Anyone Have Ideas on Alternative/Foraged Animal Feed?

[darkdakota]

I just bought eight pullets for eggs and I am building a "Chicken Tractor". If it works out I'll build at least one more. I have been searching my animal and garden books for possible alternative feed for them if TSHTF.

So far I have come up with chick weed, comfrey (some books say it's ok for chickens some say no), sunflowers.

Anyone have experince with foraging and storing feed for them for winter?

How about rabbits and goats?

Dark

 

[housemouse]

good question, DarkDakota, because I am the happy new owner of 5 little chicks, now 13 weeks old.

I bought some chickweed seeds, and have sunflowers growing, but do plan on storing some layer feed for them. I live in the snow belt, and am guessing they can eat many of our table scraps, and perhaps some sprouted grains during the winter.

My biggest worry is raw meaty bones for my dogs, who are the healthiest on a raw food diet. I hate to have to switch them to kibble if TSHTF, but also can't quite bring myself to keeping dinner on the hoof or web for them...

 

[jlee]

In this post http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1958214&postcount=3 A.T. Hagan is feeding pigweed to his hens.

 

[Salal Sue]

During the Depression folks in our area with beach access let the chickens loose during the day to feed on sand fleas and other small beach critters. Reportedly the chickens did very well and the eggs had dark orange yolks.

 

[darkdakota]

good question, DarkDakota, because I am the happy new owner of 5 little chicks, now 13 weeks old.

I bought some chickweed seeds, and have sunflowers growing, but do plan on storing some layer feed for them. I live in the snow belt, and am guessing they can eat many of our table scraps, and perhaps some sprouted grains during the winter.

My biggest worry is raw meaty bones for my dogs, who are the healthiest on a raw food diet. I hate to have to switch them to kibble if TSHTF, but also can't quite bring myself to keeping dinner on the hoof or web for them...

Where did you get the chickweed seeds? I'd love to find some. It grows wild in my backyard but they are too small to give them any yet. The grower said only medicated chick feed until they are feathered out.

Be careful about storing the processed feed for them. When I grew commercially for Hudson they were big on testing feed and using it quickly. It seems that fungus can grow in it if left in bags (or bin) in a moist place. Something I am concerned about in storing foraged food for winter too. I would store it the same as grains in 5 gallon buckets with dry ice if you can. Maybe A. T. Hagan can give us some tips on this.....


My grandaughter is having a ball with them while up here for the summer. I got a sheet of metal roofing and some 2x4 window pallet frames for free from work that we are going to start the Chicken Tractor with this weekend. Being in the colony of Alaska if things go bad for the lower 48 I expect to have to rely on the girls for fresh eggs. We only have ONE hatchery in the state as far as I can find. (and they claim)

Edited to add: The cheapest sunflower seeds I have found are in the bulk bin at the food store. The raw (unroasted and unsalted) sunflower and pumpkin seeds have grown for me but the offspring are a crapshoot. A few pounds of cheap seed might be worth storing.


Dark

 

[Lord's Servant]

alternate chicken feed

You all are on the right track. The great thing is, chickens will eat almost anything with nutritive value. You could buy whole wheat, corn, milo, any of the feed grains, which are cheap, and store them over winter, I use metal trash cans so mice don't chew their way in.

You can dry stinging nettle and shred it and feed it to them. They will eat dry powdered milk, as well as fresh milk.

You could do worm growing, like in a metal coffee can, with soil and newspaper over winter, you could grow your own crickets/grasshoppers. I don't know the exact details, but I'm sure a quick internet search would yield results.

They would eat pine nuts, peanuts, any type grain, wild or domestic you can store. Even potatoes could be used for feed. Just keep in mind, they like protein, so any form you can store would be good, even beans.

I would dry dandelion greens, lamb's quarter, clover and try feeding that to them too.

Plus all your table scraps, including meat scraps.

good luck, let us know how it works

 

[Chronicles]

Chickens will eat anything..

Free range birds do a good job through the summer, with all the insects, and what ever they can scratch up form the dirt.

I was thinking if someone was raising worms, along with grains of any kind. The winter months you could suppliment the well dryed grain, junk with worms and any thrown out kitchen scraps. The worms also could be used for fishing, and the fish gutts could be fed to the birds and made into compost. Maybe even bait for trapping.

