Top 10 Ways To Save On Chicken Feed Costs

[tortoise]

I also feed a lot of kitchen scraps, pretty much anything goes (except those hard core no-nos), they love the fat and meat. Might not be the best for them but they have been happy, healthy and laying so far

I wish we had a place to get old cat food here, I have on occasion supplemented with our cars food in the winter for an extra boost if needed.

The #1 health problem in backyard chicken is from too much veggie/table scrap / low protein diet. They're basically dinosaurs.

This morning my chickens got

• leftover neck bone from soup,
• leftover pasta (bad mom, I forgot to put leftovers away last night and it sat out overnight)
• Meaty bone, fat and drippings from a mutton roast (mutton was from 2019, freezer burnt, for the dogs)
• Cat food. Currently Cat Chow and they're not a fan. They LOVED the previous cat food, IDK what it was.
• Layer pellets

Apple slaw from windfall apples is their next course. . Spoiled chickens!

I sweep the floor after training dogs - biscuit crumbs everything!!!- and give that to the chickens too. They dont mind a little grit mixed in

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Do you have ideas for improving foraging opportunities in small runs?

My chickens' outdoor runs get picked and scratched bare.

DS15 put sod down following edging overgrown cement. I thought that was a great idea! DS7 likes to rake leaves and dump them in. Its not much, doesnt go far.

My only remaining idea is to build a chicken tunnel to get them out of the run. But that will have the same problems eventually.

How do I get bugs back in these areas?

Same here-run bare. We do the rake leaves and throw in and clippings from lawn if it is long. I have thought about grower boxes (grasses and grains they will eat in essentially garden boxes with covering until they grow tall enough and chickens can't scratch out seed or eat the young greens) and then uncover them when ready. I did have two planters that I put in some herbs and peas this year, near the end of the season I just put the whole box in their run.

 

[tortoise]

For those of you that feed cat food to your chickens, do you feed dry or wet or both? I do dry but soak it in water to make more of a mush. Never thought about wet food, but maybe in the winter? Any feedback is welcome.

Gave the girls some squash yesterday, even the babies ate some

I feed it dry. The food I have for them now is Cat Chow which has a clover shape kibble. They're not a fan. Hard to eat?? I might try it wet or put it in my blender to chop it up. I could give some to my younguns too if i did that. They get ultrakibble which is stupidly expensive. It's basically cat food for chickens 😅 $8.99 for a small bag - ice cream pail size.

They are old enough now that I'm not too concerned about nutrition imbalances. I think animals pick what they need. I read a reference to a study in which one group of chickens was given formulated pellets while the others were given all the ingredients separately. The chickens that ate free choice gained better. I have not seen a published version, and have not fact checked. There was a study done in toddlers with the same idea. This was before computers and there was too much data for human calculation so the researcher ended up abandoning the data. Anecdotes from that study remain. They are fascinating. It makes sense to me but i can't claim it is true.

 

[Hinotori]

Size is usually the issue. Chickens will happily eat anything. It has more salt than cat food so I wouldn't give them it more than once a week.

 

[tortoise]

Same reason. High protein, low cost compared to other comparable proteins. (Especially when gotten for free, as in my case)

Feeding excess eggs is another good option.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I also feed a lot of kitchen scraps, pretty much anything goes (except those hard core no-nos), they love the fat and meat. Might not be the best for them but they have been happy, healthy and laying so far

I wish we had a place to get old cat food here, I have on occasion supplemented with our cars food in the winter for an extra boost if needed.

 

[tortoise]

the free ranging aspect is one that would always concern me as while it is ok if a few birds are out there eating insects, but if you have too many birds in too small an area then you'll decimate the diversity of insects over time (and probably also the plants).

since i am primarily an organic/natural methods gardener those insects are critical to my gardens.

Do you have ideas for improving foraging opportunities in small runs?

My chickens' outdoor runs get picked and scratched bare.

DS15 put sod down following edging overgrown cement. I thought that was a great idea! DS7 likes to rake leaves and dump them in. Its not much, doesnt go far.

My only remaining idea is to build a chicken tunnel to get them out of the run. But that will have the same problems eventually.

How do I get bugs back in these areas?

 

[flowerbug]

i think the chicken tractors are the best idea i've seen so far for small flocks. this way you can limit their actions to one area for a while and then move it and let that area recover.

i think the overall problem happens to any kind of animal that feeds on an area in that it will always eat the stuff it likes the best first and then gradually get to other things, but leaves the worst of the weeds or bugs alone entirely so those get a boost from having less competition (and also more fertilizer from what was eaten and then pooed out). humans do it too, we eat the yummies.

if you have gardens you can rotate the chickens through i think that also helps give each a break for a while. fallow some areas for a season and leaving wild strips that can be an insect refuge.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

For those of you that feed cat food to your chickens, do you feed dry or wet or both? I do dry but soak it in water to make more of a mush. Never thought about wet food, but maybe in the winter? Any feedback is welcome.

Gave the girls some squash yesterday, even the babies ate some

 

[tortoise]

Anyone know if chickens can eat dog food? Or if anyone has given it to them? We have about 10-15 cups left of Kharma's food and I don't want to waste it.

Yep, I use expired dog food when I can get it.