The Homesteader's Way of Feeding Chickens

[BarredBuff]

Pretty good idea....

 

[Denim Deb]

My dream is to be able to grow all of the food I need for both myself and my animals. So, I'll be following this thread.

 

[BarredBuff]

Sadly I havent enough room for much animal feed growing. Im barely going to be able to pull the corn thru. I can do the rabbits hay definitely since the yard is clover mainly. And I hope I can squeeze soom BOSS in somewhere. For the rabbits and the poultry. Then I would like some earthworm bins. For poultry feed and for the soil. Maybe I can pull it off.

 

[Wifezilla]

I never planted boss...intentionally

I did, however, but some spent quail bedding on a garden patch. I got such a pretty sunflower out of it. Got the head harvested before the squirrels got it all and now I have a bag of seeds to plant in spring.

 

[Bethanial]

okay, what is BOSS?

 

[BarredBuff]

okay, what is BOSS?

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

 

[lwheelr]

I'm sprouting and fermenting our goat, chicken and duck feed. Takes less of it that way, and they get a lot more out of it. I won't do as much of that in the summer - but in the winter, when they can only get what I feed them, it is worth the extra work to save a third on the cost of feed, and to not have to buy greens to supplement.

We ferment a mixture of barley, oat, cracked corn, shelled sunflower seed, finch seed, and thistle for the chickens, sometimes some commercial scratch grain thrown in (but it is not as nutritious, as they often bake it to keep it from sprouting). We ferment barley, oats, cracked corn, and black oil sunflower seed for the goats (we buy an oat, barley, and corn mix, add another 1 cup of oats for every two cups of the mix, and half a cup of BOSS).

We sprout millet, wheat, corn, and oats. The chickens get millet, wheat, and corn, the goats get corn and oats. The ducks get the same as the chickens. I'm going to start sprouting sunflower seeds also, for pretty much all of them.

The chicks are doing way better on this - I use cracked grains for them, and alfalfa sprouts also (chickens LOVE those).

We have a small organic store here where we can pick up scrap produce (they are into recycling, so they have a "compost" bucket in back). The ducks love lettuce, the chickens will eat it if it is chopped up. The rabbits like broccoli, cabbage, kale, parsley, and other heavier greens best. The goats love chard, broccoli, apples, celery, lettuce, etc.

We sprout wheatgrass in trays, and use that for us peoples, and the animals when we run out of other stuff. It is too space intensive to do that way for the animals right now - we have very limited space. Easier to just sprout the wheat in a bucket for the animals because we can do way more of it at one time in much less space.

The chickens like wheatgrass if we chop it up so it looks like chives.

The ducks will eat grass unchopped, and so do the rabbits and goats, though there is never enough wheatgrass to give the rabbits and goats very much.

We completely went off of commercial feed mixes, due to all the unnatural stuff they put in them. When we did so, we found that we had to feed more variety. We also give them some meat protein - we grind up scrap meat and cook it down for them.

The biggest problem with it has been the chicks. Some of the chicks just won't eat anything but the fermented mash. They simply refuse all greens and proteins. Those chicks die. The rest are healthy and thriving. I think that the foraging and survival instincts have just been bred out of many of the factory hatched chicks. Over time, our chicks ought to regain that, and we should end up with a hardier, more self-sufficient strain of the breeds we are raising.

Hard to see them just turn away and die, and not really anything we can do about it because we can't afford chick feed at $18 a bag for finicky chicks that are not going to ever be genetically hardy anyway.

Both fermenting and sprouting though have made a measurable difference in survivability of the chicks and in production of our hens and goats. The goats milking is directly influenced by the amount of greens they get, and the chicken's seem to lay more when they get greens also.

 

[BarredBuff]

I'm sprouting and fermenting our goat, chicken and duck feed. Takes less of it that way, and they get a lot more out of it. I won't do as much of that in the summer - but in the winter, when they can only get what I feed them, it is worth the extra work to save a third on the cost of feed, and to not have to buy greens to supplement.

We ferment a mixture of barley, oat, cracked corn, shelled sunflower seed, finch seed, and thistle for the chickens, sometimes some commercial scratch grain thrown in (but it is not as nutritious, as they often bake it to keep it from sprouting). We ferment barley, oats, cracked corn, and black oil sunflower seed for the goats (we buy an oat, barley, and corn mix, add another 1 cup of oats for every two cups of the mix, and half a cup of BOSS).

We sprout millet, wheat, corn, and oats. The chickens get millet, wheat, and corn, the goats get corn and oats. The ducks get the same as the chickens. I'm going to start sprouting sunflower seeds also, for pretty much all of them.

The chicks are doing way better on this - I use cracked grains for them, and alfalfa sprouts also (chickens LOVE those).

We have a small organic store here where we can pick up scrap produce (they are into recycling, so they have a "compost" bucket in back). The ducks love lettuce, the chickens will eat it if it is chopped up. The rabbits like broccoli, cabbage, kale, parsley, and other heavier greens best. The goats love chard, broccoli, apples, celery, lettuce, etc.

We sprout wheatgrass in trays, and use that for us peoples, and the animals when we run out of other stuff. It is too space intensive to do that way for the animals right now - we have very limited space. Easier to just sprout the wheat in a bucket for the animals because we can do way more of it at one time in much less space.

The chickens like wheatgrass if we chop it up so it looks like chives.

The ducks will eat grass unchopped, and so do the rabbits and goats, though there is never enough wheatgrass to give the rabbits and goats very much.

We completely went off of commercial feed mixes, due to all the unnatural stuff they put in them. When we did so, we found that we had to feed more variety. We also give them some meat protein - we grind up scrap meat and cook it down for them.

The biggest problem with it has been the chicks. Some of the chicks just won't eat anything but the fermented mash. They simply refuse all greens and proteins. Those chicks die. The rest are healthy and thriving. I think that the foraging and survival instincts have just been bred out of many of the factory hatched chicks. Over time, our chicks ought to regain that, and we should end up with a hardier, more self-sufficient strain of the breeds we are raising.

Hard to see them just turn away and die, and not really anything we can do about it because we can't afford chick feed at $18 a bag for finicky chicks that are not going to ever be genetically hardy anyway.

Both fermenting and sprouting though have made a measurable difference in survivability of the chicks and in production of our hens and goats. The goats milking is directly influenced by the amount of greens they get, and the chicken's seem to lay more when they get greens also.

WOW! I may have to sprout alfalfa for the livestock...wonderfull idea. I still plant to feed mash to the chicks. But in the spring, fall and summer. I want to feed cracked corn, boss, sprouts etc. to all livestock. I may want to start culling in the fall so now free loaders mooch during the winter. I agree that the sooner they start foraging the better off they'll be. I too hope my chickens eventually are more SS in their aspects of life (reproduction and food).

 

[BarredBuff]

BTW will the chickens eat rolled oats??? Alfalfa pellets??

 

[CJW]

BTW will the chickens eat rolled oats??? Alfalfa pellets??

I am not sure about the pellets, but my girls love rolled oats!