Tinfoil hat question.. Sustainable chicken feed?

[Resolution]

Here in Vermont, this is a major problem. I've just been snowed in for five days. Many folks around have been farming on their land for generations.
Most pig and beef farmers will make suet cakes for their birds for very cold days. They will also store winter squashes, pumpkins, apples and the like as well. Indeed, in winter months this is going to make up upwards of sixty percent of the sustainable agriculturist's poultry diet.
The most important thing is that they receive dietary fiber, animal fat and plant material ( squash/apples) as they can get all their winter nutrients on a combination of these materials.


Farmer's Helper ForageCakes ( Murray McMurray) are another way to go. They store very well and each cake provides ~ three weeks of optimal feed for six hens.
My friend Amos and his wife just had a baby. They are on a very tight budget and were devastated to discover raccoons had broken into the barn and consumed most of their feed. They live in a very rural stretch even further out in the woods than me - and that is boonsville. They were really stressed out until they discovered the foragecakes I gave them for Christmas. They haven't bought any feed in two months and the hens are laying well as ever.

 

[vermontgal]

I'm thinking next winter to have a vermicomposting operation in my basement, and to feed the chickens some worms.

This is part of how VT Compost Co does it - it's not just the compost, but the worms and bugs in the compost, that are part of the chicken's diet.

 

[Badlatitude]

Great info! Aside from the tinfoil hat theory alot of this info gives cost effective ways for people to feed their birds heck with the savings people can afford to increase their flock size on the same nickel