what do you do if no chicken-or chickfeed is available thread

[strangeanimal]

Hi ,

I had the idea this could help out many if we just shared some info about how we manage to still keep our flock fed well when we either ran out and the shop is too far or they also ran out or you get unexpected new life and it is a holiday when the shops are closed etc . so upon request :

What do you give your chickens ? what about new born or few week old chicks ?

I'd like to share I give them rice , scrambled eggs , lots of veggies and mealworms as these are always breeding for them , if I don't have any of this i give a lot of fruit , nuts , vetetables , weeds , bugs

for chicks I don't really now much apart from tips given to me by members here on BYC ( ty it worked ! ) gave them banana smashed entirely and have found yesterday an old box of couscous containing raisens , also a cooked egg and then the yolk into pieces went in those tiny beeks like cookies !
And I would like to share a recipe the most of us always have in the kitchen that worked out too , along with really just nature , went out to simply catch some rainworms and other insects , putted them into a little box to store food in and putted the bugs a few minutes in the fridge , they are very slow if they are kept that cold so the chickens and even chicks can catch them out and really enjoy it , now I hear you all say ' yeah but if they are under a heatlamp in just a few minutes the house is full of bugs , true , no not here because I took some water and a cup of milk , added all the simplest things you find in the backyard , grass,weeds cut into tiny pieces , ( ok also some fruit , pineapple in this case ) and just mixed it all up , so they have been eating nothing less or more but what they 'd find outside , mama chicken did like it too , another interesting feed for a chick is catfood ! but no hard chunks so if they are hard , leave them soaking , soup goes in well too but not too much as I noticed the poop getting watery too plus : never give warm food ( this can cause illness ) , so I have been wondering what people do if it is not possible to get any chickenfood or chickfeed from your local store , how do you manage ??

 

[Mace Gill]

Hi ,

I had the idea this could help out many if we just shared some info about how we manage to still keep our flock fed well when we either ran out and the shop is too far or they also ran out or you get unexpected new life and it is a holiday when the shops are closed etc . so upon request :

What do you give your chickens ? what about new born or few week old chicks ?

I'd like to share I give them rice , scrambled eggs , lots of veggies and mealworms as these are always breeding for them , if I don't have any of this i give a lot of fruit , nuts , vetetables , weeds , bugs

for chicks I don't really now much apart from tips given to me by members here on BYC ( ty it worked ! ) gave them banana smashed entirely and have found yesterday an old box of couscous containing raisens , also a cooked egg and then the yolk into pieces went in those tiny beeks like cookies !
And I would like to share a recipe the most of us always have in the kitchen that worked out too , along with really just nature , went out to simply catch some rainworms and other insects , putted them into a little box to store food in and putted the bugs a few minutes in the fridge , they are very slow if they are kept that cold so the chickens and even chicks can catch them out and really enjoy it , now I hear you all say ' yeah but if they are under a heatlamp in just a few minutes the house is full of bugs , true , no not here because I took some water and a cup of milk , added all the simplest things you find in the backyard , grass,weeds cut into tiny pieces , ( ok also some fruit , pineapple in this case ) and just mixed it all up , so they have been eating nothing less or more but what they 'd find outside , mama chicken did like it too , another interesting feed for a chick is catfood ! but no hard chunks so if they are hard , leave them soaking , soup goes in well too but not too much as I noticed the poop getting watery too plus : never give warm food ( this can cause illness ) , so I have been wondering what people do if it is not possible to get any chickenfood or chickfeed from your local store , how do you manage ??

Great thread discussion to help folks out of a jam! Foraging the flock as much as possible is good too! I'd be reluctant about soup unless it is homemade ... most canned soup is too salty. I keep low sodium canned vegetables around ... for us when we want, for chickens in a pinch, for emergencies, etc. Great for storm prep, as they are cheap and keep for a long time. In a pinch, a can of corn or peas can be added to what emergency food you're giving the chickens ... not for a replacement, but to get you by if you're in a bind.

 

[strangeanimal]

Great thread discussion to help folks out of a jam! Foraging the flock as much as possible is good too! I'd be reluctant about soup unless it is homemade ... most canned soup is too salty. I keep low sodium canned vegetables around ... for us when we want, for chickens in a pinch, for emergencies, etc. Great for storm prep, as they are cheap and keep for a long time. In a pinch, a can of corn or peas can be added to what emergency food you're giving the chickens ... not for a replacement, but to get you by if you're in a bind.

