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

[Tennessee Great Granny]

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.

If you sprout those sunflower seeds you grow it gives them a lot more food and nutrition from them! I have scratch grains I am planning on sprouting just as soon as there is nothing at all to glean from the garden.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

I grabbed a handful of seeds from my MIL'S bag she gets to feed the birds with. Everyone came up. Sprouting stuff sold for eating is often cheaper than buying it from seed places.

I found some black oil sunflower seeds at Rural king but they are mostly a southern supply chain. There has to be similar stores elsewhere.

 

[springvalley123]

I found some black oil sunflower seeds at Rural king but they are mostly a southern supply chain. There has to be similar stores elsewhere.

I live in Arizona, and we have Tractor Supply here, as do people in many other states.

I just got some Royal Wing black oil sunflower seeds. $29.99 plus tax for 40 lbs. I don't know if they sprout though, haven't tried it.

 

[Tinypahomestead]

I found some black oil sunflower seeds at Rural king but they are mostly a southern supply chain. There has to be similar stores elsewhere.

I live in PA and we have Rural King here.

 

[saracarver3]

If you sprout those sunflower seeds you grow it gives them a lot more food and nutrition from them! I have scratch grains I am planning on sprouting just as soon as there is nothing at all to glean from the garden.

If you can grow regular sunflowers also grow Mexican sunflowers for the greens (leaves). They grow abundant and are sooo easy to propagate. My chickens and turkeys fight for these and jump and fly to eat the plants growing out of reach. They are a chop and drop, high nitrogen plant.

 

[TooCheep]

I live in PA and we have Rural King here.

They are also in the midwest- IN, IL, OH, etc. I definitely prefer them to the local Tractor Supply.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I live in Arizona, and we have Tractor Supply here, as do people in many other states.

I just got some Royal Wing black oil sunflower seeds. $29.99 plus tax for 40 lbs. I don't know if they sprout though, haven't tried it.

They should sprout easily, unless they've been specifically treated to prevent that. For the most part, suppliers don't want to take that extra step and expense.

 

[bhaugh]

What do you think of minnows and a worm bin?
I'm not sure if the chickens will eat some minnows but my ducks love them.
I have this small pond next to my back deck doing nothing at the moment so I could add some minnows in hopes that they breed.
Don't know much about worm bins but willing to learn. Worm tea is good for gardens, I hear.

I feed my chickens mollie fish when I'm overrun. They love them

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I compost in my chicken run, which brings more food in a number of ways. I do also buy BOSS and occasionally whole corn as a "scratching motivator" when I want the chickens to hit a particular area of the run. I figure whatever they don't eat today they'll either eat tomorrow or maybe it spouts and they eat that.

 

[Bigbluefrog]

There's a used book from back in the mid 70's called Grow It! by Richard W Langer. I've had two copies now because I literally wore the first one out. This has a recipe for chicken feeds, but they still take grains people have to buy. Chickens are resourceful just not completely self sufficient. If you can't get premade chicken feed there are recipes for making it so it is well balanced in nutrition. The book is a real back to basics old style of farming. Since my mom was a farmers daughter she knew most of these old time ways of making do. In 3rd world nations I saw a guy take his newborn chicks and fed them chopped up canned corn and tiny minced leafy greens and something that looked like dead bugs in a can that he chopped up. I can't read anything but English and it may have been some sort of strange looking vegetation but I'll never know. I think if I was in a situation where I could not get any feed that I would feed them split peas or corn or chopped up veggies, and there seems to be tons of pesky bugs around here that I am sure they wouldn't lack for protein. If push came to shove with not much for resources they could wind up in a cooking pot themself. Growing sunflower seeds can be an awesome treat but it'd take a few acres to feed a good sized flock for the long term. Mom used to grow them for a tasty snack for her chickens, but not as a full meal deal. She'd also grow pea vines around the coop so they could pick at them. I'm growing trumpet vines because I love them and they are not toxic to chickens. I want to have a worm farm but what the worms eat can also be additional nutrition for chickens. So maybe no worms. The other day I saw a video on youtube where a gal gave the recipe for scratch grains and it made months of feed at a lower cost. She used 50 pounds of corn (calories) 50 pounds of red wheat ( white if red is not available) and 50 pound of oats (minerals) and added a third of a 50 pound bag of soybean meal for the extra proteins. This is a 30-35% protein mix and good for egg layers. Adding beans and peas helps add proteins too if you have it. Just before feeding she'd mix this with a little bit of black-strap molasses if they needed a quick boost to their nutrition. When feeding smaller chicks she cracked the corn herself. She said oyster shells supplements calcium and should be available at all times. If there is a rooster they don't need as much calcium so separate calcium makes it available as needed for those who do. A small amount of extra corn is okay for helping chickens stay warmer in winter months. And also adding black sunflower seeds (for proteins) and flax for minerals is good but harder to get in large quantities Another recipe (the analysis of it shows it is higher in proteins too): 1. 2 (40 lb) bags of black oil sunflower seeds 2. 2 (40 lb) bags of whole corn 3. 2 (40 lb) bags of whole oats 4. 10 lbs whole flax seed 5. 10 lbs white millet Protein Analysis: Black Oil Sunflower Seeds - 26% protein (40 lbs = 10.4% protein) Whole Corn - 9% protein (40 lbs = 3.6% protein) Whole Oats - 15% protein (40 lbs = 6% protein) Flax Seed - 37% protein (5 lbs = 1.85% protein) Millet - 9% protein (5 lbs = .45% protein) =22.3% protein. Both of these recipes are good for increasing egg production, but the first recipes has the highest amount of available proteins and it is just as cheap if not less than bulk feeds except it has more nutrition.

We grew oats last year. The chickens love them. I also had safflowers and sunflowers. The seeds were eaten by the wild birds as well as our birds. Free ranging they will eat bugs and grass. You can have a mealworm farm or soldier fly.
I haven’t tried it. If I had a basement I would.
I still go to the store for feed, but we use less. I heard if you add water and ferment it - they eat less but get more nutrients