I try to avoid them in chicken feed due to commercial spraying, but it could probably be beneficial if it was grown from organic seeds.

 

[Weeg]

I've been thinking about this lately as I have been having trouble finding cat food occasionally. I think it's a great topic.

I was thinking of a small fodder system but not sure what to grow.

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.

 

[Battlepants]

We plan on planting an entire 50lb bag. They had it last week. I hope they do next week. That a great idea as well.

Out of curiosity, where did you get those seeds from? And is there any difference in seeds for planting and seeds for birds/eating?

 

[Weeg]

Out of curiosity, where did you get those seeds from? And is there any difference in seeds for planting and seeds for birds/eating?

Nope! The 50lb bag we're mentioning is sold for eating. Its just dried seeds, I don't see a huge difference.

 

[Lor]

Out of curiosity, where did you get those seeds from? And is there any difference in seeds for planting and seeds for birds/eating?

This was one of the questions I had. Glad you asked it.
Also fermented feed? I fear it getting moldy so that is why I was thinking fodder.