HYPOTHETICAL DISCUSSION: What to feed your chickens when we can't buy chicken feed anymore

[jak2002003]

Baby chicks will do well eating the same food as the adults plus give them some mashed up hard boiled eggs. The extra protein will be great for growth.

You can mix up some cooked rice with the egg, or add a small amount of bread crumbs to dry it out a bit and make it less messy.

Offer this 2 times a day, as much as they can eat. Don't leave the egg food about for hours in a warm climate or it will start to go bad.

 

[bahamabanty]

Thanks. What about cornmeal and oats thats available here.

 

[Aphrael]

Yes, I had to go to asian and hawaiian based chicken websites and youtube channels to see what I could feed them. Thats how I found out about the hibiscus, banana leeaves and the ferns.
A lot of info on feeding them for (almost) free in the tropics here in this video (from Phillipines I believe): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdNHEpMISmQ
Jak2002 you will probably like this video, a lot of plants I didnt recognize but maybe you will!
Btw, did you find that they would lay less when you feed them a lot of cooked rice? Some old folks here told me not to give them too much rice,
but I havent noticed a difference. It seemed to me they lay more after I fed them left over pea's and rice, called "potcake":



What would you feed babychicks if you had no chick starter around?



Yes, I throw compost/garden clippings etc in one corner of the run daily, this works because thats where they scratch etc. I try to limit the amount of table scraps to what they will eat in an hour or so, because of rats. So far its been going very well.


after a good afternoon tropical downpour, its a creepy crawly dig fest in here


(This is the coop and the run I started with, all that bush in the back of the coop, middle to right is the "jungle run" I added.)

That looks like a lovely, breezy cool place for them to hang out!

Thanks. What about cornmeal and oats thats available here.

You could give them some cornmeal or oat as a snack or as a part of their feed as long as they have access to grit, but I would hesitate giving it as their only feed. I think both of those are pretty low in protein and those alone would not fulfill all their nutritional requirements. But as jak said above, you can feed them the same thing as the adults, you just might to chop some stuff up for them and make sure they have access to grit.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

In regards to the discussion about dogs... I spent a long time studying dog nutrition and what dogs can/can't "handle" eating. We forget that the majority of dogs in the US eat something like Kibbles N Bits or Beneful or Old Roy which are mostly made out of grains and by products anyhow. Do these dogs live to be 20 years old and have no health problems? No! Of course not! But in a world where there's no way to feed your chickens from a store I doubt the extra 3-4 years of increased average lifespan for your dog is going to be your first concern.

Don't get me wrong; I own two northern breeds and they eat a grain free diet and all that fancy ****. If push came to shove, however, it's better for me to get a new dog than to risk my own survival and food production.

What I would feed my dogs, or any dog in that situation, would be mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, eggs, and by-products. I raise rabbits and when I process them the dogs gladly consume feet and skulls and extra bones and organs. People forget about potatoes but they're actually a very ideal source of nutrition.

If you're bullshitting canine nutrition in an emergency situation it's perfectly acceptable to give your dogs 1-2 whole eggs for breakfast and a mash of a bit of organ meat, bones, scraps and veggies for dinner. They will very likely THRIVE on this diet. Carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes grow easy, they're high-production, they store well and they're very easy on a dog's stomach with high energy and nutritional value. Pumpkins fit this bill too. Then you only need to worry about filling their protein and calcium requirements which eggs and bones and organs do a lot for. In fact, all summer long I gave my dogs each an egg a day for breakfast instead of dog food and they did fine. They actually GAINED weight and coat condition rather than lost it, no need to keep 20 extra sheep a year to feed them. XD

The biggest problem for most of us if we can't buy animal feed any more is not WHAT to feed because both dogs and chickens can survive on eggs and vegetables and grains and scraps. The problem is trying to get enough of it to go around.

 

[Aphrael]

In regards to the discussion about dogs... I spent a long time studying dog nutrition and what dogs can/can't "handle" eating. We forget that the majority of dogs in the US eat something like Kibbles N Bits or Beneful or Old Roy which are mostly made out of grains and by products anyhow. Do these dogs live to be 20 years old and have no health problems? No! Of course not! But in a world where there's no way to feed your chickens from a store I doubt the extra 3-4 years of increased average lifespan for your dog is going to be your first concern.

