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

[Shadrach]

More true for those who keep chickens as livestock, have the space to free range, and live in warmer climates. Im fortunate enough to fit the bill except the warm climate, but now that spring is here, we are in good shape.
For those who see their birds more as pets, its going to be hard for them to consider eating their feathered friends

I appreciate this. However, having two, or three chickens as pets is doable with restricted commercial feed. What may not be is trying to keep a flock in conditions that are not sustainable without commercially produced feed.
Quite a few people where I live keep two or three hens and a rooster on small town plots.
The rooster and hens in this picture free range around the plot. They get a few eggs during the laying season and when a hen goes broody and hatches they get a few chickens to eat. They have never provided commercial feed and the chickens live on what they can forage and scraps from the kitchen.

 

[tinyfeet]

I'm in a rental with no free range option. I grow fodder from a mixture of barley feed seed and high protein scratch seed in my home. It has reduced our feed usage by nearly 40%. There are several videos on youtube on how to grow it. We reuse take out plastic containers and a typical garden watering can. No fancy set up and it works.

 

[igorsMistress]

What happens when that few months worth of feed runs out? The assumption seems to be always, that things will return to how they were.

Exactly my point. People need to have a plan to deal with that possibility. I happen to have 5 meat birds here, they eat more than the other birds so we're going to process them for food now. If it comes to it, that's what we'll do with most or all of my flock. I'm not going to let them starve, and letting them go or selling them will just put food on someone elses plate. It all depends on how things shake out.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I appreciate this. However, having two, or three chickens as pets is doable with restricted commercial feed. What may not be is trying to keep a flock in conditions that are not sustainable without commercially produced feed.
Quite a few people where I live keep two or three hens and a rooster on small town plots.
The rooster and hens in this picture free range around the plot. They get a few eggs during the laying season and when a hen goes broody and hatches they get a few chickens to eat. They have never provided commercial feed and the chickens live on what they can forage and scraps from the kitchen.
View attachment 2057643

Agreed. My point was that those who develop a strong emotional attachment to their flock that they've previously been able to support with store bought feed, may suddenly find themselves with a tough fact to face.

 

[igorsMistress]

This is how it seems to work in many other parts of the world.
If you can feed yourself, then you can feed your chickens. When the balance for this tips, you eat your chickens. It is a bit simplistic but one of the attractions of chickens as livestock is they are omnivorous, they will eat whatever you do.
This I understand was part of the reasoning behind keeping chickens as domestication developed. One could provide enough food (there were no feed stores or commercial feeds) to keep the chickens in the locality. They would roam free and forage. They were left to breed and the males were eaten.

Yes, but people in the city don't really have this option. If the situation were dire we can't just let our flocks free range all over the neighborhood. A typical urban lot doesn't have the space needed to sustain the birds year round, even if it's a small flock. Many areas don't allow roosters so folks wouldn't be breeding.

 

[igorsMistress]

I appreciate this. However, having two, or three chickens as pets is doable with restricted commercial feed. What may not be is trying to keep a flock in conditions that are not sustainable without commercially produced feed.
Quite a few people where I live keep two or three hens and a rooster on small town plots.
The rooster and hens in this picture free range around the plot. They get a few eggs during the laying season and when a hen goes broody and hatches they get a few chickens to eat. They have never provided commercial feed and the chickens live on what they can forage and scraps from the kitchen.
View attachment 2057643

How big is that lot?

 

[tsnuttall]

I do not want to start a panic, rather a conversation. No I haven’t heard rumors of feed shortages. Yes we all are aware of the virus situation in the United States and everywhere in the world.
Just for the sake of conversation If someone needs to decide to stop buying feed and could not free range what would be your go to way of feeding your flock?
Yes we all know free range is the ideal. This discussion is about a situation where that is not an option, neither is purchasing grains. Let’s just include the thought that this is not a farm with fields to grow tons of grain but perhaps a “backyard garden” could include a bit dedicated to chickens. Let’s discuss this in terms of various seasonal and environmental conditions. Let’s also include that you are not open to the idea that you should stop raising chickens because you can’t afford them. This isn’t about affordability. It’s just a discussion.
What would you feed your flock? What would you grow for them? What would you do in winter?
If this discussion becomes problematic I request moderators to remove it. Let’s just enjoy exchanging ideas.
I’ve had some thoughts. I have a small framed chicken garden in their run so they can eat greens through a wire barrier without destroying roots. Perhaps I could expand that idea with frames of various heights to allow more mature growth an possible fruiting. Maybe grow a protected amaranth plant to allow the grain to fall for the chickens to eat.
I have other thoughts to share but let’s start there.
Your turn.

I’ve been stocking up. Ordering from amazon. Although out TSC is still open.

 

[Kikiriki]

I recommend people watch Edible Acres on YouTube. The man collects scraps from restaurants, mixes with fall leaves, and keeps compost going in a cattle panel tunnel all winter for his chickens. He adds a little sprouting grains to encourage scratching through the compost, and the warmth keeps worms alive, while the abundant food keeps them breeding. He ends up with tons of beautiful compost that his chickens have added to with their waste, and his feed costs are super low for lots of chickens.
innovating is better than worrying!

 

[igorsMistress]

I recommend people watch Edible Acres on YouTube. The man collects scraps from restaurants, mixes with fall leaves, and keeps compost going in a cattle panel tunnel all winter for his chickens. He adds a little sprouting grains to encourage scratching through the compost, and the warmth keeps worms alive, while the abundant food keeps them breeding. He ends up with tons of beautiful compost that his chickens have added to with their waste, and his feed costs are super low for lots of chickens.
innovating is better than worrying!

Not too many restaurants are actually open. In some places people have to shelter in place, going out for necessities only. That's fine in an ordinary world.

 

[Carolina Oaks]

I bought extra bags of food last time I was at the store just for this reason. It’s like gasoline, it WILL get used lol. If things got tight I would start supplementing with things I could gather. Table scraps, lawn clippings, clover, dent corn. If I were to grow food I would grow field corn first, it dries and bags easy. It’s packed with calories and grows well in my soil. I’d also bake their egg shells and grind them to add back into their food. Several wild grains you can grow under a frame that do well too. Like you mentioned, just really have to protect the base so they don’t scratch it up. Get a colony of pill bugs going. You can lay a flat piece of plywood on the ground and give it a week, call the birds over and flip it. Worm buffet.