yeah I guess most of all people have atleast a few cans on the shelf they do not even touch btw so that is actually something great to have if you have no food for them and as you mention it , foraging is excellent for the adult birds , they can't get better this time of the year ( or anytime almost where it's more favourable weather than in Europe as in UK , BE , etc ) but for chicks it is less good , do not ask me why but each year the free rangers here ( Old English Games ) get their chicks and ow so cute to see mama hen and her kids walking around and teaching them all yet , on certain age they always all die , odd but true , not only is it their breed because I got a few other free rangers too but the same happened with their chicks so unless you let them terrorise your veggies they die oddly enough , from most other breeds than mentioned perhaps in three years time only 3 survived , out of a large flock from atleast 15 (more ) .
I happened to have now 3 chicks out of the blue , and as I mentioned their mother is gone yet they do very well even when I did not get them on chickfeed !
Now I bought a sack of free bird feed , containing more smaller grains and seeds , guess what these chicks eat at this point , it was first not even to my attention to give that but as I have to wait for my local shop to have chickstarter I just took the hammer and smashed a lot of the free bird grains and this works out very good !
Another thing BUT (with a big BUT ) in winterperiods we offer free birds some of those fatballs , well , also usable for chicks and chickens yet only one condition as it contains tons of fat ofcourse , first put them in chunks in water ( hot water ) , let it soak but not too long and you can see on top of the water after a while the fat in a big layer , if you scoop that out , hang the nets up and let those dry again I used a part of it , it also contains a lot of mash so all you need to do is reducing fat and taking big seeds out , it will still be (too ) fat but once heated most of it is out and a chick can use a little bit of ' extra ' , altough I prefer to give the natural grains all smashed up but started this thread just to share ideas / solutions , recipes in case of emergency ( perhaps you told your partner to get chickfeed or chickenfeed and he or she forgot about it , well you got an issue to solve ) .
another good thing is the use of grains into your soil , some do this only to get the chickens some extra green but you can perfectly leave it be so you got grains just in case of an emergency , feeding it as it is to harvest already or when it is just a green little plant is good for them , so why not pouring some on the ground if you bought new and putting a net over it so the chickens / chicks can't touch it yet + lots of bushes with berries , just great for them !

 

[Mace Gill]

yeah I guess most of all people have atleast a few cans on the shelf they do not even touch btw so that is actually something great to have if you have no food for them and as you mention it , foraging is excellent for the adult birds , they can't get better this time of the year ( or anytime almost where it's more favourable weather than in Europe as in UK , BE , etc ) but for chicks it is less good , do not ask me why but each year the free rangers here ( Old English Games ) get their chicks and ow so cute to see mama hen and her kids walking around and teaching them all yet , on certain age they always all die , odd but true , not only is it their breed because I got a few other free rangers too but the same happened with their chicks so unless you let them terrorise your veggies they die oddly enough , from most other breeds than mentioned perhaps in three years time only 3 survived , out of a large flock from atleast 15 (more ) .
I happened to have now 3 chicks out of the blue , and as I mentioned their mother is gone yet they do very well even when I did not get them on chickfeed !
Now I bought a sack of free bird feed , containing more smaller grains and seeds , guess what these chicks eat at this point , it was first not even to my attention to give that but as I have to wait for my local shop to have chickstarter I just took the hammer and smashed a lot of the free bird grains and this works out very good !
Another thing BUT (with a big BUT ) in winterperiods we offer free birds some of those fatballs , well , also usable for chicks and chickens yet only one condition as it contains tons of fat ofcourse , first put them in chunks in water ( hot water ) , let it soak but not too long and you can see on top of the water after a while the fat in a big layer , if you scoop that out , hang the nets up and let those dry again I used a part of it , it also contains a lot of mash so all you need to do is reducing fat and taking big seeds out , it will still be (too ) fat but once heated most of it is out and a chick can use a little bit of ' extra ' , altough I prefer to give the natural grains all smashed up but started this thread just to share ideas / solutions , recipes in case of emergency ( perhaps you told your partner to get chickfeed or chickenfeed and he or she forgot about it , well you got an issue to solve ) .
another good thing is the use of grains into your soil , some do this only to get the chickens some extra green but you can perfectly leave it be so you got grains just in case of an emergency , feeding it as it is to harvest already or when it is just a green little plant is good for them , so why not pouring some on the ground if you bought new and putting a net over it so the chickens / chicks can't touch it yet + lots of bushes with berries , just great for them !

I only have a third of an acre, and limited gardening skills so growing grains is not in my near future, but unlike most suburban neighborhoods in my part of the world, I do not use chemicals on my lawn, mow as little as I can get away with and encourage dandelions, plantain, clover, and other wild plants to grow. Most are good for the bees and healthy for chickens and people! Winter is a little harder to take advantage of that though.

 

[Mace Gill]

Purslane! Spread around the seeds and it grows like a weed. Good fleshy plant for a salad, good companion crop, as it draws up nutrients for your other plants, Ms. Rabbit and my chickens love it too!

 

[lazy gardener]

I live "out of town", so it is my intention to always have at least part of a bag of feed available, even if it's just scratch. My flock size is large enough, at least right now, that there is no way I would consider feeding them from my kitchen. In a pinch, I would give them greater access to free range. In the summer, at least during garden season, there may be some baseball bat zucchini available, as well as plenty of free range greenery, and plenty of weeds. The birds are always churning through their DL in the run, and the wood chips in the orchard. In the winter, there should be some winter squash available. I would also look in the freezer to see what is "out of date" and thaw that out for them. In the winter months, since it's colder, and grain stores better, AND, I have to plan for the occasional blizzard that might make roads impassable for 3 or more days... I tend to store more feed than I do in the summer. For milled feed, I observe the "use it within 6 weeks" rule of thumb.