This is How They Fed Chicks 100 Years Ago

[nanncee]

That is a very good post on "old type" feeding but the thing that most people have to remember is that chickens 100 year ago were very much different than the chickens we have to day. 
There are very few chickens today that would survive off the "old time" feed mixes and even fewer that can truly free range. 
Here is a very good example of what I mean when I say chickens of old are different that chickens of today.

As you can see the is a very big difference between to two fowl.

If one was going to try a feeding the ''old way" I would recommend sticking with *American Heritage Fowl and Gamefowl. Most are bred well with the term Duel Purpose in mind and and they also have the ability to truly free range.




Chris

I do have to slightly disagree with this statement. While most modern birds are not bread to live on free range alone, they can be trained to do so. I know my sex links do just fine on a 80-90% free range diet. With laying levels exactly where they should be (5-6 eggs a week. )

Great thread by the way, love learning how to keep my free range flock just that, free range. That's true sustainability.

 

[Chris09]

I do have to slightly disagree with this statement. While most modern birds are not bread to live on free range alone, they can be trained to do so. I know my sex links do just fine on a 80-90% free range diet. With laying levels exactly where they should be (5-6 eggs a week. )
Great thread by the way, love learning how to keep my free range flock just that, free range. That's true sustainability.

I guess the question would be, What is your definition of "Free Range"?

My definition of Free Range is where the animal is allowed to roam freely and not contained in any manner with little to no help from man.
A example would be a breed of fowl that can be turned out in the yard and not need the hand of man to feed them or put them in a pen for safe keeping at night.
These bird will find there own food to survive on and will roost in trees at night, these birds are also the ones that will lay a fare amount of eggs, hatch there own egg and raise and defend there chicks with out any help from man.

I have had tried truly free ranging hatchery type Sex-links and they fell short of doing well as a true free range fowl.


Chris

 

[Ole rooster]

Now this statement has brought up an interesting thought. Chickens are so different nowadays they can't survive the old way. I would haveto disagree with it also. No matter how domesticated we make animals, given their own survival instincts they will survive and do quite well. We've seen dogs go wild and kill in packs. Hogs that get out of the pen go feral and in less than a month are wild and survive very will and flourish. We all know feral cats need nobody.
Chickens are no different. Given the need to eat and natures survival traits in each strain, they may not start out looking like "fat cats", but given time they won't know the difference.

 

[Nambroth]

I think the difference between modern chickenkeeping vs. 100 years ago is that today we expect our chickens to be much more productive (eggs) than they were then, and many people that are keeping chickens are keeping them on much smaller lots, with mowed lawns, etc.
We also have many new breeds that are not as good at foraging as the heritage breeds were. It is absolutely possible to raise chickens the old way as long as you are not starting with a fussy breed, but most will find that egg production is lower, longevity may be reduced, and small backyard lots may not have enough long-time forage to sustain healthy birds on the long term. It is a variable thing and depends greatly on how you keep them and what type of year-round forage they have access to.

 

[Chris09]

Now this statement has brought up an interesting thought. Chickens are so different nowadays they can't survive the old way. I would haveto disagree with it also. No matter how domesticated we make animals, given their own survival instincts they will survive and do quite well. We've seen dogs go wild and kill in packs. Hogs that get out of the pen go feral and in less than a month are wild and survive very will and flourish. We all know feral cats need nobody.
Chickens are no different. Given the need to eat and natures survival traits in each strain, they may not start out looking like "fat cats", but given time they won't know the difference.

Quote: See I have to disagree, it doesn't matter if they have the instinct what matters is if they know how to use that instinct. Let look at the average human today, the average human has the instinct to eat and some survival traits but put the average human in the middle of a 100 acre plot of land and lets see how many people will survive a year there.



Quote: Your comparing animals fairly high up on the food chain with ones that are quite low.


A lot has to do with the environment, a chicken will survive more easily in the wild of the southern U.S. than one in the northern U.S.
At the very least, in the winter a chicken in the north will have to work to find food under snow where one in the south does not.


Now to get back to the OP's post .
Lets take this mix,

Quote: This mix is roughly 15% protein at its best. A hatchery type fowl (lets say a production red) on this feed mix from 1 week to 6 weeks of age would have very little size and will be quite thin where a American Gamefowl or even a American Heritage Fowl would perform well on this mix and IMO this mix is little more than a "scratch mix".

Chris


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[Hopelives07]

My Grandfather was born in 1894, and he taught me how to feed chicks the way he did when he was a boy. He had a handcranked corn sheller and a handcranked corn grinder which he showed me how to use. Besides corn he fed them table scraps like watermelon rinds and vegetables. They also loved biscuits and just about anything else they had left over. I know this isn't scientific or from a book, but in rural Kentucky many farmers had to be creative and use what they had to get by.

Now, I have a handcranked corn sheller and I am looking for a handcranked corn grinder. I want my Grandkids to learn the same way I did. Somethings should just get passed down...

I love it! Funny how we're so "advanced" and go to great lengths to ensure proper nutrition when generations went by and didn't measure, or think as deep into feeding their chickens and they made it just fine. Tip my hat to ya and to Grandpa!