ive decided to have an endelss suppy of food, but what kind.

[Going Quackers]

Do chickens self-regulate? I have fish and a dog, given the opportunity, they would eat themselves into their graves...

I free feed my dogs too(one is even a lab!) they don't gorge and none are overweight.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

How much feed do they go through now?

they go through a 20kg bag every 3-4 weeks, but they free range from about 1:00pm to 6:00pm and get some calcium once a week.

 

[donrae]

Do chickens self-regulate? I have fish and a dog, given the opportunity, they would eat themselves into their graves...

Chickens do, cause what we're feeding them is more or less what they're designed to eat. Dogs currently are so overweight cause we're feeding them grains. If you fed your dog a raw diet it would self regulate also. Now, if only a raw diet were free lol!

I don't know about fish but I imagine commercial fish food is also unnatural for them, thus the overeating.

Humans that don't eat as much grains tend to self regulate better, too! There's my little primal soapbox

 

[pigeonguy]

Chickens are omnivores not herbivores therefor to be feeding them naturally we would have to give them some meat and not all grains. So we treat them the same as dogs by feeding only grains.

 

[donrae]

Chickens are omnivores not herbivores therefor to be feeding them naturally we would have to give them some meat and not all grains. So we treat them the same as dogs by feeding only grains.

I guess I just assumed most folks here give some protein or have some free ranging or a run that allows for scratching bugs, etc. I realize not everyone does, but I think most birds here have a closer to natural diet than most dogs.

My birds actually get pretty much what I eat, plus commercial feed. I eat a lot of meat

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Chickens are omnivores not herbivores therefor to be feeding them naturally we would have to give them some meat and not all grains. So we treat them the same as dogs by feeding only grains.

Cruddy dog food isn't the only option. You can buy grain-free dog food. Some of the grain-frees have potatoes but you can also find potato-free kibble without too much hassle.

Same with chicken feed. It is not that hard to find poultry feed with animal protein in it. Farming mealworms is also really easy and cheap. My dogs and my chickens like them.

 

[aggiemae]

i have 23 chickens so i do want them laying and being happy but dont want to have to buy heaps of food guess you cant have it both ways.

You can supplement by free ranging, ours hardly touched their feed in the height of summer.. On occasion I dump the worm bin to get the castings and if they are multiplying nicely I give the ladies a cup of worms..and also put out some of the really big ones into the raised beds to aerate the soil.

You can also try fermenting your own feed from whole grains to boost it's usable protein content. I just paid $8.00 for a 50 pound bag of whole oats and fermenting should boost the protein from 11% to around 18%.

We grow a batch of (solider?) fly larvae in our compost every few weeks. I just get the compost cooking by adding a batch of fresh grass clipping and enough waster to wet well. Once it's hot I remove the top for a few hours and re shut it. after a few days, there are literally pounds of wriggle (and absolutely free) protein....If only I had the stomach to freeze dry them....

The grocery store where I shop saves all the (organic) fruit and vegetable waste they would normally toss for me twice a week, they even separate out the citrus and onions. I chop it up and dump it out for the hens then compost what left at the end of the day. BTW, I do this twice a week only because other people where already coming for the produce waste on the other days. I bet most stores are more than happy to reduce their disposal bill.

 

[aggiemae]

Cruddy dog food isn't the only option. You can buy grain-free dog food. Some of the grain-frees have potatoes but you can also find potato-free kibble without too much hassle.

Same with chicken feed. It is not that hard to find poultry feed with animal protein in it. Farming mealworms is also really easy and cheap. My dogs and my chickens like them.

The complication is that so much of the meat in animal food, including pricy premium brands, comes from China. Due to the alarming number of recalls, not to mention deaths, caused by tainted food I no longer buy any food products imported from China (or Taiwan) for my family or my pets. We used Solid Gold pet food exclusively for out dogs and cat and I check frequently to make sure that they continue to use US grown ingredients only.

I do farm worms, feed meat scraps and even ferment grains. We buy a locally sources feed that contains fish and shrimp meal but until major companies start to put the source of the ingredients on their labels I will not buy any meat based commercial chicken feeds.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I feed Merrick. Grain free, locally grown, no ingredients from China. I have fed Solid Gold in the past. It doesn't take much time to read and understand what's in what you are buying. Good food makes a big difference.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

You can supplement by free ranging, ours hardly touched their feed in the height of summer.. On occasion I dump the worm bin to get the castings and if they are multiplying nicely I give the ladies a cup of worms..and also put out some of the really big ones into the raised beds to aerate the soil.

You can also try fermenting your own feed from whole grains to boost it's usable protein content. I just paid $8.00 for a 50 pound bag of whole oats and fermenting should boost the protein from 11% to around 18%.

We grow a batch of (solider?) fly larvae in our compost every few weeks. I just get the compost cooking by adding a batch of fresh grass clipping and enough waster to wet well. Once it's hot I remove the top for a few hours and re shut it. after a few days, there are literally pounds of wriggle (and absolutely free) protein....If only I had the stomach to freeze dry them....

The grocery store where I shop saves all the (organic) fruit and vegetable waste they would normally toss for me twice a week, they even separate out the citrus and onions. I chop it up and dump it out for the hens then compost what left at the end of the day. BTW, I do this twice a week only because other people where already coming for the produce waste on the other days. I bet most stores are more than happy to reduce their disposal bill.

i do free range them they love it, and id love to know how to ferment food is there already a thread on this or could you PM a good method OR both? and i think i will ask the grocer good idea.