Don't get me wrong; I own two northern breeds and they eat a grain free diet and all that fancy ****. If push came to shove, however, it's better for me to get a new dog than to risk my own survival and food production.

What I would feed my dogs, or any dog in that situation, would be mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, eggs, and by-products. I raise rabbits and when I process them the dogs gladly consume feet and skulls and extra bones and organs. People forget about potatoes but they're actually a very ideal source of nutrition.

If you're bullshitting canine nutrition in an emergency situation it's perfectly acceptable to give your dogs 1-2 whole eggs for breakfast and a mash of a bit of organ meat, bones, scraps and veggies for dinner. They will very likely THRIVE on this diet. Carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes grow easy, they're high-production, they store well and they're very easy on a dog's stomach with high energy and nutritional value. Pumpkins fit this bill too. Then you only need to worry about filling their protein and calcium requirements which eggs and bones and organs do a lot for. In fact, all summer long I gave my dogs each an egg a day for breakfast instead of dog food and they did fine. They actually GAINED weight and coat condition rather than lost it, no need to keep 20 extra sheep a year to feed them. XD

The biggest problem for most of us if we can't buy animal feed any more is not WHAT to feed because both dogs and chickens can survive on eggs and vegetables and grains and scraps. The problem is trying to get enough of it to go around.

I've been making my own dog food for a while now (a few years). My dogs thrive on it and need far less of it than they would kibble, because it is so densely packed in nutrition rather than so many fillers. Their coats are soft and shiny. Their current mix is venison, duck eggs, oatmeal, and pumpkin, with a bit of crushed bone and some eggshells for calcium.

 

[Beekissed]

I feed Ol' Roy Kibbles and Chunks...my dogs never ail a bit, never have to go to the vet, live to a ripe old age.

They also get food they forage, plenty of raw meats and bones from the animals we process here, food scraps, fruit from the orchard, veggies from the garden. They will eat corn straight from the garden and will gnaw on it like it's candy...so corn is on the menu, as are grapes, tomatoes, lettuce, watermelon(the BEST) and anything else that strikes their fancy.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Lulz, Bee, my dogs have grain issues. They'd puke all over. Corn goes through them whole and chunky. D: Gross.

That said, adding scraps and raw meat from processing does incredible things for an animal. We had an indoor/outdoor cat that lived to be like 20 years old... He at regular old corn-filled purina food, but he'd hunt his own raw meat all the time... Chipmunks, birds, rabbits... I credit his long life to all his alternate food sources, not his processed pet food.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! If they only use the food as the supplement and the better, foraged foods as the staple, I don't think it's all that bad. My cats have always been healthy boogers too...glossy and bright. It's not the best thing in the world...we never bought dog or cat food when I was young..nobody really did. Dogs just ate food scraps and whatever they could kill and eat, cats hunted exclusively.

 

[centrarchid]

I agree! If they only use the food as the supplement and the better, foraged foods as the staple, I don't think it's all that bad. My cats have always been healthy boogers too...glossy and bright. It's not the best thing in the world...we never bought dog or cat food when I was young..nobody really did. Dogs just ate food scraps and whatever they could kill and eat, cats hunted exclusively.

It is still very much a numbers game. Landscape can support only so many animals. I have at least 50 dogs in 1 mile radius of my house, well in excess of what the land could support. I could support maybe a dozen using that amount of area if had exclusive hunting rights to it. Having any number of cats would put a dent in the number of rabbits and squirrels as they already do. To me, it is not just a numbers game, I need my companion / partners to be in good form so they can get work done and periodically replace themselves. They might be able to live to be 15 years of age but most are not productive after 10 so supporting older will limit what I can produce food-wise for self.

 

[Jedi Clampett]

I have read through this thread and will be watching it closely for additional comments. Whether or not you have learned anything new, I hope it serves to make people think about what they'd do in this type of event. Whatever your situation, you should understand that your chickens would become an invaluable food source. You should plan BEFORE catastrophe happens to feed your flock with resources that would still be available. Keep in mind that chickens would become extremely valuable and would be targeted by thieves as well, not just predators. If you don't already have a rooster and having one wouldn't cause major problems, you should consider that being able to make more chickens would give you a never-ending supply of meat in addition to increased egg production. Even a small amount of planning and preparation could make all the difference.....

You owe it to your family.