The old time ways were much better, all around.

 

[lectrickitty]

How about rabbits and goats?

Dark

Congrats on the chicks. I'm also looking for winter forage for goats so will be watching to see if someone has an answer for that one. For rabbits I have discovered that before commercial rabbits feed was available mangles were grown for rabbit feed. A mangle is a sugar/stock beet, not the same as the sugar beets in the family garden. They were used to feed cattle, and other stock (haven't researched yet to find out if goats can eat them). I was told that it’s dark red and grows very large. I'm currently searching for seeds so I can get them growing here.

 

[watchin]

I've been thinking about trying to dehydrate some of the hoard of grasshoppers that we are being overrun with this year. So far, it's still in the "thinking about" stage. Does anyone know if it would be worth trying?

 

[ittybit]

Drying is the best methode for preserving forage. Cut and dry grasses in the 'leaf' stage will give you 12-16% protien. Dry till samples do not mold when closed in plastic bag. That's pretty dry. Keep rodents out of it too. Probably drying bugs is a good idea.

 

[A.T.Hagan]

Here is a site that you will want to become familiar with:
CHICKEN FEED: The World of Chickens
http://www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html

It is very doable to supplement your chicken's feed with homegrown or locally acquired feed, maybe even supply all of it if circumstances are in your favor.

Probably the easiest thing to do is to give them green feed which is green leafy plants, particularly stuff that they really like such as giant chickeed, amaranth, lamb's quarters, dandelions, turnips, mustards, collards, chard and on and on. They don't contain much in the way of calories, but can supply vitamins and nutrients and maybe some protein depending on what it is you are feeding.

Protein and carbohydrates are a little harder to come by depending on what you are growing or have easily available. Hens are not picky eaters so will be satisfied with a fairly wide range of foods.

In the spring, summer and fall allowing them to free range is best of all as they can generally supply themselves with most everything but carbohydrates and maybe even those if they can clean up spilled feed from other animals. In the winter time and with confined birds it's more work since you have to do it for them.

I try to always have some green growing stuff around the place that I can feed my birds and have over time become aware of the various local weeds they seem to prefer and those that they don't much like or won't eat. Pigweed is not a weed one ordinarily allows to grow, but it's a favorite with my hens so as long as it doesn't actually get to set seed I let it go and either pull it up or break off branches as needed. Best of all is to let my birds out to do all of this for themselves, but I can only do that for short periods when I can keep an eye on them as we have a lot of predator pressure here. In the fall I plant a couple of rows of turnips and mustard and feed them (and the family) from those. They generally get the job done until the weather is too hot the next year by which time other stuff is available.

If you really get into this later one there are a couple of books on animal feed and nutrition that I can recommend from back in the forties and fifties when range grown birds were still the norm in the industry.

.....Alan.

 

[Vere My Sone]

I line my nest boxes with coastal bermuda hay, which is the kind that seems to grow best around here, and we get it in large round bales.

Used to grow and bale our own, but that's a different story, might have to resort to that again if the cousins don't develop it first

anyway, the hay constantly disappears from the chickens eating it

so, I'm assuming cutting and drying many grasses, clover, etc. for them would be feasible, especially if you pick up one of those old push mowers

might have to resort back to growing our own field corn also to get through the winter

 

[A.T.Hagan]

Poultry have only a limited ability to digest grass. It can be useful for supplying vitamins, some minerals, a little protein, but that's about all they can really do with it. Any sort of legume hay would be better, but even there you'd still have to have a good source of carbohydrates for them - grains, cooked potatoes, pumpkin/winter squash, etc.

.....Alan.

 

[Freeholder]

Dark, if you stay in Alaska, find someplace where the salmon spawn and die, and pick up the dying fish to dry. You can chop or crumble the dried fish for protein for the chickens -- it may alter the flavor of the eggs a bit, but better than no fresh eggs. The dried fish is usually used for dog food, BTW. I don't know if you need a permit to do this -- I don't think you are in a subsistence area, since you are in Anchorage, so check on it.

