Self sufficient feed

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

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.

Very true...I think most would agree that heritage breeds would be better suited for this than production breeds. I'd think a smaller heritage breed would be ideal as it'd require less calories overall compared to a very large breed.

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Can chickens live off of a compost area and free ranging and some veggies from the garden? And the occasional fish and guts I go catch?

Sorry no. Its not a complete diet. They need all sorts of vitamins and stuff. LOTS of calcium. And much more. They need all sorts of grain and beans and supplements that is premixed in the feed. You will end up with a lot of scrawny, starving, unhealthy chickens.

 

[Dephora]

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.

Very true! The 1920s we started to create "broilers" and increased egg laying birds. Which I am sure contributed to the book "feeding poultry" by G. F. Heuser in 1955, which was pretty revolutionary at the time and really started the idea of "science" being part of feeding poultry.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...ASIN=0972177027&linkCode=as2&tag=thewaleff-20

Interesting read on nutrition, the first of its kind, but I am sure there are more up to date books now.

 

[Dinoroar]

This farmer is raising layers totally on compost (and the bugs it attracts) he has a flock of 600 chickens. & a massive commercial compost operation to go along with it. Very cool.

 

[Dephora]

This farmer is raising layers totally on compost (and the bugs it attracts) he has a flock of 600 chickens. & a massive commercial compost operation to go along with it. Very cool.

Wow, that is a HUGE operation. Very impressive.

 

[Dinoroar]

Wow, that is a HUGE operation. Very impressive.

It is really impressive, he’s worked it out to get premium eggs as a bi product of a waste management facility.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

It is really impressive, he’s worked it out to get premium eggs as a bi product of a waste management facility.

Right...it’s being done...so really the question isn’t “can it be done”, it’s “are you willing to put in the work to do it, and do you have the space?”

It’s a lot more work than feeding commercial food. It does have its own rewards, though.

I’d say more...but I need a shower...I smell like food waste right now.

 

[Tilhana]

It can totally be done. Check this out:

This guy Karl Hammer raises 600 chickens on just compost. Granted, he's got a massive amount of compost. I think his business is he trucks in organic waste from various places and turns it into compost, and the chickens are basically a bonus. So do know what your limitations are in terms of scale.

But realize there are always going to be people who say that chickens have to eat formulated feed because only that contains all the nutrients that chickens need. Apparently they are the only animal on the planet that can't get a complete healthy diet from the environment and would all sicken and die if we didn't have men in lab coats carefully measuring out vitamins and minerals to add to their grain meal.

I say go for it, but start small (definitely not with 300 birds) and maybe start by supplementing with grains and then gradually reduce it and see if they stop laying or have empty crops by the end of the day. If you can get it down to no feed, start scaling up. If not, add compost or reduce the number of chickens. Adjust inputs as necessary.

 

[Tilhana]

This farmer is raising layers totally on compost (and the bugs it attracts) he has a flock of 600 chickens. & a massive commercial compost operation to go along with it. Very cool.

Aw shucks, I should have read through the thread before I posted - you beat me to it!

 

[Foxinthehenhouse]

Not when you have over 200 chickens.

Even if what you wanted was

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!

why are you trying to raise over two hundred chickens if you aren’t to concerned about meat or eggs? If you have that many foraging an area daily I would think there wouldn’t be a lot left for them to eat! Give them proper chicken feed or get rid of them!