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

[Weeg]

What about a cover crop like this? Planted within the chicken area in grazing frames, or in a bed outside the run for harvest and/or free range.
Field peas are commonly used in chicken feed, and I can imagine oats in grazing form are fairly nutritious.
https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-field-peas-oats-mix.html

 

[allenw]

Absent big equipment (which creates problems of its own), and lots of space, its basically impossible for a modern person to support any number of productive modern breeds at anything like peak condition as a matter of self sufficiency. You can't feed chickens a single crop and expect anything but dietary imbalance - and most of us can't grow and store multiple crops in the amounts needed to overwinter and replant come spring.

What we can do, depending on space, climate, soil conditions, is "bend the curve" by planting a biodiverse polyculture. The key is that there is a mix of greens and grasses coming into season at any given time.

Here's mine (last year), I'm getting back to work on it this year, after I meet with some people about my house build early in the week.

The short form is that I have multiple grasses, multiple grains, multiple legumes, and even some fruits and veggies and "leafies" always going - but no single crop they can gorge on at any given time. Even then, all I can do is reduce my commercial feed needs. With better soil, more water, something heavier than hand tools and a (much) smaller flock, I could probably get the feed bill down to nothing for about half the year, by also providing meat scraps - but note that I am beginning to approach a "working farm", in that I have chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, and ground (acres of it). I'd like to add fish to the duck pond, as well - tilapia - but I need a way to aerate the water which is both cheap and not dependent on power. Solar cells aren't in the budget right now.

Hmmm, would a cheap solar pump off ebay just pumping water up and letting it fall back into the pond work for aeration?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

What about a cover crop like this? Planted within the chicken area in grazing frames, or in a bed outside the run for harvest and/or free range.
Field peas are commonly used in chicken feed, and I can imagine oats in grazing form are fairly nutritious.
https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-field-peas-oats-mix.html

Nope, its Oats and Peas. That can be part of the solution, but its not THE solution. Peas, depending upon your info source, shouldn't exceed 10-20% of the total diet due to anti-nutritional concerns. Oats are high in beta-glucans. Sticky poops. 30% is really tops in permitted diet. The Peas will help you get desired amounts of Lysine and Threonine, so that's a plus, while Oats are a good tryptophan source.

If I'm not mistaken, that cover crop blend is designed with just one season in mind, as well.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Hmmm, would a cheap solar pump off ebay just pumping water up and letting it fall back into the pond work for aeration?

No. My pond is way too big for a small solar pump. I've looked. Imagine a "pond" measuring 20' x 30' by about 3' deep - almost 5' in the rainy season. That's 18-30k gallons.

 

[Weeg]

Nope, its Oats and Peas. That can be part of the solution, but its not The solution. Peas, depending upon your info source, shouldn't exceed 10-20% of the total diet due to anti-nutritional concerns. Oats are high in beta-glucans. Sticky poops. 30% is really tops in permitted diet. The Peas will help you get desired amounts of Lysine and Threonine, so that's a plus, while Oats are a good tryptophan source.

Good to know. I figured it wouldn't be good to make up the whole diet, but possibly a small part within the variety that gets planted.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Good to know. I figured it wouldn't be good to make up the whole diet, but possibly a small part within the variety that gets planted.

I started my pasture by spreading a 7 seed cover crop. Also had flax, hairy vetch, some others. The flax comes back each year - the vetch got slaughtered by our drought last year, but it was struggling before. Neither the winter peas nor the oats performed well the first year, and neither came back.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I started my pasture by spreading a 7 seed cover crop. Also had flax, hairy vetch, some others. The flax comes back each year - the vetch got slaughtered by our drought last year, but it was struggling before. Neither the winter peas nor the oats performed well the first year, and neither came back.

Stormcrow, how do you feel about Millet for part of a chickens diet?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Stormcrow, how do you feel about Millet for part of a chickens diet?

Well, since I deliberately seeded my pasture with several varieties of panic grasses (panicum ______), and millet just happens to be the seed of panicum, I might have an inclination in that direction. Also just overseeded with a sorghum/sudangrass hybrid, to join my existing (but very patchy) "native" sorghum (poaceae sorghum bicolor).

I'd have to say I consider it to be a pretty decent grain as a drought resistant staple of a poultry diet in areas where wheat does not grow well. Though I'll be happier if the chickens didn't eat all 50# of it I put down, and it actually gets a chance to grow.

There are limits - due to the tannins, millets (except white/proso millet - the expensive stuff) shouldn't exceed 15% (Red, Dark/Indian) or 30% (Green/Italian) of diet. White millet is fine to 50%, assuming you can hit the other dietary targets.

There are studies showing chickens surviving on up to 70% sorghum diets without ill effect, but not thriving.

Here are the key numbers I lifted from Feedipedia.org. Sorghum should NOT perform as well in practice as it does, but apparently what little it contains is readily digested, and some of the enzymes assist in digesting companion grains. Even without that little tidbit, if you remove all the corn from a recipe and replace it with sorghum, you almost always end up with a superior feed (though not by much).

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Well, since I deliberately seeded my pasture with several varieties of panic grasses (panicum ______), and millet just happens to be the seed of panicum, I might have an inclination in that direction. Also just overseeded with a sorghum/sudangrass hybrid, to join my existing (but very patchy) "native" sorghum (poaceae sorghum bicolor).

I'd have to say I consider it to be a pretty decent grain as a drought resistant staple of a poultry diet in areas where wheat does not grow well. Though I'll be happier if the chickens didn't eat all 50# of it I put down, and it actually gets a chance to grow.

There are limits - due to the tannins, millets (except white/proso millet - the expensive stuff) shouldn't exceed 15% (Red, Dark/Indian) or 30% (Green/Italian) of diet. White millet is fine to 50%, assuming you can hit the other dietary targets.

There are studies showing chickens surviving on up to 70% sorghum diets without ill effect, but not thriving.

Here are the key numbers I lifted from Feedipedia.org. Sorghum should NOT perform as well in practice as it does, but apparently what little it contains is readily digested, and some of the enzymes assist in digesting companion grains. Even without that little tidbit, if you remove all the corn from a recipe and replace it with sorghum, you almost always end up with a superior feed (though not by much).

View attachment 3039960

So it would be worth foddering in your opinion with other grains as well?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So it would be worth foddering in your opinion with other grains as well?

Yes.