Also road kill, and the gut piles from hunter-killed animals -- check with your friends. Freeze, and chop each day what you need. Keep the stomach contents in for the chickens -- they'll eat it all. For a handful of chickens, you don't need all that much each day, about a pound per three dual-purpose hens. Maybe a bit more in cold weather. (That's dry weight, though, I think -- if the feed is wet, better add a little.)

We knew some people in Tok who kept two does and a buck (Toggenburgs, if I remember correctly). They probably were buying a little grain for the two does, but harvested their hay from along the roads, by hand, and hauled it home, loose, in their truck. The hay included all kinds of weeds, which are very good for goats, as well as branches from aspen and willow trees. Goats don't need as much protein as poultry does, because they manufacture protein in their guts (all those micro-organisms that live there and digest their food), but if you can grow stuff like cabbages, carrots, beets, and rutabagas to supplement their winter hay, it will help. Pea vines make good hay, too, and peas grow well up there. Dried peas used to be the protein part of the feed for animals in northern climates, and probably will be again. You should also be able to grow barley there (I know it's grown in the Interior), and possibly oats, as well.

Rabbits do well on hand-harvested hay, especially if it includes some legumes (clovers, peas, alfalfa).

The main thing is to make sure they have enough water -- get some of the black rubber buckets and feed pans from the feed store (or order them -- the soft rubber kind, not the hard ones). These you can bash against a tree to break the ice out of them, and it doesn't hurt the bucket a bit.

Make sure the chickens have a calcium supply (or they'll end up eating eggs -- ask me how I know), and the goats and rabbits need mineral salt. Don't use sheep mineral for goats. It doesn't have enough copper in it -- goats have high copper requirements, enough to kill sheep.

Kathleen

 

[darkdakota]

Dark, if you stay in Alaska, find someplace where the salmon spawn and die, and pick up the dying fish to dry. You can chop or crumble the dried fish for protein for the chickens -- it may alter the flavor of the eggs a bit, but better than no fresh eggs. The dried fish is usually used for dog food, BTW. I don't know if you need a permit to do this -- I don't think you are in a subsistence area, since you are in Anchorage, so check on it.

Kathleen

I'll look into it. I had a customer once who told me that dried fish protein can be bought by the 50lb bag in both Valdez and Seward but I haven't been able to find the companies.

I spent the day today building a raised bed and general yard work and I discovered that the fireweed I pulled and dropped on top of the compost pile during the week dried to a great hay like consistency. I am going to call the Ag people to see if they know if fireweed can be feed to chickens. It grows everywhere (as you know), it's bulky, it's easy to pull, and seems to dry easily.

I also got an idea of maybe drying red wigglers. As I was lining the raised bed with weed prevention cloth (I have a bunch left over fron the french drain around the house) I thought that if I build a raised bed, line it, fill it with fresh maure and peat moss in June and put a few pounds of adult size red wrigglers in it, I might be able to harvest and dry a lot before the first snows hit. Save the eggs and some adults for the next year by bringing them into the basement for the winter.

John being 100% disabled can give his hunting rights to someone else to hunt for him. He has a friend that will hunt a second moose and clean it for him. Maybe I should have him save everything and try to find a way to store it...maybe a BIG dehydrator is the way to go.

Dark

 

[darkdakota]

Poultry have only a limited ability to digest grass. It can be useful for supplying vitamins, some minerals, a little protein, but that's about all they can really do with it. Any sort of legume hay would be better, but even there you'd still have to have a good source of carbohydrates for them - grains, cooked potatoes, pumpkin/winter squash, etc.

.....Alan.

Is fungus in feed as big of a problem as the commercial companies make it out to be? Up here in AK pumpkins can get HUGE. I understand the really big ones don't store as well but pumpkins do make a great feed. I got a bunch once when I was raising pigs for free and it was really funny to watch them. At first they didn't know what they were but after I split a few open it was like throwing candy to kids.

Dark

 

[A.T.Hagan]

There are thousands of different kinds of fungus only some of which produce mycotoxins that are bad for your birds (and you). The problem is knowing which one you're looking at which is generally not possible so it's better to avoid moldy feed of any sort. Poultry are more sensitive to mycotoxins than we are.

Pumpkins make very good chicken feed from the carbohydrate and carotene view point. My birds will eat pumpkin, winter squash, watermelon, and cantaloupes down to a thin shell when I split them for them.

.....Alan.