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

[U_Stormcrow]

Scribner's Panic Grass

Sorghum (possibly a Sudangrass Hybrid)

Both pics from my pasture last year...

 

[lv9777]

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.

Since we do not have room for a large garden, we always have sprouts growing for the girls. They are easy and fast to grow and my chickens love them. It does help stretch the feed.

 

[Chullicken]

I really have no woes or fears of a chicken feed shortage in 2022, seems more so a house pet issue (Of sorts), but it's always a good idea to learn ways to off set feed consumption. Typically free ranging really solves that issue with a huge decrease in usage though the winter time this isn't practical. Fodder systems are SUPER easy and with proper management you can grow several plots a week. Oats, Wheat and the like grow pretty amazingly indoors. I spent hours when I was younger with my parents clippers cutting lawn grass before (years later) I could grow fodder inside and the nutrition can be higher when you get away from your typical lawn variety plants. So to keep this short, I can go on for a page;

1) Fodder System
2) Household Left Overs
3) Nutritional Supplements, Oyster Shells etc.
4) Grow your Own~ I will tell you it takes A LOT of corn rows and other grains to grind up in enable to amount to anything
5) Check out your current feeder system, see if you can minimize waste
6) Birdseed...very high in fat and proteins. Ok for the winter but in the summer you may suffer some over weight fatty feather butts which can lead to health issues.
7) Oatmeal, you can buy that stuff in bulk and they love it. Can be used for scratch or hardened chicken bricks.
8) Cut Straw. Has tiny little seeds left from the process, keeps them busy and offers a little bit of a food source.

Darn it, I went on for a page~ XD Good luck with everything. Some terrific ideas in this post so far~

 

[Chullicken]

Since we do not have room for a large garden, we always have sprouts growing for the girls. They are easy and fast to grow and my chickens love them. It does help stretch the feed.

Mine about take off an arm or leg when I throw it in with them ~

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

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

This same thing has crossed my mind as well, so I’d love to hear your ideas.

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

Since we do not have room for a large garden, we always have sprouts growing for the girls. They are easy and fast to grow and my chickens love them. It does help stretch the feed.

What are you sprouting and where did you get it?

 

[Ebony Rose]

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.

Have you considered raising coturnix quail? Grass and other seeds go a long way towards feeding them and at less than an ounce of feed daily (without supplementing them with your 3 acres of grass), is a small price to pay for meat and eggs at about 8 weeks of age. They'd need secure housing as they're smack dab on the bottom rung of the food chain (everything wants to eat them), but it would very easily utilize the space and fodder that you already have at your disposal. Tractor style housing would enable you to move them about the property to ensure that they browse and fertilize your land most efficiently.

 

[TooCheep]

What are you sprouting and where did you get it?

I'm sprouting a combination of wheat and barley that I got from farm stores. It makes up for the lack of fresh greenery during the winter and they love it. Purchased a 40lb bag of each and repackaged them into a bunch of 1gal sealed bags to protect them longer and I'll break open as needed.

 

[GigitheBackyardHerbilist]

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.

I've heard soy plants are good. We're planting the sunflowers around the fence line, blueberry bushes. I had two and they died last year from neglect on my part. I broke my hand in July and had them in big containers, planned on transplanting in the back yard and they died. They didn't get enough water I guess. Everything else lived but I think they need lots of water Also we plan on planting Jerusalem artichokes. More strawberries and sorghum. Sorghum has a lot of uses. Comfrey as well. I have a list of things I'll have to get them out. But good pants, herbs and consumables for both chickens and humans.
I watched a video where you take an old bucket or new your choice, drill a bunch of holes in the bottom, hang it about chest height where your chickens hangout and put meat in it. Old meat cooked or raw. Let the flies do their job and the larva drop through the holes and the chickens eat them. He says the higher you hang it, the breeze takes the stink away. I'm not sure about it, but I thought about hanging one from a tree in the far back of my yard by the compost bins. Anyone with thoughts about that?

 

[GigitheBackyardHerbilist]

I'm sprouting a combination of wheat and barley that I got from farm stores. It makes up for the lack of fresh greenery during the winter and they love it. Purchased a 40lb bag of each and repackaged them into a bunch of 1gal sealed bags to protect them longer and I'll break open as needed.

I like that idea.