minibackyardfarmer
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quick warning this is a bit of a long post...
the feed questions are broken up into sections since we have chickens and will soon have ducks and meat rabbits. so we are asking for each animal
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Okay, so I asked this same question over at BYC a few months back and got a little scolded with maybe 1% of helpful information if you want to call it that lol.
We will be moving to my aunt and uncles 5acre house/mini farm (one step closer to our dream of being more self sufficient... we are going to buy the property)... so our chickens will be able to free range finally. but when we are home since there are raccoon population issues there and will have to keep an eye.
but I was wanting to kind of get away from layer feed, only since I'm not a fan of everything that is in it that really doesn't need to be in it.
Right now the % of layer feed is cut back by 50% then what they were normally getting. My question is do chickens need the % of protein that is said they need so that they are healthy and lay etc.? If so then id really only want layer feed to be 25% max of their feed.
Aside from that the feed mix looks a little like this:
steamed rolled barley
steamed rolled oats
wild bird seed (byc people already scolded us for this lol, but our chickens are healthy and happy)
cracked corn (as an additive during winter time mainly, we don't give them a lot during the summer time other then what is in the bird seed mix)
sun flowerseeds in black oil
ground alfalfa
oyster shells
They also get maple leaves and rhubarb leaves which they love (but again ive been scolded for this because they are "poisons" to them but theyve had them since we got them and they could be outside 100% and still kicking after almost 3yrs and chickens we let them hatch and raise get the same), our grass clippings (we can't free range them where we live at right now), table scraps (we just don't do meat scraps, I've been told that it can make chickens cannibalistic I dont know how true that is but just haven't done it since we usually dont have meat scraps lol), and they also get bread, tortilla shells, etc. if we have extras or have them that go dry (I also make them their own loaf of bread once a week that I let dry out first and then give it to them, they tend to like the dried out stuff better than the fresh ones)
chicks get the same thing. we don't do chick feed (again that wasn't good to say on the other site lol). our chicks grow out nicely and have seemed to become hardier as chicks then our hatchery chickens that we got to initially start our flock.
Once we move and are free ranging is there something good to add to their feed for the colder months since they can't forage as much?
Would we be able to get away with not doing the layer feed?
Is there other type of grains that chickens like that a feed store may carry? We plan on doing some gardens (but they only get scraps from that since we do it for canning for us) and an small alfalfa mix field (oats mixed with it also) for hay for them.
my last question when it comes to chickens is can they have the tomato plant scraps? BYC told me no cuz its poisonous to them so we haven't, but in the same breath theyve gotten maple leaves and rhubarb leaves that weve gotten scolded for but are still living and love them. by plant scraps i mean the leaves and stocks. We were even told no on green tomatoes and too much tomatoes, but last year non of our ripped and we had a bunch so what we didn't use for canning (you only need a small % of ripped tomatoes to green tomatoes for canning believe it and you can't even tell you had green tomatoes in your sauce) we gave to them and they are still alive lol.
we have buff orps for their dual purpose and use them as meat birds also each yr out of those that we hatch out (naturally). We plan on getting barred rock pullets next yr to produce sexlinks to sell and for our meat birds (hatched chicks).
--------------
We will be adding ducks next yr also for them to hatch out our duck meat source.
is there anything that ducks can't have that chickens can have? We plan on whatever we feed our chickens to feed our ducks too as additive feeds minus their free ranging. as both flocks (chickens and ducks will be in the same solar electric poultry fenced areas. we plan on doing padlock systems for them if needed)
we also will have a pond we just need to restock since (aunt and uncle had a haron issue last yr and get snapping turtles every now and then - which will be our turtle soup if we ever catch any lol.) planning on bluegill and fishing them out for meat sources. Is it good to give ducks (and chickens) the fish scraps like the inners, head and skeleton of the fish?
when we butcher chickens and when we do the ducks I use the inners (minus the intestines) for first batch of stock. after that though is it okay to give the cooked inners to them (I would mince them up)?
------------------------
we will be doing meat rabbits, but not in cages so say. We plan on doing a walk in rabbit run (with fencing on the bottom so they can't dig) with a female colony sort of. and I say sort of because we plan on doing ground wooden rabbit hutch kits that we can lock them up in at night just for added security just in case raccoon break ins (which i dont see happening but rather be proactive) this way they also have their own nesting areas that are covered. The males will be in ground wire cages in the colony and females introduced to them (one at a time) for breeding, this way we can control the breeds.
any ways we were wanting to do our own feed for them and making rabbit pellets only about 25% max of their feed, only to make sure they are getting the nutrients for sure they are needed.
my idea was:
steamed rolled barley
steamed rolled oats
ground alfalfa (we get this at the feed store)
timothy hay once in a while (bale, we would just have to watch that the kids give no scraps to the chickens because we were told this is a no no to chickens don't know why and I haven't looked it up)
aside from the grass and grass clippings we would give them. Is there anything else that is good for meat rabbits like: other grains or table scraps that are safe for them?
On the other forum I had asked about the bird seed we gave to the thickens only because the cotton tails we have in our yard now actually eat it if we put it out close to their den they have under our one porch, but I was told no that rabbits don't eat it not even wild ones (I didn't want to argue). I was also told no to corn rather fresh on the cob or crack corn (again our wild rabbits under our porch must not know this rule lol)... but figured I'd re ask here to just make sure.
quick warning this is a bit of a long post...
the feed questions are broken up into sections since we have chickens and will soon have ducks and meat rabbits. so we are asking for each animal
-----------------
Okay, so I asked this same question over at BYC a few months back and got a little scolded with maybe 1% of helpful information if you want to call it that lol.
