If feed stores closed and you can’t free range...

[KansasCluck]

Ok so my chickens are spoiled rotten...I keep seeds on hand to make fodder for my chickens through the winter. So if the stores do close and I can’t get their regular feed they will gladly continue to eat their daily sprout rations. Upside is I originally bought a 50 pound bag of seeds two winters ago and I still have plenty left. Down side is you have to have room to properly store the seeds and it takes about a week before they are ready to be fed to the chickens. Therefore have to start a new batch every day.

 

[BReeder!]

If you can make it a through the first several weeks, let the lawn grow to seed. Then cut it and feed to chickens or let the chickens on the lawn after it's grown to seed to get all sorts of insects and seeds and then cut and incorporate the lawn as feed. It would double as bedding in the coop and run and eventually triple it's worth as compost. Grass is essentially hay, just not grown out fully. After you cut it, it will grow back. In my growing season here in the midwest I would likely get 3-4 cuts in a year. I live on 1/3 of an acre and over 1/2 of it is grass after you deduct the house, patio, driveway, shed/coop, run, flower beds and garden. It's a lot of grass for our small flock. As a bonus, the grass is just beginning to grow again as we are getting of winter cold and the rains are coming in.

I'm also planting the garden soon. We just started a bunch of seeds indoors yesterday actually. So in just about two months we will start to get some harvests. A particularly useful crop in the situation described in the first post would be radishes. Radish greens could be feed to our birds and the roots would help feed us. Radishes grow very fast. Another rapid growth option would be sprouting grains. If you cannot buy grains, you have a lawn full of grass and if you grow it to seed like I said above you could take some of those seeds and grow sprouts. Sprouts are nutritious and could be fed to the birds and us. All the while, growing other vegetables and fruit would provide variety and added nutrients in time for both birds and us. If successful in meeting the chickens feed requirements, they may be able to reproduce (assuming there's a rooster in the flock, which I don't have but I do have a drake in my duck raft), providing a source of meat for us. It's amazing what one can accomplish on a small plot of land.

 

[SchultzWoodworking]

I too have been designing & planning a 25’ X 50’ heated greenhouse to compliment my outdoor fenced in garden...In the next couple weeks we will be breaking ground... I ordered (3) large raised garden beds from Birdies Garden Products last week to ease the bending over for carrots, greens, beets etc., I’ve got (19) Egg layers who all love their grub (as evident by their ghetto booties) so, I’d rather not ever run into a situation like we did recently when the grocery stores around here were cleaned out in a matter of days... the feed stores may remain open but what if martial law is declared or some local official decides to close all non essential businesses? Hmm (like they did) I do raise mealworms & night crawlers for fishing which can be nice little Scooby snacks year round... I suppose I could freeze or freeze dry the leftover fish carcasses after the filets... The greenhouse would be the solution (as long as you can defend it) gotta love the homestead hoorah... Side note: I hope you all are safe & sound, have enough provisions & are in good health ~ take care

 

[bunsmac]

When I run out of feed .I usually give my hens tortillas and table scrapes.And they free range.Actually they have picked the yard bare.So I maintain them with feed..

 

[VirginiaLowe]

My seven absolutely go mad for trad or wandering Jew - little triangular white flower, glossy green juicy leaves. The front garden is full of it - useful ground-cover. But i think if i free ran them there they'd eat it down in a couple of days - not enough to keep them going i don't think. They also love milk thistles (not nettles, worst luck - and i can't figure out why as we eat it - cooked though. What they'd enjoy most is tinned cat food (we're vegetarian, so that's the only meat they meet), sunflower seeds and trad and other kitchen scraps as well (there's no waste!) Virginia

 

[Holas]

Can you try grinding the beans and then cooking?

I'm currently working it out. Different ways of cooking and fermenting. It just takes a lot of time To make them edible. Really old beans don't like to soften.

 

[HotDesertChick]

I can't help thinking that's it's threads like this that have erupted on the Internet that are causing the panic buying. So far more people die each day in car accidents.
Sure the virus is dangerous, particularly if you're elderly and have respiratory, or cardiac problems. It has actually killed a very very small percentage of those who contracted it.
I think here in Spain it's killed around 50 people out of the estimated 2300 infected.
Lets try and keep some sense of proportion and rationality. It's the hysteria that's doing most of the damage currently, not the virus.

Shadrach, you have 'hit the nail on the head'. "Let's try and keep some sense of proportion and rationality..." Very well said.

If all of us just learn, & practice, a few basic rules about observation and hygiene, this virus will not be dangerous to most. Any coronavirus is easily killed with a 10% bleach solution, 70-90 percent alcohol, 20-second hand washing, etc, etc.

This is not ebola folks. (Although interestingly enough?: one anti-viral drug used in slowing Ebola should work fine on Corvid-19).

Like any/all respiratory viruses, all coronavirus is highly contagious. (Interesting though, that one form of corona virus, in dogs, largely causes "stomach issues" allowing it to spread more readily in groups of canines).

People appear to panic so easily. Sad. Common sense, not panic, will conquer the initial round of Corvid-19.

Old toot

 

[Chicken Rancher Jeff]

I don't visit this site frequently, but I like your question. I am reviewing responses, and will be implementing some of the positive responses. Thank you Cryss, for posing the question.

 

[Prescottchick]

I’m always a hope for the best/prepare for the worst kind of person. I have a small orchard and a grapevine and mulberry tree planted outside their run. Jerusalem Artichokes and comfrey. I’m planting field corn and sunflowers to dry and use as feed if for some reason their is a run on feed. Spring is almost here in the high country of northern Arizona and that means grasshoppers and crickets around the corner. Planting some greens in the garden. If I had to I could sell some chickens. Hens at point of lay are suddenly a hot commodity. I’ve got goats and a donkey To feed as well. Hopefully we don’t have to worry about shortages.

 

[Prescottchick]

I’m always a hope for the best/prepare for the worst kind of person. I have a small orchard and a grapevine and mulberry tree planted outside their run. Jerusalem Artichokes and comfrey. I’m planting field corn and sunflowers to dry and use as feed if for some reason there is a run on feed. Spring is almost here in the high country of northern Arizona and that means grasshoppers and crickets around the corner. Planting some greens in the garden. If I had to I could sell some chickens. Hens at point of lay are suddenly a hot commodity. I’ve got goats and a donkey To feed as well. Hopefully we don’t have to worry about shortages.