Self sufficient feed

[Dephora]

Thank you, I'm trying to raise over 200 chickens without buying any feed. I will give them as much feed from the garden or something I can grow as much as they want. I don't need them to produce a lot of meat or eggs. Thank you so much for the information and help though!

If you are trying to save money, starting with 200 chickens will be a big waste of it, as you would need lots of land to have enough foraging to go around. Also as this will be your first time attempting something like this there will be mistakes along the way that you don't want over 200 chickens to experience. What kind of chickens are you thinking of using? Are they just going to be broilers or duel purpose.

I am not saying it isn't possible. I have foraging flocks that eat very little feed, though they have access to it. The article Natj posted is a good one, it does mention in another article on that site about foraging that an acre can sustain 80 chickens. I would think they would need more than that after awhile as they would pick it clean.

Edit: So I read your other boards and it seems you already have the 200 chickens? So I can see why you are maybe panicking a little as they are mowing through food no doubt. How old are they and I am very curious WHY you got so many?

 

[ChickChic00]

If you are trying to save money, starting with 200 chickens will be a big waste of it, as you would need lots of land to have enough foraging to go around. Also as this will be your first time attempting something like this there will be mistakes along the way that you don't want over 200 chickens to experience. What kind of chickens are you thinking of using? Are they just going to be broilers or duel purpose.

I am not saying it isn't possible. I have foraging flocks that eat very little feed, though they have access to it. The article Natj posted is a good one, it does mention in another article on that site about foraging that an acre can sustain 80 chickens. I would think they would need more than that after awhile as they would pick it clea

If you are trying to save money, starting with 200 chickens will be a big waste of it, as you would need lots of land to have enough foraging to go around. Also as this will be your first time attempting something like this there will be mistakes along the way that you don't want over 200 chickens to experience. What kind of chickens are you thinking of using? Are they just going to be broilers or duel purpose.

I am not saying it isn't possible. I have foraging flocks that eat very little feed, though they have access to it. The article Natj posted is a good one, it does mention in another article on that site about foraging that an acre can sustain 80 chickens. I would think they would need more than that after awhile as they would pick it clean.

Edit: So I read your other boards and it seems you already have the 200 chickens? So I can see why you are maybe panicking a little as they are mowing through food no doubt. How old are they and I am very curious WHY you got so many?

I've had chickens for a while now. I'm just trying to save more money with natural foods like free ranging and food from the garden. I have free ranged chickens before, over 50 free ranging before.i want chickens so that they can hatch and raise their own chicks and maybe sell some full grown chicken in the future. But I manly just love my chickens and all the personalities and colors. I also want my chickens to be how they were in the past. That another thing why I want chickens too. I want to raise my chickens and breed them to the standards they once where kinda. I don't care if they lay a lot or have a lot of meat. I want them to go broody and actually be chickens. Chickens back in the day never had pellets and commercial feeds. Thank you for helping me out!!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Can you feed chickens without commercial feed? Sure. Is it a lot of work? Absolutely!

I have 70 chickens, and supplement a significant portion of their diet with food waste and compost...that being said, I still have commercial feed available at all times, and they still eat a pretty good amount of it.

Just to do what I'm doing, I'm bringing in food waste twice a week, anywhere from say 2-6 wheelbarrow-fulls each time, and the chickens have access to a couple of compost piles to snack on the food waste and dig for worms and bugs.

To feed 200 chickens that way, and to eliminate the need for additional feed, you're looking at a pickup truck bed of food waste blended into some substantial compost piles, EVERY day. You'd need a lot more protein than I add to my system. If you're talking fish waste, you're probably looking at a pickup truck of that once a week.

You could supplement from a garden or farm, but crops are ready when they're ready, which typically isn't in 365 equal parts each year...so they're more supplements than a primary source.

For reference, the Vermont Compost Company feeds about 600 hens no commercial feed, but that's an industrial-sized compost facility.

I'd love to hear more about your motivation...if you're not concerned with meat or eggs, why have 200 chickens?

 

[ChickChic00]

Can you feed chickens without commercial feed? Sure. Is it a lot of work? Absolutely!