We will be moving to my aunt and uncles 5acre house/mini farm (one step closer to our dream of being more self sufficient... we are going to buy the property)... so our chickens will be able to free range finally. but when we are home since there are raccoon population issues there and will have to keep an eye.
but I was wanting to kind of get away from layer feed, only since I'm not a fan of everything that is in it that really doesn't need to be in it.
Right now the % of layer feed is cut back by 50% then what they were normally getting. My question is do chickens need the % of protein that is said they need so that they are healthy and lay etc.? If so then id really only want layer feed to be 25% max of their feed.
Aside from that the feed mix looks a little like this:
steamed rolled barley
steamed rolled oats
wild bird seed (byc people already scolded us for this lol, but our chickens are healthy and happy)
cracked corn (as an additive during winter time mainly, we don't give them a lot during the summer time other then what is in the bird seed mix)
sun flowerseeds in black oil
ground alfalfa
oyster shells
They also get maple leaves and rhubarb leaves which they love (but again ive been scolded for this because they are "poisons" to them but theyve had them since we got them and they could be outside 100% and still kicking after almost 3yrs and chickens we let them hatch and raise get the same), our grass clippings (we can't free range them where we live at right now), table scraps (we just don't do meat scraps, I've been told that it can make chickens cannibalistic I dont know how true that is but just haven't done it since we usually dont have meat scraps lol), and they also get bread, tortilla shells, etc. if we have extras or have them that go dry (I also make them their own loaf of bread once a week that I let dry out first and then give it to them, they tend to like the dried out stuff better than the fresh ones)
chicks get the same thing. we don't do chick feed (again that wasn't good to say on the other site lol). our chicks grow out nicely and have seemed to become hardier as chicks then our hatchery chickens that we got to initially start our flock.
Once we move and are free ranging is there something good to add to their feed for the colder months since they can't forage as much?
Would we be able to get away with not doing the layer feed?
Is there other type of grains that chickens like that a feed store may carry? We plan on doing some gardens (but they only get scraps from that since we do it for canning for us) and an small alfalfa mix field (oats mixed with it also) for hay for them.
my last question when it comes to chickens is can they have the tomato plant scraps? BYC told me no cuz its poisonous to them so we haven't, but in the same breath theyve gotten maple leaves and rhubarb leaves that weve gotten scolded for but are still living and love them. by plant scraps i mean the leaves and stocks. We were even told no on green tomatoes and too much tomatoes, but last year non of our ripped and we had a bunch so what we didn't use for canning (you only need a small % of ripped tomatoes to green tomatoes for canning believe it and you can't even tell you had green tomatoes in your sauce) we gave to them and they are still alive lol.
we have buff orps for their dual purpose and use them as meat birds also each yr out of those that we hatch out (naturally). We plan on getting barred rock pullets next yr to produce sexlinks to sell and for our meat birds (hatched chicks).
--------------
We will be adding ducks next yr also for them to hatch out our duck meat source.
is there anything that ducks can't have that chickens can have? We plan on whatever we feed our chickens to feed our ducks too as additive feeds minus their free ranging. as both flocks (chickens and ducks will be in the same solar electric poultry fenced areas. we plan on doing padlock systems for them if needed)
we also will have a pond we just need to restock since (aunt and uncle had a haron issue last yr and get snapping turtles every now and then - which will be our turtle soup if we ever catch any lol.) planning on bluegill and fishing them out for meat sources. Is it good to give ducks (and chickens) the fish scraps like the inners, head and skeleton of the fish?
when we butcher chickens and when we do the ducks I use the inners (minus the intestines) for first batch of stock. after that though is it okay to give the cooked inners to them (I would mince them up)?
------------------------
we will be doing meat rabbits, but not in cages so say. We plan on doing a walk in rabbit run (with fencing on the bottom so they can't dig) with a female colony sort of. and I say sort of because we plan on doing ground wooden rabbit hutch kits that we can lock them up in at night just for added security just in case raccoon break ins (which i dont see happening but rather be proactive) this way they also have their own nesting areas that are covered. The males will be in ground wire cages in the colony and females introduced to them (one at a time) for breeding, this way we can control the breeds.
any ways we were wanting to do our own feed for them and making rabbit pellets only about 25% max of their feed, only to make sure they are getting the nutrients for sure they are needed.
my idea was:
steamed rolled barley
steamed rolled oats
ground alfalfa (we get this at the feed store)
timothy hay once in a while (bale, we would just have to watch that the kids give no scraps to the chickens because we were told this is a no no to chickens don't know why and I haven't looked it up)
aside from the grass and grass clippings we would give them. Is there anything else that is good for meat rabbits like: other grains or table scraps that are safe for them?
On the other forum I had asked about the bird seed we gave to the thickens only because the cotton tails we have in our yard now actually eat it if we put it out close to their den they have under our one porch, but I was told no that rabbits don't eat it not even wild ones (I didn't want to argue). I was also told no to corn rather fresh on the cob or crack corn (again our wild rabbits under our porch must not know this rule lol)... but figured I'd re ask here to just make sure.
