NEEDING ADVICE ON MY FEEDING DILEMMA

[spoikey]

The only way my chickens like corn is fresh, on the cob. They hate cracked corn. When I give them scratch they eat everything but the cracked corn. They always have layer mash available but mostly ignore it. I'm switching to mixing wheat, barley and oats instead of scratch.I have happy, healthy and spoiled chickens. Some things, like tomatoes, they will only eat if I hand feed. They also free range. Right now I have 4 mature hens and get 4 eggs every day.

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha kakou.

I have been trying the fermented feed method. You put the feed in a bowl of water. Stir and add more water as it expands. Everyday I add some more feed right before I feed them to make it less watery. I let it settle then strain it and feed it. This fermented feed had beneficial bacteria in it and will help to stave off other bacteria in their system. It is supposed to reduce the amount of feed needed.
I have also been adding flax seed to the mash.

My newest experiment is to add Koa Haole leaves to the mix( Leucaena leucocephala). It is supposed to have lots of nitrogen. We'll see how they like it.

Of course I also try to give the garden greens and kitchen scraps and thrown away food. And I let them out to forage sometimes.

Fighting mice and rats right now(they love automatic feeders). I have been cheating and laying out rat poison at night. It's all gone in the morning. I think they like it for breakfast! They keep coming back for more.

I implore you all to investigate natural farming methods. Korean kine and Japanese kine.

shoots then, take care, Puhi

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

These sites can lead you to other sites.

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/03/benefits-of-fermenting-feed-for.html

http://www.kalapanaorganics.com/nat...sms/raising-chickens-the-natural-farming-way/

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

Upon further research, maybe Koa haole leaves are not the best additive due to a compound called mimosene. So I'll scratch that one. This is why the internet rocks!

take care, puhi

 

[centrarchid]

To all,

The original owner of birds may not have all logic correct but care regimen may have been as good as any suggested in this thread. Birds were given free-range access which under some conditions provide nutrition that is superior than any complete formulation you by can provide. For me, when free-range forage starts to come up short, scratch or whole corn generally provide the first limiting nutrients enabling continued production even as forage quality declines. OP's confining birds to run make's original advice invalid.

All feeds contain hormones or at least hormone anilogs.

The heat production of corn is largely bunk.

Restart this and consider more than just the feed.

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha kakou,

I just wanted to share what I do.

First I ferment some triple duty feed. I use a milk carton with top cut off. I put about a cup of feed in there and a lot of water and stir. After an hour the feed has expanded, stir again and add water if needed. There should be 1-2 inches of water covering the feed at all times. Lactic acid bacteria will start to grow in your feed this requires no oxygen. Oxygen will let the bad bacteri grow. The lactic acid bacteria is beneficial to the digestive and immune systems and breaks food down to get more nutrition out of it.

The next day, I add flax seed, stir, add water if needed.

The next morning, I add uncooked brown rice and a little more feed to soak up the water on the top. Stir and wait 5 minutes for the feed to expand. Then you have a nice mush to feed to the chickens. I do not feed all of the food. Only about half or 2/3. The rest is a culture for the future.

After feeding I add flax seed, maybe more feed, and let it ferment until sunset.

Before sunset, I add feed to soak up water and feed them.

The next morning, I add uncooked brown rice, and a little more feed to soak up the water on the top. wait 5 minutes, then feed them. And the process continues like that.

The uncooked brown rice expands their digestive tract and makes their digestive tract more efficient. The poo will stink less. Whatever rice that is left in the mush will get fermented. I put in flax after the feeding so that it soaks and ferments for a while before I feed.

This is influenced by the natural farming method people.

Mahalo for reading, Puhi

 

[mrstomcat]

Is the flax seed you use to ferment the same flax seed people use? Also do you feed the birds anything else besides this muss? I'm interested in saving some dollars at the feed store and this sounds simple enough. How many birds will this feed? Do you give this to young birds or just grown ones? Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to learn.
Darlene
south Texas Houston area

 

[mrstomcat]

Brada Puhi,
Forgot to ask. What is triple duty feed?

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

I bought 25 pounds of flax from the feed store. I think it costed $22. I figure it adds Omega 3s to my eggs, so I spend extra. Triple duty is what they call it at the feed store, I might be a little wrong on the name. I will be switching to laying pellets instead of the triple on my next bag as my birds are getting close to laying age. I have 1 layer and 7 juveniles. Use whatever feed you like.

The Korean Natural Farming method calls for feeding raw brown rice and bamboo leaves to day old chicks, so I say give it at any age. Brown rice is the cheapest of the three that I use. Unhusked brown rice is the major backyard chicken feed in Asia. It's the cheapest. Just not too much nutrition.

I also feed lettuce and leftover food. I grow the lettuce, and I give the junk leaves to them. They love it.

I am also looking into growing Black Soldier Fly Larvae. You can look it up on Youtube. I will probably use a 55 gallon plastic drum and make a ramp for them to crawl out of and into my cup. Now that is inexpensive feed, especially if you have access to wasted food like a grocery store, restaurant or cafeteria.

I said one cup to start off with, how much depends on how many birds you have, just save some to keep the fermentation going at all times. Also, I didn't make clear maybe that it needs to be covered with water all day and night, to keep it anaerobic.

All in all, I'd say Use equal amount of brown rice and feed in the morning and equal amount of flax and feed for the second part. so 50% feed, 25% flax, 25% rice.

Fermenting helps break the food down and make more nutrients available for digestion.

I'm kinda new too, but I've been researching a lot.

take care, Puhi

 

[tomsrunpoultry]

After 12 days of feeding layena, my chickens are averaging 16 eggs per day. The yolks are a little lighter than before. I have been supplementing with scratch, but they seem to now be shying away from the corn it it. Overall, I think their health is improved.

I still have folks telling me I am going to burn them out by feeding layena. I'm hopeful they are wrong!