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

[fiberart57]

Interesting and relevant thread, thanks for starting it.

I'm wondering if I couldn't just feed them what I would eat myself. I live alone and for the most part eat healthy meals of grains, beans and pulses as well as what I get from my garden in the summer.

If I didn't add any salt to the rice and beans that I cooked, I could feed the same thing to the girls, I guess. I have many friends who hunt and may learn to do it myself for meat, so I could give them a little meat from there.

But chickens are omnivores, as are we, and it would seem that the basic foods we eat would work for chickens. I just don't think we can do the salt or other spice additives until after they've been fed.

Mary

 

[countrygirl57]

Years ago, when there was a surplus of codfish around our island, my grandparents would feedn their hens, fish leftover from the fisherman. Sometimes the eggs took on a fishy taste. I don't know howmuch is too much, b4 that happens. Just a thought. can't ask them ,as they are long passed on.

 

[gsim]

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That would produce eggs with a high concentration of Omega 3 fats, very desireable and very healthy. Omega 3 eggs go for $8/dozen around the country. Flaxseeds will do it too, as well as walnuts.

 

[redhen]

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I would take the scales off of the fish.. they'll take care of the rest....
Mine love fish. But they say dont feed them too much fish, or the eggs will taste fishy...

 

[gsim]

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I would take the scales off of the fish.. they'll take care of the rest....
Mine love fish. But they say dont feed them too much fish, or the eggs will taste fishy...

Just slit them open along the belly and back, and cut the head off and let them have at it. They should eat most everything but the skin. My guess it that the eyes will go first!

 

[feathersnuggles]

From my experience, you'd have to give them a huge amount of fish for the eggs to take on a fishy taste. It would probably be an excess of protein for them, anyway. I feed my birds a lot of fresh fish - raw, with the guts and heads, scales and bones, too. So far, no fishy taste to the eggs. I haven't eaten the meat from any of my birds, so I can't vouch for whether their meat would taste fishy or no. But the eggs are very rich and delicious - no fish taste, whatsoever.

 

[IggiMom]

Oh, good to know! Thanks!

Catherine

 

[kannm]

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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.

Have you considered electric fencing? Easier to put up and less brush to clear. Also will deter predators. You can get a solar powered zapper so that you don't need to plug it in.

 

[BedHead]

For those who feed fish, how fresh does it have to be? Can it be frozen first and thawed for them?

 

[fowltemptress]

I have several containers of various breeds of roaches, and it doesn't take much to keep a huge colony of those going. If it came down to it (which it won't), I could even live off of the roaches as my main source of protein, along with enough to supplement whatever my chickens can find on their own. I think our culture really overlooks and undervalues the usefulness of insects as a food source.