I have 70 chickens, and supplement a significant portion of their diet with food waste and compost...that being said, I still have commercial feed available at all times, and they still eat a pretty good amount of it.

Just to do what I'm doing, I'm bringing in food waste twice a week, anywhere from say 2-6 wheelbarrow-fulls each time, and the chickens have access to a couple of compost piles to snack on the food waste and dig for worms and bugs.

To feed 200 chickens that way, and to eliminate the need for additional feed, you're looking at a pickup truck bed of food waste blended into some substantial compost piles, EVERY day. You'd need a lot more protein than I add to my system. If you're talking fish waste, you're probably looking at a pickup truck of that once a week.

You could supplement from a garden or farm, but crops are ready when they're ready, which typically isn't in 365 equal parts each year...so they're more supplements than a primary source.

For reference, the Vermont Compost Company feeds about 600 hens no commercial feed, but that's an industrial-sized compost facility.

I'd love to hear more about your motivation...if you're not concerned with meat or eggs, why have 200 chickens?

I absolutely love chickens. My grandfather raised fighting chickens back in the day. (Of course I don't fight any of my chickens) but he raised all sorts of chickens. I just love the thought of genetics and personalities of the chickens that hatch. Especially if they are hatched and raised by the hen. No a days chickens that used to hatch their own eggs are very very few. I would love to breed chicken breeds back so that they are at least close to what they used to be. Great foragers. Great setters raising their own. Self sustaining. I think it's absolutely amazing what chickens can do and, idk it just fascinating to me. I have 5 acres for chickens also. Would it help that I can raise worms and or mealworms too? Thanks for the interest and help!

 

[Dephora]

I've had chickens for a while now. I'm just trying to save more money with natural foods like free ranging and food from the garden. I have free ranged chickens before, over 50 free ranging before.i want chickens so that they can hatch and raise their own chicks and maybe sell some full grown chicken in the future. But I manly just love my chickens and all the personalities and colors. I also want my chickens to be how they were in the past. That another thing why I want chickens too. I want to raise my chickens and breed them to the standards they once where kinda. I don't care if they lay a lot or have a lot of meat. I want them to go broody and actually be chickens. Chickens back in the day never had pellets and commercial feeds. Thank you for helping me out!!

So lets remember that chickens "back in the day" lets say before the 1950s when we started to understand more about proper nutrition and chickens needs, that chickens lived in small flocks on large diverse farms, where they didn't live long and when they stopped laying they were eaten, and were fed a mixed bag of scraps and grain depending on the farmer. If you let 200 chickens just live the way "that they use to" you will end up with mostly dead chickens. I am again, not saying you can't cut feed costs, but 200 chickens is alot to try and keep completely on only scraps and foraging AND to even think about breeding more.

It sounds like you are trying to do a breeding project? To basically bring chickens back to their jungle fowl ancestors, am I understanding you correctly? And if that is the case, why not just get yourself some gamebirds or jungle fowl if you want to breed the chickens "back to how they use to be". What breed of chickens do you have? What is their current set up like? What kind of feeders do they use?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I absolutely love chickens. My grandfather raised fighting chickens back in the day. (Of course I don't fight any of my chickens) but he raised all sorts of chickens. I just love the thought of genetics and personalities of the chickens that hatch. Especially if they are hatched and raised by the hen. No a days chickens that used to hatch their own eggs are very very few. I would love to breed chicken breeds back so that they are at least close to what they used to be. Great foragers. Great setters raising their own. Self sustaining. I think it's absolutely amazing what chickens can do and, idk it just fascinating to me. I have 5 acres for chickens also. Would it help that I can raise worms and or mealworms too? Thanks for the interest and help!

Having 5 acres will help, for sure...by how much probably depends on where you are located. If you're someplace warm year-round, 5 acres of good pasture will help year round. I'd suggest a "mob stock and move" approach over just giving the flock free range of all 5 acres at once. That will allow grass to re-grow, insect and worm colonies to rebound, etc.

