Feeding Chickens just People food...Can it be done??

[the funny farm6]

wannabefree... can you tell us more about how you raise the mealworms? maybe on its own thread.

 

[LilyD]

Marianne I do make bone broth and actually had that from last night to add to the chickens dinner for today. I have some in the freezer as well that I have used for the dog but I think it would be okay for the chickens as well.

Why not just ferment your whole grains and a little layer ration and call it a day? It stretches your feed, adds valuable probios, keeps the mice from wanting it so much and carrying it away. Only feed what they can eat in a day and don't feed any free choice, continuously.

Feeding chickens cheaply and healthier doesn't have to be that complicated and what you will run into is some of your flock may thrive and produce well on human foods but some may not....the genetics for the flocks that could still produce well on foraged food sources are long gone and one would have to cull for this trait and keep breeding to get feed thrifty birds who can produce on more free and natural food sources.

You can try it but I expect you will run into nutritional deficiencies that will need tweaking later on. Right now they are in molt and need some good nutrition to recover effectively. Feeding high carb diets do not "heat them up" in the winter time, despite the rumor, no more than a high carb diet keeps you any warmer in the winter than a low carb diet does...there is a percentage of protein, fats, phosphorus, calcium and roughage that needs to be combined with the carbs to keep a bird healthy.

I had heard that some birds do well and others might not. Right now it's just an experiment and we will see how it goes. I am totally okay to going back to feeding something different if need be and I will be watching my girls very closely. I am just looking at the feed that I buy right now and all the additives that are in it even though it is a locally made food as well as the cost for buying each bag and it makes me want to try something different.

I looked into fermented feeds but where I live we get very cold in the winter so I would need to keep the fermented grains in the house so they wouldn't freeze which really isn't an option for me.

If today was any indication I am thinking that the girls will do well on this diet. At least that is what I am hoping but we shall see what happens.

 

[LilyD]

Chickens love mice for food but the fur slows them down. you could try spliting trapped mice [not poisioned] for them. "pinky" young before fur are real treats which they will fight to get

I don't really have to work to feed them the mice if they see them they will grab them and eat them and they start really young. My 5 week old chicks were catching baby mice and eating them but that just makes the mice craftier and they wait until the chickens go out for the day to actually go in the coop and eat.

I don't plan on feeding soy beans but would like to feed things like great northern, peas, kidney beans, chick peas, and lima beans not sure if these have the same problem as the soy beans or not. I was planning on cooking them so that they would soften up for the chickens, but I also have the option to sprout them if they can eat the sprouts and seeds without hurting them.

 

[~gd]

Corn heats their body up as they digest it. Don't know your climate, but a scoop of corn in the bitter cold helps.

We are a zone 3 right now we are running temps between the 20's and the 60s for night and day. Usually the lowest we go in the winter is down to -20 or -30 below at the worst.

One of my main issues right now is that with the drought in the midwest corn is starting to get scarce. My grain prices have gone up about 4 dollars just over this last summer. We are told it's only going to get worse not better.

I do have quite a bit of corn here that I saved from my garden and I can share that with them. But buying corn feed is going to get really expensive before the end of winter.

Is there anything I can substitute instead of corn?

Any grain will do, corn was used because it USED to be the cheapest All grains are up in price as others look to replace corn. Also I think corn was hardest hit by the drought.~gd

 

[~gd]

Corn=carbs, which produces the heat. So, anything heavy on carbs. Cooked potatoes, bread, etc.

Cool they had potatoes tonight and carrots which is a root veggie. They do love oatmeal (not the packaged kind but the good old fashioned quick oats ) so that would be an option too. I am thinking that meat and greens should go in one bin and a second bin for carbs so I can make sure they get enough of that too.

Hopefully they will let me know they are getting enough. Honestly, while I haven't seen them eating too much of the pelleted feed, their crops are always almost overly full at the end of each day. They never seem to go near the coop unless it's to lay an egg.

I still have pelleted feed right now so I am thinking of leaving that free choice to start and gradually giving less pellet and more real food until they are totally switched over so I don't shock their system. Hopefully they will do well on it.

