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

[gsim]

Quote:
Do you have guests over for dinner often?

 

[wood&feathers]

My grandma (in Ireland) never bought feed, for the chicks or the dog. She gave her chickens table scraps, mostly stale bread heels and potato peels. She would collect them in a huge bowl. Then she went out to the hedge and yanked up stinging nettle to throw in the bowl. Then she poured in sour milk, cream, or whey, or whatever was left from after the cows' milk went to the curb for the dairy pickup. It was never much, just enough to wet the mixture. She used a big masher to pulverize this into crumbles she scattered for the chickens.

The peels of Irish boiling potatoes are bitter, and she thought us Yanks quite crazy for eating peels. Stinging nettles are incredibly nutritious. You have to grasp them firmly to avoid the sting. Believe it or not it does work.

 

[spud1035]

Quote:
I gave amaranth to my girls a few years ago and they wouldn't touch it. I've since read that amaranth isn't good for em unless it's soaked or cooked d/t a coating on the grain. I'm not convienced amaranth is all that good for us either, when I eat it, it doesn't make me fell good. I've read reports on giving to chickens and the weight gain on it was poor.

I think the black soldier fly could be the savior bug for many of us. You can give them road kill, manure, scrap veggies, meat and get a super high quality protien and fat for our girls. I've got a bio-pod last summer but had a hard time gettin it going last year d/t my own lack of discipline. This year I'm going to be more serious with it and have high hopes. When I watch my girls I notice one thing, their perference for bugs of any kind, I think they are onto something.

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
I gave amaranth to my girls a few years ago and they wouldn't touch it. I've since read that amaranth isn't good for em unless it's soaked or cooked d/t a coating on the grain. I'm not convienced amaranth is all that good for us either, when I eat it, it doesn't make me fell good. I've read reports on giving to chickens and the weight gain on it was poor.

I think the black soldier fly could be the savior bug for many of us. You can give them road kill, manure, scrap veggies, meat and get a super high quality protien and fat for our girls. I've got a bio-pod last summer but had a hard time gettin it going last year d/t my own lack of discipline. This year I'm going to be more serious with it and have high hopes. When I watch my girls I notice one thing, their perference for bugs of any kind, I think they are onto something.

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

Those two grains require old style traditional preperation.
They should be soaked to neutrelize the phytic acid, which is what prevents sprouting.
I think, will need to verify though, that those two grains have a very high amount of phytic acid in them, and are also very high in fiber.
If properly prepared they cause no issue for me, but if I just treat them like rice, its not pretty!
I think they would be excellent for sprouting for chickens.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
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!

You should have heard the conversation between me and my mother in law about roaches.
She was complaining about how every time a new tenant moved in or out nextdoor, the roaches always moved over to her house. How she has to call the exterminator every few months, blah blah blah....
I declared that the roaches don't stand a chance at our house because of the chickens!
They even eat the giant "water bug" type in one big gulp! (Unfortunately those move a lot at night while the chickens sleep, but I have still noticed a decline in the population of them coming on my back porch at night!)
She argued about how they would move over from the neighbor's house even if you didn't have them in your house so I should watch out.....and I said that the chickens would get 'em from the yard before they ever made it to my house....she thought about that for a second and then goes "ya know we eat their eggs...eeew lets quit talking about it"

BUT she continues to gobble up eggs from me, so I guess she just doesn't think about it.


I think if I was gonna raise feeder roaches I just wouldn't tell DH about them. lol He didn't really notice my mealworm attempt and they were a big disaster! They died, and didn't make babies, and stunk, and got mold and got grain mites.....bleh.

 

[Wifezilla]

They should be soaked to neutrelize the phytic acid, which is what prevents sprouting.

Yup! Grains, beans and nuts should be soaked otherwise the anti-nutrients in the food will counter any potential good. When in doubt, go ahead and sprout

 

[lil' fowl]

you can use sour milk on old bread to grow maggets and won't hv to deal with dead stuff...just put bread in pie tin and pour milk over and put in wire veggie basket and hang in ch house....no sour milk, use fresh ,it will sour....only problem it has to b warm, i need winter feed AND I'M NOT DOING ROACHES!!!! haven't seen one since i left the low country and intend on keeping it that way...in the summer they eat the baby frogs and even the tadpoles on the edge of the pond...i bet i can mk a box with a heat lamp and grow maggets in the winter...old refridge maybe and just sweep them out of the bottom every day....hummm, i'm gonna give this some thought....

 

[spud1035]

Just wondering how many have grown amaranth in any quanity for themselves. I have done some and thought it was alot of work and don't plan on doing it again. Would much rather grow sunflowers, corns or beans. I can't imagine doing for myself let alone the girls.

 

[lil' fowl]

okay i thought.....what about a 5 gal bucket with holes drilled in bottom and a 15 watt bulb on the lid...might b just the right enviroment to grow maggets in the winter....i hv buckets but not sure about lids..if i can find one will b a good project since i'm snowed in...

 

[messianicmom]

"Would much rather grow sunflowers, corns or beans"


Which beans/peas/lentils does anyone here recommend to grow, as far a nutrition beenfits, space considerartions and effort to grow and harvest? I grow some for ourselves and buy field peas right now for them, but if I could grow enough for them of an easy shelling type, I would.
Any suggestions?.

Thanks