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

[ShrekDawg]

Found this one on Amazon that includes a pair of gloves.

https://www.amazon.com/Pallet-Buster-Deck-Wrecker-Tool/dp/B075TFBC6T

 

[ShrekDawg]

Also found this one for half the price (only $25) that’s just the head so you’d have to add a handle but would at least save quite a bit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B079J6XT44/ref=sspa_mw_detail_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[TracyLM75]

Meal scrapes. Bites of meat, anything you eat so can they.

Yes! This is the way my great grandparents and grandparents raised their flocks. Im sure during the Great depression this was the only thing some families could do to keep their flocks going so they could have eggs and meat during tough times.

 

[Tofu the chicken]

Farming any thing you can in a garden or whatever possible and feeding back their eggs as scrambled eggs (mine love scrambled eggs), and using egg shells as a calcium source, would be your best bet probably

 

[Qualien]

In our area we have an abundance of wild foraging material. I've noticed my chickens, and guineas when free ranging enjoy alot of the wild sumac berries (not poison sumac, but winged sumac... Red berries), sorrel seed, various grass seeds, and other plant seeds. Whenever I go out foraging for us I always try to collect some for the chickens also. It's a bit of a pain to process, but each time I put these in a bucket, to make my own chicken feed. I've also noticed the chickens love my potatoes that I grow in leaf piles. Potatoes are quick to grow, and in a potato box you can grow alot in a small space... Plus they are easy to store. I love the mealworm growing idea at the begining of the thread being as it is not labor intensive, and the growing of amaranth. You could also grow broom corn (sorghum), corn, and sunflowers which put out allot of crop without costing much space. I don't believe you can grow a garden in with your chickens, as they will eat/destroy all you grow. Kitchen scraps are always a great idea. I'm glad this thread was posted. It's been on my mind.

 

[Rainwing]

What would you feed your flock? What would you grow for them? What would you do in winter?

We have stinging nettle, amaranth and millet plants to use as staples for the flock. I didn't intend to plant millet but my parrots don't finish it off in their daily food and it ends up growing every year. They'll eat weeds, like dandelion, but not if I put it on the ground or in a bowl for them, only from my hand. Maybe chopping them would make it more appetizing.

One time we cooked a raccoon for the hens and they ate the entire thing. Several times the chickens have also received mice and rats for dinner. So if there's no feed and nothing growing in the winter, we might have to resort to that.

 

[keringordon]

They can live quite comfortably on that and more and it's all good for them and eventually for you, I feed all my animals better than I feed myself because I share my eggs with friends, family and those who are less fortunate at the food pantry I volunteer at. I garden extensively just to share with those who can't afford good, quality fruits and veggies, in my area. And I definitely share it with all my animals from herbs to broccoli to watermelons and I do this because with the fruits and veggies I give them come back in the form of good-tasting eggs and meat. Also, if you ferment a lot of that food it's even better for them and you and makes the food stretch and also if some of what you grow is grain you can make it into fodder that creates grain in bulk, so you'll be spending so much less on grain. I'm just starting the fodder and fermenting and black soldier fly larva and mealworms are also good for them and if you learn to farm them yourself you give them good protein and calcium. Hope my two cents helps.
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