What did our grandmother's feed their chickens 100 years ago?

[seedcorn]

40 years ago, feed mills made a ground feed.

My grandparents allowed them to free range. They weren't even shut up ever altho they did have chicken house. If I did that today, I would be out of chickens in a week.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Joel Salatin also feeds a special mix. He mixes it himself. I've read his book, and he devotes a great deal of it to his feed mix and what it comprises. He notes that he changes things often, but tells what it was at time of printing. Pasturing is only part of his feed system.

As far as grandparents go, we've got to remember, that they ate differently then than we do now. They cooked everything from scratch, so they had grains on hand and such. I'm sure that their birds never got McDonalds fries.

and they probably got pieces of homemade bread with home ground wheat. Plus they all had gardens then so they got plenty of veggies.

 

[ozark hen]

Living here in the town that Laura Ingalls Wilder settled in with Almanzo I can tell you I have all her books. When they traveled to Missouri they brought their chickens, they took chickens wherever they moved. They went through some extremely hard times and could barely feed themselves when Laura was a child so I am sure the chickens had to feed off the prairie grasses,etc. to survive. At times, they were forced to eat the chickens to survive and ended up having neighbors give them chickens in better times. The fields were filled with "natural seeds" back then. My grandmother had chickens in the forties and she fed them table scraps and they free-ranged and did not have a heated coop and this was in Erie, PA. They survivied, they acclimated and were healthy birds. Like anything, the more they are pampered the weaker they become. Now I don't mean to be heartless to them but let them acclimate a bit and we will have stronger birds. this is only my personal opinion, nothing is written in stone here.

 

[hencackle]

Ozark hen--I loved Laura Ingalls' books when I was younger! Sure beat the heck out of playing with Barbies....

 

[Picco]

They weren't even shut up ever altho they did have chicken house. If I did that today, I would be out of chickens in a week.

Predators weren't too much of a problem a 100 years ago in the eastern states. Most predators were extensively hunted and the non-native coyote (native to west of the Mississippi) only moved in after the wolf was hunted to extinction in the east. Species that were hard to hunt or trap were still a bit of a problem but most of our problem predators (foxes, raccoons, coyotes...) were trapped for fur and the prey animals they depended on for food (rabbits, deer...) were hunted by humans for meat. Its hard to believe but we actually have more trees now than we did 100 years ago. Back then everyone needed firewood and farmland so there was a lot of open country. When our economy turned away from agriculture our forests grew back and predators returned after hunting and trapping became less popular and no longer a necessity.​

 

[digitS']

Well Sandy, how 'bout copyright November, 1909? Feeding for Eggs by James Dryden. Mr. Dryden published this booklet thru Oregon State University, which was known in 1909 as the Oregon Agricultural College.

Click on the pdf link on that OSU webpage to download.

I'm very much in agreement with Silkiechicken and I think Mr. Dryden would be also:

Grandpa used to run a commercial egg layer farm in the late 30's though the 50's. All feed was purchased though a supplier back then by the tons.

There was an old thread on this before and one of the conclusions was that yes, you can feed alternative foods and scraps, but the condition, longevity, and production abilities of the birds often declines when they do not get enough of the "right" nutritional components in their diet.

Steve​

 

[digitS']

Back when I was first off on my own and had a flock of hens, I was visited by a friend. Grover was about 75 then so that would mean he was born about 1900. He had a little farm and was our neighbor when I was growing up. He'd retired from a farmers' co-op years before but was still active and he was something of a mentor to me.

He asked me back then what I was feeding the hens and I'd just bought some wheat from a neighbor. He said, "That's fine, that's all we used to give 'em back on the farm."

Well, I gotta say that I soon switched off the wheat after the growing season ended.

The darn hens pretty much just shut down on egg production when they couldn't get much variety in their diets. I was pleased that getting a more balanced feed kicked them back into laying.

One hundred years ago, I think Winter wasn't really a time when many eggs were expected from a backyard flock. Most of the emphasis was probably on just getting the chickens thru the Winter. They needed to reach a season when their diet could be more varied and so much energy wasn't expended just staying warm.

Grover lived to be 90 and was an interesting and kind old fellow. I remember when I was a kid, he made my first slingshot.

Steve

 

[picklespickles]

my g'ma who used to shoot her chickens in favor of chopping or wringing has passed. when i ask others all the specifics i get uh, feed the chickens? you EAT chickens, not feed them. lol.

 

[picklespickles]

i think in the old days they probably may not have kept them through the winter. chop chop. financially, unless you had a favorite old hen it wouldn't really make sense. we think about it differnetly now and have differnet resources i think. or, maybe kept them but regularly were uh, reducing the flock, on sundays. etc.

 

[kstaven]

Joel salatin's system of bio dynamic farming can be put into practice on surprisingly small acreages. Huge tracts of land are definately not necessary if you plan it all out.