Survival Feed

[dalmation1080]

After watching assorted shows, movies and talking with friends, I have decided to start "Prepping" for a global disaster. Having a source of protein is essential, and i want a way to feed my poultry (Chickens, Ducks and Peafowl) without using commerical feed that i currently buy.

I have a resonably small flock (Less than 20 birds) and they all each commercial poultry feed. Are there any recipes of food that i could store for a long period of time that i can mix together to create a stable food source for them? They are allowed to free-range throughout my 3 acres of proprety, but that just doesnt cut it to produce eggs.
How long does commercial feed last when stored properly? (Mine never sits logn enough to store)

Thanks!

 

[SunnyAlberta]

You'll find lots of information online about how long certain ingredients may be stored for. I'd need to crunch numbers to get a balanced recipe, but I'd be tempted to use alfalfa pellets, dried legumes for protein, bird seed, and cat food (also for protein) as a chicken feed alternative in a pinch. All of these things should store in metal garbage cans (critter proof) in a cool and dry place for a year or more. That said, your commercial feed should store that long, too. You could stockpile dried goods with labels, using the oldest product and replacing it with new. Perhaps a better strategy, now that I think of it, would be to use ingredients that could be consumed by the family, too -- nuts, grains, seeds? -- that might be a pricier route to feeding the chickens, but would conserve space. There are some great web sites out there about self-sufficiency and the Mormons/LDS church members have been living this way forever and would be a good source of information. I live in an LDS community and could learn from my neighbours.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/16177/diy-self-sufficiency

https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage

 

[donrae]

For short term I try to have 3 months supply on hand. I just store the commercial feed in trash cans and rotate.
For a long term/global disaster/teotwawki, you'll need to figure out what you can grow to sustain yourself and your flock. Egg production won't be as spectacular, but then again neither will feed costs. My Ozark grandmother always had chickens and never fed them more than household scraps and a handful of corn every so often to keep them home. Her birds didn't lay an egg a day like my modern hatchery birds do, but they were more self-suffecient.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Have you seen the homemade feed threads in this forum?

 

[Erica]

Keeping plain old fashioned grains in ratproof and preferably airtight storage will go a long way. Sprouting them as you need really ramps up the vitamin content and is a great way to turn dried hard grains into wonderful nutritious food.

A mix of wheat, corn, sunflower and peas go a long way to providing nutrients chickens need (though they do need a lot more: animal protein; greens; minerals like salt and calcium).

cheers
Erica