Kitchen scraps

[21hens-incharge]

I suppose that is where the OP could have been clearer.
Whether the "food" is being put in a dish and served to confined birds.....thereby limiting choices.....or if it is going to a compost pile the birds pick through having a much broader choice.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I suppose that is where the OP could have been clearer.
Whether the "food" is being put in a dish and served to confined birds.....thereby limiting choices.....or if it is going to a compost pile the birds pick through having a much broader choice.

That’s fair...I really do think that the abundance and the free choice are key to it working.

 

[21hens-incharge]

That’s fair...I really do think that the abundance and the free choice are key to it working.

While I would LOVE to have my birds running around the yard there are WAY to many hawks here. My situation is with confined birds so they eat what I bring them.....no choices sadly.
I DO give kitchen scraps......just definitely nothing spoiled, processed, heavily seasoned or dairy.

Sure wish the hawks would bugger off.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Oh yeah, if you’re not composting or deep litter in your run, you’ll want to remove what they can’t consume before it goes bad or attracts pests.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

And hawks are tough...we have decent tree cover, but still have been hit by small cooper hawks.

 

[iwltfum]

Justin Rhodes actually is a lot more into pasture than compost (his big thing is temporary fencing and moving them every day). That being said, everyone should do their own research and do what they feel is best for their situation.

Wholeheartedly agreed. My wife loves watching his videos. We have a new baby and I think she likes the bucolic nature of his lifestyle and likes to compare it to how we want to raise our children. So I have watched ALOT of them as we have followed his channel for several years. But I think his ideas are presented in a way that attracts viewership rather than promoting well thought out, efficient, and economically frugal homesteading practices. For example he IS all about pasture but he also has his laying flock in a permanent fenced in area that is - the way I think of it - pretty small for the amount of chickens in there and the fence is 4 feet tall and with a rigid top bar (perfect for roosting and hopping over) so he has to chase them down all day and put them back into their run area - silly, and a large investment with surprisingly bad planning for the "chicken ninja warrior". Just my two cents. He has a beautiful family and I totally respect what he is doing, but people need to be thinking things through and not just following blindly what J Roddy Rhodes is doing. I like the direction this thread has gone, because we are all agreed that it is situational and we certainly aren't all in the same situation.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Like I said...this is more work than most approaches.

Today, while doing morning feeding and egg collection, I spent maybe 15 min re-piling what the chickens had scratched off the pile.

I was at the food pantry at lunchtime picking up some food waste - a nice, smallish load (very manageable). Mostly fruit, tomatoes, and bread. Other pickups are more greens, mixed veggies, etc.

After work I processed the food waste onto the pile, then headed into the woods for 3-4 barrels of leaves and pine needles to get the pile some carbon to keep the ratios right and smell down.

I won’t do another food pickup until Thu or Fri, but will spend some time between now and then turning the pile and adding more carbon.

 

[chickenenthusiasts5698]

I’ve personally have never taken him seriously. I wouldn’t feed moldy or rotten foods either. And if I were to give them milk it would be in very small quantities.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I feel like the Rhodes spend more money of stuff than most homesteads, too. They build raised beds that probably cost more than my truck. I build coops, raised beds, and composters out of salvaged pallets and other scrap lumber (that I haul in above mentioned truck).

And whenever he opens a small mobile coop I’m a bit shocked by how many birds come out. More crowded than I like.

But, when viewed with this stuff in mind, there are useful morsels of info. I really liked the farm tour they did a few years ago...was cool to see so many operations of all shapes , sizes, and approaches.

 

[Jbyrne136]

I suppose that is where the OP could have been clearer.
Whether the "food" is being put in a dish and served to confined birds.....thereby limiting choices.....or if it is going to a compost pile the birds pick through having a much broader choice.

Yes that is what I meant sorry my English is bad