new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[Perris]

Well, I’m still learning. To be honest I’ve been too lazy to work on providing all the food for the chicks.
I would like to grow some of the staple crops like corn.
I would like to set up a black soldier fly bin.
I would like a bigger space so the chickens could have more fresh grazing.

Buying grains is a lot easier (and probably cheaper on a small scale) than growing, harvesting and threshing them. Mealworms are much easier to keep than BSFL (e.g. the adults can't fly so no mesh needed). Diverse planting can compensate quite a lot for acreage; it's something I've only recently learned myself. Good example of it in my article on hedges (big difference in the number of breeding pairs and species of birds in two hedges of same size but different composition).

 

[TexasBlues]

I was put off from buying individual grains because I was told it was more expensive than the bagged feeds.
I have successfully grown corn until I got chickens and basically gave up the backyard garden. We have a pretty good sized front and back yards and it took about a year of chickens for every sprig of grass or weed is gone leaving just the perennial plants and fruit trees.
I think I’ll try growing corn again and just fence it off during the seedling stages.
I’ll look into the meal worms.thank you for the info.

 

[Perris]

I was put off from buying individual grains because I was told it was more expensive than the bagged feeds.

You are not alone; you've been misinformed. I buy 25kg of whole wheat for £8. How does that compare with your bag of feed?

 

[Labsandchickens8]

A podcast (with video, or transcript instead if you prefer, https://zoe.com/learn/7-anti-inflammatory-foods ) from Zoe on inflammation, and 7 foods (and the best preparation techniques) that can reduce it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...tion-this-spring/id1611216298?i=1000703863786

The chatty style is off-putting for some of us, but if you endure with it a key point is made about 1/4 way along: "Just to put it in context, because as people know when they go and see their family doctor, they talk about cholesterol levels and fat in food and all these factors.

But there was a large U.S. study recently looking at outcomes over 30 years in health professionals in the U.S. It showed that your levels of inflammation in the blood, were twice as important as your cholesterol levels in the blood.

And I think this, for the first time, has really shown us that it doesn't mean, you know, cholesterol has no role, but compared to the role of inflammation, it is really minor. And the good thing is that diet can shift inflammation much quicker than it can shift, for example, a cholesterol level."

Also, the nutritionally beneficial 'press and rest' method known for some time for garlic is now and here called the 'chop and stop' method, and works for onions, broccoli, cabbage etc. as well. The general insight seems to be that some of the nutrients in some of the veg we eat (notably here, sulforaphane) are locked up by heat. So if you leave your veg for 10 minutes or so between processing (chopping, crushing etc.) and cooking, more of its nutrients will be released and made available for the consumer to digest.

Thank you! This is incredibly important information!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've found BSFL difficult to grow in high heat, as well, @TexasBlues . If I try it again, I may try mealworms next.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You are not alone; you've been misinformed. I buy 25kg of whole wheat for £8. How does that compare with your bag of feed?

There's a feed store in Minneola, TX advertising wheat (out of stock) at $14.95/50#. They sell a 50# bag of 20% protein Layer for $15.95, and a more typical (16% CP) layer for $13.95. Whole corn $11/50#

https://www.mineolafeed.com/

TX is a big state, not sure what may be close to that poster - but I find that pretty representative of pricing here on this side of the pond. The floor may move around a bit, but the basic commercial feed blends are usually just $ or 2 above the local bulk grain prices. Might do better in a big grain State.

 

[saysfaa]

Buying grains is a lot easier (and probably cheaper on a small scale) than growing, harvesting and threshing them. ...

You might be surprised. On small enough scale, like as much as a family can eat in a year, it is remarkably easy. So I've heard from people who have done it. These people include Gene Logsdon who wrote very helpful books about it several decades ago. And my sister.

 

[Perris]

There's a feed store in Minneola, TX advertising wheat (out of stock) at $14.95/50#. They sell a 50# bag of 20% protein Layer for $15.95, and a more typical (16% CP) layer for $13.95. Whole corn $11/50#

https://www.mineolafeed.com/

TX is a big state, not sure what may be close to that poster - but I find that pretty representative of pricing here on this side of the pond. The floor may move around a bit, but the basic commercial feed blends are usually just $ or 2 above the local bulk grain prices. Might do better in a big grain State.

yes of course it depends a lot on what grains grow naturally where one is; for some, it's wheat, for some, barley, for some, rice etc. Going with what's local as the base is usually better for price and freshness, and is what's recommended in all the old handbooks written before commercial feeds existed.

 

[Perris]

You might be surprised. On small enough scale, like as much as a family can eat in a year, it is remarkably easy. So I've heard from people who have done it. These people include Gene Logsdon who wrote very helpful books about it several decades ago. And my sister.

thanks for drawing my attention to this author; he looks interesting, and Chelsea Green is a great publisher of quality books on this sort of topic.

 

[saysfaa]

I was put off from buying individual grains because I was told it was more expensive than the bagged feeds.
I have successfully grown corn until I got chickens and basically gave up the backyard garden. We have a pretty good sized front and back yards and it took about a year of chickens for every sprig of grass or weed is gone leaving just the perennial plants and fruit trees.
I think I’ll try growing corn again and just fence it off during the seedling stages.
I’ll look into the meal worms.thank you for the info.

Yeah, for ranging to work for providing feed, the range can't be overstocked. Long before there is nothing but trees and perennials left, the diversity gets too low for the chickens to select what they need. They still get benefits from the sunshine and exercise.