What would you feed if you couldn't buy feed?

[Katy]

I'd have to start penning my dogs up part of the time and let them free range part of the time. I guess I'd have to let my breeding pens go. We are grain farmers so I'd still have access to grain to feed them.

 

[mistyfeather]

i always have an amazing garden every summer that literaly feeds my family (5 + our friend that lives with us) my parents and brother, friends , relatives, neighbors, people i dont even know but aparenty someone i know knows them

as they are always geting produce from me. enough that i sell stuff to people i work with , and sell to people that someone knows and i just get phone calls from people wanting to buy produce. and i still have enough to can,freez and dry. we have 2 apple trees and a plum tree. this year i will be planty several varieties of berry bushes and grapes. i read the new isue of mother earth new about growing your own grain. i think it said that in a 10 x 20 foot plot you can grow enough grain for six loves of bread. and you can grow much more on just a 1/4 acre. i was hoping to try a small plot of wheat this year to see how it wold grow in my yard

. i still have tons of produce from my garden last year feeding us! plus home made pickles that i managed to hide from everyone(my pickles are much saught after and never last more then a month around here

unless i hide some) i have friends and family that hunt and i would not have a problem going hunting , i would just borow one of my grandfathers gun from my uncle as i dont own one but am planning on getting one. so my chicks would definately not be gowing hungry at any point. i also save seeds so if i finacialy could not buy seed for the garden no worries

i have always had a plan even befor the economy went down the crapper. i know what its like to have myself and husband out of work with two todlers and no money in savings, we had to rely on goverment help for 6 months , if anything happened now i can at least keep us fed, and sell more produce then what i usualy give away for free.

 

[messianicmom]

Yes, I am growing Amaranth along one of mfences this year for the reason of being able to eat the leaves, like a summer spinach, and use the seeds for us and the birds.
It's a beautiful plant visually as well.

Rachel

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
I have been mulling over trying that in Alaska. Just a couple plants to see if I can squeak it into our season.
I love how much it produces!

 

[beckyschicks]

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Don't waste any time clearing away the brush and undergrowth. The goats will much prefer to graze on this than the grass. Just fence the worst area of questionable scrub that you have, supply water and add goats. They'll do the rest.

I always strech the chicken food budget by walking my neighbor's corn field after harvest. There are usually quite a few missed ears of corn especially at the corners and other turns.

No way I will clear anything except the fence line itself. I definitely plan on letting them forage in the brush. But I do dread clearing that fencerow. Even with a track loader, it will require a lot of piling and burning to keep from getting piles of rodent-riddled brush. It will definitely be a winter project, likely next winter because I ma 67 and I will not be doing something like this in the summertime. It is 6 acres and likely 2000 linear feet (7 rolls) of fence and close to 300 T-posts. It is a $2,500 project BEFORE buying the goats. Needs to be 48" field fence to deter dogs, etc. Still need a donkey or an Anatolian shepherd dog to stay there, 24-7.

We have goats and use electic and that keeps them in. On zap and they don't go near it the rest of the time. Actually we turn it off the rest of summer. If you get T posts and string wire, you really don't need to clear that much brush. Actually that's their favorite thing to eat. Will pick the weeds over the grass. Ours have destroyed so many panels and rolls of fences that now everything is electric. If they don't rub against it they head butt through the fence. We don't have the predator problem like most. Have dogs and they would protect but the largest predator we have is a coyote and thats smaller then our dog.

 

[fowltemptress]

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I lurked on reptile forums in order to find people who were selling various feeder insects. I can't remember who I purchased all of my roaches from, but you don't have to do much searching on a reptile forum to come up with a long list of names of people who sell them. My initial order also included green banana roaches, but I decided to get rid of them and focus more on the lobsters as my small breed roach. I didn't order many roaches, so it did take a couple of years for my colonies to establish. In fact, for some reason we only ordered six false death heads. Three of them I stupidly crushed accidentally in the beginning, but the three remaining were all it took to have a massive colony two years later.

The reptile forums is also where I learned to care for the roaches, too. Here's some good information I found with a quick google search. I do have some differences in how I care for mine, though. I don't use water gel, I just give my roaches carrots or fruit for their moisture needs. I've never liked the water gel thingies because my roaches don't seem to like them, they go bad quickly, and overall, it was a waste of money for me. I also put a thin inch-wide slick of vaseline around the inside top of the bins, just to be double sure there are no escape artists. Even though the roaches I own can't climb glass, I have been known to accidentally leave the lids off, and the vaseline lets me have peace of mind in those instances. Also, I do not use a heat pad on any of my breeder bins. As much as I hate the cold our house never goes below 70, and every time my SO is away during the summer I just turn off the air and let the house get as hot as it wants, and I find that my roaches breed more than enough for me in those conditions. If you aren't the heat lover I am and you want your roaches to go crazy with the breeding, then yeah, you'll need heating pads. Last, I have never found the need to clean the containers every three months . . . with how little they smell, that seems like overkill. When I do clean them I don't even make a big effort of sifting all of them out of the substrate . . . I just pick a spot in the garden and dump (great fertilizer), and the chickens take care of all the roaches I missed. Speaking of which, I've never been concerned about roaches establishing themselves when I give them to my chickens because the chickens are so quick to eat them. If you're concerned about it you can always stick them in the freezer for a bit before giving them to the chickens.

I have tried raising crickets and mealworms before, but they were so much more work it's hardly worth it. Also, roaches don't stink, so that fact alone made me switch exclusively to roaches.

 

[feathersnuggles]

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Fowltemptress, thank you SO much for all the details you wrote up here!!!! I have to say, I am very very interested. However, I will have my work cut out for me convincing the rest in the household that they won't have to move out. LOL.

During dinner conversation last night, I began with "Hey, I forgot to say, there's someone who is raising roaches for their chickens and.." DH's eyes became huge. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! No, I'm serious! When I left <big city on the east coast>, the greatest relief was I didn't have to deal with roaches any more. Please, don't. Not ROACHES!"

I was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down my face!

 

[IggiMom]

Fowltempt, thank you so much. That was very interesting. Is there any particular species of roach that you raise?

I am very sure that my husband would react much the same as the last poster (sorry, forgot your handle) but I am still interested.

I might not tell him.

Catherine

 

[emys]

New York worms has good prices and great information on raising roaches and the types available. I went with orange headed roaches. They are easy to raise!

 

[card5640]

Iggimom, I have a root cellar and they keep right thru until April and sometime May, smaller ones keep best. Any cool dark place will work.