Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

I just found this article and I think you'll like it
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/techniques-in-feeding-your-flock-off-the-grid.74595/

Interesting read indeed! Though it would need to be cross checked on some things, I learned quite a few things and will keep it bookmarked.

Another factor that we often talk about with my partner, is that we believe those high production layer breeds have also been made much more sensitive to what they are fed. To fuel the laying machine you need those specific amounts of amino acids because other wise they will take what they need from their own body, at least in their first 18 months. Older breeds, backyard mixes from farms, could probably fare on whatever they were given without trouble, just maybe laying less.

@ManueB
We have about the same problems with feed here. They change from year to year.

• The pet shops are too expensive/have no organic.
• The farm store offers a variety of chicken feed. Also a good quality organic chicken feed the chickens like (only has too much calcium). And I am lucky its only 10 minutes by car or 15 by bike.
• The old mill in my town is even closer. Its an organic grain and meals shop too. Its great to make you’re own bread. It sells only one brand organic chicken feed. The chickens don’t like the brand of laying pellets they sell nowadays and it has too much calcium too. The grain mix is not expensive / okay.
  Link from wikimedia commons:
  
  

BTW
I love you’re landscape. MDH and me are still wondering where to go for a summer holliday.
View attachment 3128118

Well I love the mill, what a wonderful place to go buy chicken feed! I think you're not doing too bad for the time being.
We have a lovely stereotype of dutch tourists : a small family, that goes camping, in a place with nature, some hills or mountains, a lake or a river. They bring all kind of camping equipment around, they have bikes attached to their cars and they go to bed early and don't make noise. A few years ago they also went bathing in nudist sites and drove in a vw bus. The nicest tourists to have around!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

69 and sunny.

Have a great day!

 

[BDutch]

Interesting read indeed! Though it would need to be cross checked on some things, I learned quite a few things and will keep it bookmarked.

Im not enthousiast about the article . I don’t like the idea of feeding cat food to my chickens. Cats are no production animals, therefore the feed industry is allowed to mingle bad meat and who knows what else into the feed.

We have a lovely stereotype of dutch tourists : a small family, that goes camping, in a place with nature, some hills or mountains, a lake or a river. They bring all kind of camping equipment around, they have bikes attached to their cars and they go to bed early and don't make noise. A few years ago they also went bathing in nudist sites and drove in a vw bus. The nicest tourists to have around!

Do you have something like a smalll natural campside on you’re property???

Ps. Do sent a pm if you do.

 

[ManueB]

Im not enthousiast about the article . I don’t like the idea of feeding cat food to my chickens. Cats are no production animals, therefore the feed industry is allowed to mingle bad meat and who knows what else into the feed.


Do you have something like a smalll natural campside on you’re property???

Ps. Do sent a pm if you do.

That would require having some flat ground, which is non existent here beyond the parts that are cultivated .

(I can share my opinions on the nicest place to camp around here and most of the french southern alps, it was my favorite way of spending vacations before we lived here.)

 

[Perris]

who knows what else into the feed

but that is the case with all free range chickens, and the more free ranging they do, the more it is the case.

 

[townchicks]

Im not enthousiast about the article . I don’t like the idea of feeding cat food to my chickens. Cats are no production animals, therefore the feed industry is allowed to mingle bad meat and who knows what else into the feed.

I hear you about this, it is always a concern for both dog and cat food. However, I have to feed my cat anyway, I buy a high quality food for her, and I think if it's something I would give to my cat, I'd have no hesitation feeding it to my chickens too, in a pinch. After all, this article was about what to feed in a pinch. I wouldn't go out and buy cat food just for the chickens.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning X Batts.
My two cents have used cat food off and on as a treat ..
Not a whole food by any means.

 

[Shadrach]

It's very early and I've not yet had any caffeine so excuse me if this is a stupid question , but what is your alternative?

I used to buy from one the local manufacturers. It was still a half hour jouney each way.
I eventually found a small agricutural supplier who mixed their own feed on the premises. They would make a mix to order. But, the minimum order was 100 kilos.
People tend to get worried about what they feed their chickens. If you keep a contained flock then commercial feed becomes more of an issue. Many people I know have never fed their chickens commercial feed and their chickens seemed fine and lived to a ripe old age compared to the majority of chickens I read about on this site.
Sure, there is more to longevity than what a chicken eats but chickens are omnivores and are very good at finding what they need given the opportnity and of course the land to hunt on.
I have friend in Hertfordshire, England who has been keeping chickens for over forty years. Apart from losses to predators (few) they live on average to ten years old. He free ranges them on less than an acre of land most of which he grows fruit and veg on.
He does buy fish meal and cracked corn and sunflower seeds last time we spoke but apart from these the chickens eat what he eats. He just cooks more than he and his partner need, sticks it in a blender and gives it to the chickens.
If you eat take away burgers and chips etc then not only are you not getting a decent diet nor would your chickens be. If you eat low sugar and salt food with proper vegetables, meat, fish etc the chickens will be fine.
Chickens don't need anything special. They need the same amino acids we do. What laying hens need is more calcium than a human is likely to get in their diet. Feed them their egg shells back in the blended human food is a good start.

However, this all starts to unravel when you buy production breeds and now very sadly many of the so called heritage breeds who also lay far too many eggs.

Too late for many but getting the right breed for the condtions you will keep them in is a very early lesson to learn in chicken keeping. In general barnyard mix types fare well with minimum fuss.

Finally there is nothing stopping people from learning how to make their own chicken feed. I don't mean following some nut job on Utube or facebook, I mean study the subject some and find out what you can get locally to make up the correct nutrition.
This is what I am slowly doing now. There are lots of feed recipies but if one just took the nutritional analysis from a decent quality feed label and worked out what foods gave these you probably wouldn't go too far wrong.

 

[Shadrach]

I just found this article and I think you'll like it
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/techniques-in-feeding-your-flock-off-the-grid.74595/

Beat me to it. That article is in my bookmark list.

 

[Perris]

how's the coop doing? and how's your back?