sticking to free range & avoiding laying feed

[ChickenCanoe]

X2

Chickens will chase and eat mice but the chickens work the day shift and mice work the night shift.

 

[Chris09]

Curious, but to all of you who leave feeders full, what do you do about all the mice ??

I have a couple of good rat terriers that keeps the mice, rat, opossum, coon and any other vermin population down.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

These diets that most people call "natural" etc, are usually short on energy. Chicken's have heart rates in excess of 250bpm, and very high respiration rates. These high metabolisms need a lot of energy. These environments are very short on energy.

That is why grain, in particular corn, feature so highly in commercial rations.

I would grow rape instead of kale in Florida.

Grass is certainly over rated. Chickens are not ruminants. They can handle and adapt to a percentage.

The reality is that the best thing to feed chickens is chicken feed.

People want to recreate the 19th C. scavenging poultry experience; but those birds didn't lay particularly well.

The chickens browsed for expelled intestinal parasites and maggots in livestock dung. They ate grain spilled from troughs, and mice, insects, and any other protein they could find.

In the winter the flock would be reduced to the minimum number needed to rebuild in the spring.

The chickens would live half-starved through the winter.

Those that survived were the core of the next year's flock, generally slaughtered once the chicks were on their own.

 

[Chris09]

These diets that most people call "natural" etc, are usually short on energy. Chicken's have heart rates in excess of 250bpm, and very high respiration rates. These high metabolisms need a lot of energy. These environments are very short on energy.

That is why grain, in particular corn, feature so highly in commercial rations.

I would grow rape instead of kale in Florida.

Grass is certainly over rated. Chickens are not ruminants. They can handle and adapt to a percentage.

I agree, a laying type hen needs around 3,000 calories a day. You just ain't going to get that eating grass and a bug here and there.

 

[gjensen]

The reality is that the best thing to feed chickens is chicken feed.

People want to recreate the 19th C. scavenging poultry experience; but those birds didn't lay particularly well.

The chickens browsed for expelled intestinal parasites and maggots in livestock dung. They ate grain spilled from troughs, and mice, insects, and any other protein they could find.

In the winter the flock would be reduced to the minimum number needed to rebuild in the spring.

The chickens would live half-starved through the winter.

Those that survived were the core of the next year's flock, generally slaughtered once the chicks were on their own.

I agree. Our birds eat better now than they ever had.

I said earlier that it is a false economy to think less input means more output. A bird is most profitable when they have what they need to meet their genetic potential.

Ranging birds on good forage can certainly rustle up a portion of their own, and even be better for it. I just do not think it is a good idea to ask it to do too much.

 

[witchwriter]

i am mistakenly referring to everything growing in the lawn as grass. there are at least 15 different plants types in the lawn and another 5 on the fence. we are very lucky to have such a large variety of plant life and after reading here i am grateful for where our home is located. after beginning to hunt for houses i am beginning to realize i am not going to find a home sitting on land this perfect.

the owner has roughly 100 head of cattle and he free ranges them. off the same land. yes, i know cattle aren't chickens but they couldn't survive without a nice variety either

so, can chickens tell which mushrooms not to eat? cuz we have mushrooms too...

 

[The Yakima Kid]

i am mistakenly referring to everything growing in the lawn as grass. there are at least 15 different plants types in the lawn and another 5 on the fence. we are very lucky to have such a large variety of plant life and after reading here i am grateful for where our home is located. after beginning to hunt for houses i am beginning to realize i am not going to find a home sitting on land this perfect.

the owner has roughly 100 head of cattle and he free ranges them. off the same land. yes, i know cattle aren't chickens but they couldn't survive without a nice variety either

so, can chickens tell which mushrooms not to eat? cuz we have mushrooms too...

Reality check. Cattle can be successfully be fed old newspapers printed with non-toxic ink (now that lead linotype isn't much in use), molasses, urea, and a mineral supplement. The rumen bacteria manufacture a great deal of what Bossy needs from very basic ingredients.

Chickens are different. Chickens are omnivores. Chickens require a very different type of nutrition than ruminants. A pasture that is lush for ruminants may not offer enough minerals, vitamins, or calories for chickens.

People used to pile up middens (piles of garbage) on their properties; the chickens joyously rooted through for meat scraps, maggots, etc. They also wallowed in the manure piles, looking for insects. Since we tend to frown on people accumulating thirty foot piles of open garbage these days, this is not as useful a foraging spot. Note that these middens were not the same thing as the managed compost produced using chickens by Vermont Composting.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I agree. Our birds eat better now than they ever had.

I said earlier that it is a false economy to think less input means more output. A bird is most profitable when they have what they need to meet their genetic potential.

Ranging birds on good forage can certainly rustle up a portion of their own, and even be better for it. I just do not think it is a good idea to ask it to do too much.

There is an old agricultural college saying "You can't starve profitability into a cow."

I think if someone wants to have their birds live only on range, they will have to understand that their choice of birds is pretty much limited to Old English Games and Old English Games = or the APA unrecognized American Games.

Most of the "improved" strains - which includes most of our heritage breeds - are dependent on a certain amount of supplementary feed to produce as many and as large eggs as they do. If you are willing to sacrifice output for economy, then choose a breed that genetically tends to have a lower output, and won't have a body that exhausts itself demineralizing its bones and metabolizing the muscle out of its own heart to try and meet its genetic inclination to higher production.

I am very concerned when someone suggests that a pasture is adequate since cattle live on it. Do the cattle have a mineral block? Any other supplemental feed?

Have the chickens grown rumens so that they can digest and utilize many of the things that the cattle can utilize?

These are questions that really need to be asked. The other thing is that people who want to do it all with unsupplemented range need to talk to their local extension for advice on what they need to do to maintain that range for chickens. Not for geese, not for cattle, not for ducks, not for sheep - but specifically for chickens.

 

[Basschick2305]

i have a commercial dehydrator and my parrots eat dehydrated fruits, vegetables, meat - its all natural and the kids use the same mix to flavor their ramen lol.  i just plan on giving the chickens the raw parts i can't dehydrate plus table scraps and the legumes.  both species will get peanuts and sunflower seeds.  i am actually hoping the parrots might like the cracked corn sour mash - more studying  to make sure its safe for them.  i've been a parrot mom for over 8 years   i just came in from raking over a small compost pile and right now the girls are all out there searching for bugs and worms.  next year they will have their own garden to forage - nothing fancy, just some squashes, cucumbers, and other vine veggies and basil.  i promise they will have a healthy, well-balanced diet.

deb

your birds r very lucky to have such a good mom! Lol it does take a lot of study & patience. Good luck to you. Sounds like you are doing pretty good & the fam might need to back off & give u & the birds sum space. Over here
I do the majority of the work & study. Yet my husband thinks that he is their main man lol everyone has a hand in helping but when it comes to daily care labor intensive work for them & most studying/research that falls in my lap. Heaven forbid I have the same go round that you are dealing with again. I just let the rest of the fam think that they may be top duck daddy & even tho me & my 4 kcs know what's really up! Lol!

 

[witchwriter]

this is a small corner of what my girls are foraging in. they will never, in their lifetime, eat all the frogs, lizards, grasshoppers, or crickets on this property. i only have 6 chickens at the moment and this will sustain them fine. they also get a cup of corn and sunflower seeds each day with the table scraps.