I'm new here, know nothing about chickens, need advice

[BasenjiFan]

I have a book that has contains some information on "home-grown" diets for chickens: "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery. It has 85 large pages regarding poultry - could be a useful resource.

I can't find a specific recipe for feeding grown chickens, but then, I suppose that the idea is to have a variety to avoid deficiencies that might be associated with feeding too much of a few ingredients... anyhow, it does give a recipe for home-grown chick food, and it has a bit on winter feeding. It says to feed them protein, grain and greens (also vegetable peelings, cooked "cheap bulky vegetables," cooked potatoes, and sprouted grain as well as a calcium source, and good alfalfa hay. It also states that if they are not on a commercial feed they need sunshine or supplemental Vitamin D.

As far as feeding milk, this book states that you can offer it as protein (along with grain, veggies, pasture/cut greens or green leafy hay in winter). According to the author, feed at least 1 gallon of milk per day per 30 chickens that are not fed a commercial diet. Just be sure to NOT feed it in a galvanized container - milk will turn acidic.

Hope that helps, as I have little real knowledge on chickens!

I am in the planning phase to get a few soon(ish).

 

[moenmitz]

Basenjifan- AWESOME-Thank you!!! I am going on Amazon right now to see if I can order this-sounds like what I am looking for!

 

[d.k]

* B. is very right. One thing that is not exactly part of the feeding list that you will definitely have to think about for your over-wintering layers is LIGHT!! You need to start looking HARD at their planned winter quarters with an eye to catching whatever available daylight and likely providing supplemental light as well. And one thing to add to your crop list would be black oil sunflower.

 

[digitS']

Moenmitz, some good practical advice for farmers raising chickens 100 years ago can be found in a small book called Feeding for Eggs by James Dryden. You can download the entire booklet from Oregon State University on that webpage.

We have discussed just what you are thinking of doing on the "Feeding Time" forum a few times. Perhaps a search of garden and feed here would give you a few threads to look at. Growing food for the chickens in the garden is of real interest to me.

I usually give quite a few things from the garden to the hens but try hard to keep the offerings well-balanced with adequate protein. Generally, chickens require a fairly similar diet to our own. It's easy to grow carbohydrates for them but a little more difficult to grow food with adequate protein. Legumes are an obvious choice but they should be cooked as has been pointed out. Sprouting is also, apparently, an option.

I am no expert on these things

and those that are, seem quite reluctant to advise a home-grown diet. There are a good number of ways a person can go wrong. The modern bird is fairly high-maintenance with important vitamin and mineral needs. The more productive the breed, the more critical their nutritional needs are.

How were our grandparents and those folks worldwide able to overcome the pitfalls?? Well, for one thing they may have had very unproductive flocks at times, thru the year. In fact, in many places, chickens are not really kept for eggs but rather for producing a just a few offspring each year for the pot. The chicken's primary value was their ability to scavenge a diet (of sorts) without special feeding.

If there is any area of the US that would be appropriate for the growing of poultry feed it would have to be Iowa

. Corn, soybeans, and wheat are central ingredients for many feeds. You could grow tons of these crops on 12 acres of good farmland.

As far as goat milk, you'll find that Dryden recommends milk. And, I used to make a very simple cheese for the hens when I was on the farm. Chickens also have problems digesting milk sugars but a lot of folks here feed yogurt to their birds. I used rennet to make something like my mom made for the family when I was a kid. The chickens ate it with enthusiasm when I had a lot of surplus milk. You may find that something similar could be your flock's primary source of protein and grain crops could provide most of the carbohydrates.

Vitamins should come from whole foods in our diets, the nutritionists tell us. We can be gaining these important nutrients simply by eating fruits and vegetables. That may be true with chickens as well. They certainly enjoy spinach, broccoli, Winter squash, and other foods that our mothers tried so hard to get us to eat

.

Steve

 

[moenmitz]

dk- how much light will they need? The barn has several smaller windows-but artificial light too you think? What kind? I have heard that you should use red bulbs with chicks to prevent pecking-is that the same for the adults?

digitS-thanks for the link, I am heading there next.

I was snooping around some more, and found out you can buy organic mixes that you add to your own grains-not as expensive as the organic feeds it seems, so that is something I will look into if I can't come up with a satisfactory mix that we have completely grown.

 

[catfish]

We had a few banthams a few years back, Dad bought them to cut down on ticks, we never did feed them for 3 years, they roosted in a cedar tree.

Predators finally got the last one. This was Arkansas and winters are mild.

One more thing, want to see chickens go nuts, catch a fish and stand it on pole and watch em pick it clean.

 

[goatkeepers]

The only advice I can offer is about the milk.

I have read that it shouldn't be pasturized. It has to be raw. We raise goats for milk here and I've been wanting to feed the chicks some fresh goat's milk. I think it's really good for them.
Good luck, I think it's great what you are trying to do!!