traditional feed

[moawahine]

I have to admit, I'm obsessed with chicken research, it's a rabbithole of this BYC forum, Pinterest, youtube, and random blogs on the web.

Today I started wondering, what did my native Hawaiian ancestors feed chickens before commercial feed?

I was surprised to find out traditional chicken diet was cooked vegetable peelings (taro, sweet potato, breadfruit) and fresh fruit (grated coconut, banana) - no grains, which makes sense as there is no traditional grains in Hawaii. I'm assuming, though it hasn't been said, that fish guts was also available for protein.

Just a random post about chicken feed - my household is tired of me spouting off chicken facts LOL

 

[NatJ]

I'm assuming, though it hasn't been said, that fish guts was also available for protein.

If the chickens wandered freely, they may have found their own protein (bugs and worms), along with some other parts of their own food. So the people could feed them things that are only part of a complete diet, and the chickens would go find the rest for themselves.

If they were confined, I agree the people would have to provide some amount of protein too, and getting the right balance of feeds would have been more important.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Plenty of bugs here, for sure.