Back in the day, people would raise chickens as part of an integrated farm with other livestock and crops sustainably...but I'd doubt most raised as many as 200. Heck, raising 200 chickens on a diet of commercial feed is a lot of work...what you're looking at is a TON of work....but again, it's possible. You're just going to need a lot of inputs to keep them well fed. Mealworm or worm farming would help, but again, the scale for 200 chickens is pretty big.

The good news is that you don't have to go to 100% day 1...you can start by supplementing your chickens diet, and keep doing so as the resources are available. Maybe you get to 100%...maybe you top out at a lower point...but it's a move in the right direction. When it comes to sustainability, sometimes "the perfect is the enemy of the good".

Just our of curiosity, what type of coop(s) setup do you have for 200 birds?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

So lets remember that chickens "back in the day" lets say before the 1950s when we started to understand more about proper nutrition and chickens needs,

The chicken of pre-1950 was a very different animal than the chicken of today. It's not so much that people figured out nutrition....it's that intensive breeding for certain traits greatly increased the nutritional needs of the modern chicken.

The chicken of yesteryear probably laid 30-100 eggs a year, not 250-300...so it required a lot less nutrition

So, it's less that people got smarter, it's more that we engineered Franken-chickens and now have to feed the monster.

 

[ChickChic00]

Having 5 acres will help, for sure...by how much probably depends on where you are located. If you're someplace warm year-round, 5 acres of good pasture will help year round. I'd suggest a "mob stock and move" approach over just giving the flock free range of all 5 acres at once. That will allow grass to re-grow, insect and worm colonies to rebound, etc.

Back in the day, people would raise chickens as part of an integrated farm with other livestock and crops sustainably...but I'd doubt most raised as many as 200. Heck, raising 200 chickens on a diet of commercial feed is a lot of work...what you're looking at is a TON of work....but again, it's possible. You're just going to need a lot of inputs to keep them well fed. Mealworm or worm farming would help, but again, the scale for 200 chickens is pretty big.

The good news is that you don't have to go to 100% day 1...you can start by supplementing your chickens diet, and keep doing so as the resources are available. Maybe you get to 100%...maybe you top out at a lower point...but it's a move in the right direction. When it comes to sustainability, sometimes "the perfect is the enemy of the good".

Just our of curiosity, what type of coop(s) setup do you have for 200 birds?

I have several buildings that the chickens go into at night. Most free range atm, but I know some roost in the trees around the house. I also have some pallets leaned up against our house for them to roost on also. I feed them pellets and grains. I'm looking to raise them on stuff from the garden and anything I can grow it catch.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

The chicken of pre-1950 was a very different animal than the chicken of today. It's not so much that people figured out nutrition....it's that intensive breeding for certain traits greatly increased the nutritional needs of the modern chicken.

The chicken of yesteryear probably laid 30-100 eggs a year, not 250-300...so it required a lot less nutrition

So, it's less that people got smarter, it's more that we engineered Franken-chickens and now have to feed the monster.

Not all have been turned into Franken-chickens, luckily. OP might want to look into some of the less productive breeds. The Russian Orloff springs to mind...I'm sure there are plenty more. But the less they've been bred to rapidly turn feed into meat or eggs, the more I'd think you'd be able to get away with not feeding them commercial feed.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I have several buildings that the chickens go into at night. Most free range atm, but I know some roost in the trees around the house. I also have some pallets leaned up against our house for them to roost on also. I feed them pellets and grains. I'm looking to raise them on stuff from the garden and anything I can grow it catch.

Thanks...I asked about the coops because housing even 70 chickens isn't a small undertaking, so 200 must be something to see!

You may want to build as big a compost pile as you can realistically get materials for...the amount of worms and bugs produced will help for sure. I know my chickens just really enjoy being chickens and scratching at the pile all day. Sounds in line with what you're trying to do.

Heck, I go pick up food waste, but maybe you can find someone who will bring it to YOU...maybe even pay for the privilege to dump it.

And yes, any fish you can catch, or if you or someone you know hunts...a regular supply of deer or boar carcass will go a long way towards feeding your flock.