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

[Freedomrange]

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 see We have some who pay attention and Act Accordingly as We all should be doing.
Thanks for the Post!
I foresee Us having to capture all possible rainwater as We live in a water haul situation.
Millet seed by the 5lb, bags will be planted in a 1/2 acre area to lower the dependency on pellets.
Greenhouse to be reset in May for growing the vegetables that grow well in Northern Arizona.
I may need to let groups walk around outside their areas. Armed of course.
We are all living the Greatest Moments of His-Story. Time to be Tough As Nails.
Persevere, Adapt, Overcome!
STAY FREE!

 

[kodster]

Another suggestion for everyone to consider is growing sweet potatoes. They're easy to start... just get an organic sweet potato from your local grocery or farmer's market, stick 3 toothpicks in it, around the middle of the potato, stick it in a jar of water that's large enough for the potato plus some room so that you can add water as needed, wait for it to root out and produce slips. Take those slips off (you just gently twist them off) and plant them in soil, either in the ground or in a container/raised bed, like you would regular potatoes. As they grow and produce leaves (in abundance!), you can trim the leaves off and feed them to the chickens, as the plants will continue to produce more leaves. They've done an analysis on the leaves, themselves... 30% protein that is easily digestible to the chickens (and for human consumption as well when they're cooked like spinach, or as part of a salad). Then, at the end of the growing season, unless you've got them in an area that you can continue to grow them overwinter, like a greenhouse), you harvest them like potatoes, and you can store them... both for yourselves and for your birds, over the winter to feed you all.

 

[Scrat]

The fact that fermented feed can scare you off, it shouldn't ... just the fact that you are soaking your scratch and feed seeds means is that now it's moist and activation of the germination is what boosts the nutritional values !!! I scoop a batch, just enough water to cover the seeds and use it for the next 3 approx. days. In the winter its warmed over my kitchen heater. Because I make and use it quickly there has never been a problem with it going bad.

 

[Chickenclaude]

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

FYI..sunflowers have qualities that prevent other seed from germinating SO if you are going to plant sunflowers you won’t have much success next year planting other seed in the same area. You can plant plants just not start from seed.
That’s why I place them in my bird feeders rather than a blend of birdseed they prevent all the other wasted seed from germinating beneath the feeder.
I think a fodder system is your best bet...ck them out.

 

[allenw]

FYI..sunflowers have qualities that prevent other seed from germinating SO if you are going to plant sunflowers you won’t have much success next year planting other seed in the same area. You can plant plants just not start from seed.
That’s why I place them in my bird feeders rather than a blend of birdseed they prevent all the other wasted seed from germinating beneath the feeder.
I think a fodder system is your best bet...ck them out.

Not that I'm aware of, there are thousands of acres of sunflowers planted every year with another crop following them sometimes planted right behind the combine.

 

[dirkandlorie]

I have never relied solely on store bought feed for my chickens, though they have that available 24/7. I grow a lot of food but struggle in the wintertime to supplement them as much as I like. They are fed a plate of oatmeal/wet fines with mixed greens and blueberries topped with a thyme vinaigrette every day. Everything is free but the oatmeal, and there's only a little bit of that in the wet fines. Many greens can be grown indoors in the winter by a sunny window, and any excess produce from the summer is chopped small and put in the freezer to dole out over the winter. I also sprout wheat berries to stretch things further. Spring through fall is never a problem, free ranging, compost piles, gardens overflowing...my feed bill is minimal then. Winter time? Oh man its a struggle, I only have so much space I can grow inside the house. Mustard greens do well by a window, and romaine. Sweet potatoes do well under a grow light. Swiss chard will survive the winter outside under a row cover, but doesn't grow much but I can pick off it til late Jan or Feb, so that helps. We get way more eggs than we can eat, so I scramble these up and feed to the girls also when the fridge is overflowing with them. I've never tried feeding them without the commercial feed always available, so not sure of health consequences long-term if they didn't have it. But that said, my girls range from 4 years old to 8, all are healthy and everyone but the 8 yr old Cochin is still laying. Also want to say that I think variety would be important

 

[Weeg]

I’m going to try sprouting my Scratch n Peck also! Let me know how you do please

I came out great! I simply rinsed all the fines off the feed, and after about 7 days its nice and tall and ready to feed to the chickens.

 

[MarkButcher]

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

You're bringing up a timely concern, Gigi. Something I've been looking into also. You might do some research on raising mealworms, although to achieve some limited success in a real feed supplement sense, you'd have to get into the whole mealworm farm deal pretty heavily. Growing Black Soldier Fly larvae seems to yield a significantly larger return, with the most effort involved being in just collecting the return daily, then any other aspect of farming those. Looking at some YouTube clips, 3 or 4 barrels of Black Soldier Fly larvae looks like it could actually put a dent in the feed bill, at least during the warmer months.

 

[springvalley123]

I've looked into mealworms, which is a lot for someone who "just can't touch" bugs...
Yesterday I finished clearing an area for my new run, and had second thoughts about clearing any more weeds than that (except for obnoxious ones like goathead/puncture vine), because the weeds provide seeds and bug habitat that my hens feed on. Were it not for current events I wouldn't have had second thoughts about clearing out excess weeds. I'm picking up some extra feed tomorrow and turning the freezer on a few months early (normally it's just for ice bottles for the hens and a bit of extra food).

 

[Johnthefarmer]

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 am practicing it for a few years now. The local dry fish shop sells the scraps, we get corn grounded in the neighborhood mill. Of course kitchen vegetable scrap and sweet potato leaves from the garden act as fillers. For calcium supplement, Lime powder is mixed with water and left to settle, daily add a handful of water to the chicken drinker.