what did they feed "in the olden days"?

[Chicken Heel]

My Grandpa had games and bantams that roamed his small farm. They scratched in and around the barn and pastures for their food. The only grain they got was what the Guernsey cow and plow horse dropped on the ground from their troughs. He also gave them a little cow's milk on a daily basis. They remain the healthiest and prettiest chickens I have ever seen.

 

[imnukensc]

The free range chickens we had as a kid (66 now) got scratch feed once a day in the evening.

 

[kefiren]

You know what I bet? I bet they bought the non-white part of the wheat (germ? bran?) from the mills?

 

[varidgerunner]

Why would anyone feed a chicken? They are perfectly capable of fending for themselves. Or at least they once were. Some still are.

 

[Folly's place]

sThere are breeds who are more likely to do well ranging, and I don't have them. Game bred chickens, Fayoumis, Cubalayas, among others. My neighbor's house is only about 200 ft. from the coop, and the five ft. fence between won't keep those breeds home. My heritage breeds, bantams especially, can fly well, but tend to roam away from their property. Everyone is better off at home!
The one time I had a cute pair of Old English Game bantams, they wanted to roost in trees, not a good survival strategy here.
Mary

 

[FlyWheel]

Also called 'road apples'.

My dad used to call them trail biscuits.

 

[centrarchid]

Additionally, free-ranging birds leads to losses. You can't pen your chickens in somewhere predator-proof and still have them get their own food.

But yeah, insect populations are falling all over the world, and a lot of people live in non-rural areas now. Anyone who lives in a neighborhood instead of a general chunk of farmland isn't exactly going to be able to have their chickens catch all their own food.

OP interested in what was done long ago. Then chickens kept when they had resources to do so.

 

[centrarchid]

Only if spelled out. Making implications makes for value judgements. varidgerunner got to point op wanted.

 

[15WildTurkey]

My mom grew up on a small farm in Ireland. Money was scarce but she remembers that the chickens always got a little corn. They were such an important food source. The eggs were invaluable. Other then that, food scraps and free ranging yard and dung heap. They roosted in a barn, there were barnyard cats and dogs around, foxes and minks were the enemies. She would have to follow the chickens around to locate their nests.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Fascinating to read the memories and reminiscences on old time chicken feeding! We are on Oklahoma prairie and forest but don’t do a lot of free ranging of chickens due to predators. We do free range our guineas. They have chick starter/grower always available but eat less than 1/5 of that in comparison to the chickens, so they mostly get their calories from forage. I’ve been surprised at what avid grazers they are, especially in winter. My DH is a nature enthusiast and he was afraid that the guineas would wipe out the small invertebrates etc that support our flock old bluebirds and other wildlife. The jury is still out on what exactly the guineas are eating, but we have more frogs on the ground than ever, and still plenty of grasshopper type insects in the prairie. I’ve seen the guineas glean grass often - I suspect that they mostly eat very small things... In contrast, when I let chickens out for supervised free range time, I’m seeing frogs, small snakes, and crayfish eaten.