Think of the pellets as concentrated food, veggies and bugs stay in the crops longer because they take more time to digest. Feeding is not controled by fullness, they will contue to eat untill they have enough calories. I would switch them over fast and save the pellet for use when other food was not there.

 

[~gd]

chickens are a LOT more robust than people give them credit for

I am finding that out. They often turn their nose, or beaks lol up at the shelters I build for them and would choose to perch on top of them or actually on the field fencing itself even today where the top temp was 40 degrees. All last winter they were out even in the winter as long as I shoveled them paths so they wouldn't get stuck in the deep snow lol.

It still amazes me what they will eat. Right now they are spending all day feasting on the fallen apples under the apple trees and any veggies that I toss them from the garden ( the garden is fenced so they can't get in, it's the only way that I get some veggies too).

Drop apples are often loaded with worms and other insects and the really great thing is that bugs that get eaten in fall are thinned out before the next crop. BTW Ducks and geese are even better in the winter those down coats they have really stand up to cold if they can get out of the wind and have a proper place to get to sit on there feet tp keep them from freezing.

 

[so lucky]

Just wanted to add my disconnected thoughts on this:
Highly processed foods are not any better for the chickens than they are for humans. I rarely feed mine white bread or ready to eat cereal.
White rice is pretty much devoid of useable nutrients. Lots of people food has added sugar and salt that a chicken doesn't need.
Even in the winter, some bugs are available when the chickens scratch around.
My chickens are molting now and not eating much. I have been feeding them oatmeal and scrambled eggs, meaty leftovers and cat food. I think they would rather starve than eat the pellets I buy for them. Of course, by this time, they are spoiled.

 

[LilyD]

Just wanted to add my disconnected thoughts on this:
Highly processed foods are not any better for the chickens than they are for humans. I rarely feed mine white bread or ready to eat cereal.
White rice is pretty much devoid of useable nutrients. Lots of people food has added sugar and salt that a chicken doesn't need.
Even in the winter, some bugs are available when the chickens scratch around.
My chickens are molting now and not eating much. I have been feeding them oatmeal and scrambled eggs, meaty leftovers and cat food. I think they would rather starve than eat the pellets I buy for them. Of course, by this time, they are spoiled.

That was my thinking too I am trying hard to only eat foods that are natural for myself how could I not offer the same thing to my animals. While rice doesn't have anything really super good in it, it is a carb so it could be a fill in for corn or a grain. I also will have some whole grains to add to the diet as well. I guess I am just not totally convinced that pellets are any better for the chickens than eating real foods. Fermented whole grains are cool and I may add them at some time but I am not sure how to add them for the winter months with temps far below zero.

As I said in the original post though I am just trying something new who knows it might not work out for me at all but I won't discount it before I even give it a go.

 

[Wannabefree]

Actually on second thought...I have fed mine sprouted lentils...not precooked. So, I guess it depends really on the precooking of the beans. I have heard not to feed them raw, but sprouted isn't *exactly* the same huh? I wouldn't sprout pintos for them or anything, but they seemed to really like the lentils I gave them. Maybe someone else will chime in with the why on the beans Now I'm not so sure.

Well you shouldn't have been sure because the ideal that they can not eat or digest beans is generally false. Soy beans do contain a tripsin inhibitor that can be bad for chickens [because of the amount they will eat] or humans in large amounts. The soy protein in chicken feed has generally been tosted to dryness to destroy this inhibitor and make it easer for dry blends. Most human soya foods are either cooked or fermentated which does the same. Most chicken and pet foods use soy protein as the main protein source because it is a cheap source.
Chickens love mice for food but the fur slows them down. you could try spliting trapped mice [not poisioned] for them. "pinky" young before fur are real treats which they will fight to get.~gd

Thanks for the clarification. I only remembered reading not to do it, but don't remember ever reading why. Guess now we know.

 

[Wannabefree]

wannabefree... can you tell us more about how you raise the mealworms? maybe on its own thread.

Will do