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

[MoonShadows]

My chickens eat very little chicken food when there is no snow on the ground. They free range, and I give them scraps, leftover fruits and veggies, and whatever I can spare from the garden. During the winter they eat more feed (I use a natural feed) and whole corn.

 

[lcertuche]

I feed mine more in the winter too and free range less because everything is hungry and looking for a chicken dinner when it's cold outside. We have all kinds of predators here come winter. We have them in the summer too but they don't seem as interested.

 

[waretrop]

I have allot of chickens who live in a fenced in corral..

They eat about 50 pounds of pellets a day. I feed them most all things I out of my fridge that I am not going to use, cooked or raw.

I get all the homeless peoples leftovers. There is no where for the homeless food pantries to put their leftovers except to pay to have it taken away. I take it for free and they don't have to pay anything....They get a 55 gallon garbage can of bread a day when I get the bread.


I cook a bread of sorts for them.

I start with a cornbread powder and use eggs that I get out of the nest boxes that are cracked, shell and all. Sometimes I freeze them shell and all till I have time to cook their bread. I add a liquid like tomato water I have canned in the summer or mushroom water or turkey bone broth. Everyone saves their carcass for me to make broth. I use beets, carrots, corn, some canned meats. I bake it all in the oven to make a bread consistency. They love it....

mushroom water

bone broth

I also add any old product that I have canned.

Here are beans that I didn't get picked early enough. So I canned them for the chickens.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Those are good ideas. Mine get leftovers, but they get 'em as is, lol. No time to cook for 'em... But, I do love the idea of that bread!

 

[NH Homesteader]

OK @waretrop I just have to know... How many chickens do you have? That's a LOT of feed!

 

[waretrop]

I get 100 eggs a day...50 to 60 dozen eggs get washed and hand delivered to my 50 customers each week. Everyone doesn't order each week and some get allot every week but it all averages out for me....Delivery takes about 4 hours....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Holy Cow! I hope you get a lot for your eggs! That sounds like a lot of work to me.

 

[waretrop]

I have been doing this for 5 years now. I do ok with it.....Everyone loves them.....I sell out every week....no one comes to my house for don't want lots of traffic coming and going all week. I just do it all in one day with no one visiting me....