Update-dehydrating bugs, pumpkin seeds & chicken feed

[patandchickens]

anything that bites (which the most random bugs do, seriously) sets off our allergies

Most random bugs do *not* bite, seriously they don't. Particularly night-flying ones that you could catch (i.e., mosquitos are also night-flying but you will not catch them in a conventional light trap so they are not a concern). Even sweep-netted bugs need not bite as long as you do not *handle* them, just sweep-net tall grass and dump the net contents into a jar and freeze to kill and voila.

If you are allergic to "random bug" bites in "the outdoors" I would tend to wonder if your problem is maybe primarily chiggers.

Just a thought, as collecting bugs really needn't involve *handling* them,

Pat

 

[MsPony]

I see, ill have to go down to.the creek and try!! I think I get a ton of spider bites at night, I tend to be nice to them in my house and they are buttheads back :/

The pumpkin and mix...?

 

[freemotion]

If your hens are free-ranging and you picked up a box and they ignored worms, that means they are getting enough protein, so you really don't need the bugs unless things freeze over. If things freeze over where you are. If you are worried about them getting enough, you can place some boards or cardboard or some veg material (straw, hay, garden waste, etc) in a low layer....not compost deep, or it will heat up too much for worms....and rake it aside now and then to pick up worms for them.

I'd store the mealy worms right in the freezer for them.

How I get pumpkin seeds: I glean pumpkins (with permission) from a farm or two that sells pumpkins for decorating. The day after Halloween, I can take the pumpkins. If you don't want hundreds of pumpkins like I do, you can go into the field with a machete and a bucket and gut the pumpkins right in the field, if they will be plowing them under.

I don't know if you can buy them raw in bulk in a form that will sprout....at least not for a reasonable price.

There is a house near me that has a carved pumpkin display every year that is hundreds of pumpkins, and each year I plan on stopping and asking if I can have the guts, each year I forget, then I can't remember which house it was to ask beforehand! Maybe next year....

If your flock free ranges every day, then what you feed them is really a supplement to that, and the mix is not critical. So your homemade scratch mix looks great! It has more variety than what I feed my flock (I don't feed any commercial mix at all.)

 

[MsPony]

Thank you so much everyone!! The last week has gone well, except for running out of certain things They peck at their pellets, but they are pretty untouched.

Yesterday I ran out of BOSS and my hens havent shut up since then! Today I ran to the store and got them some more stuff, I opted for no more oat seeds as they dislike them, got wheat seed instead. I also got safflower seeds which over very well. I did get some corn, but its a small percentage. Their crops are constantly full (polish bantee had a harder time at first, but has gained back weight/full crop since then) and egg shells are nice and thick. I havent even put out their calcium/phosphorus yet!

I took down prices and weight, figured that my original formula will cost .55/lb!

Def recommend this free range/mix style of feeding!!

 

[Bettacreek]

Mealworms honestly do not take up much space at all. Right now, since I'm not feeding them to anything, I just have two quart size containers for them. You can use jars, but I have specific insect cups. You can use wheat bran, oatmeal, basically anything grain based. I've been using poultry mash lately since I sold the birds and still have about 20lbs of mash, lol. You can get the small 20qt sterilite containers and use them to breed for feeding purposes, taking up very minimal space. I have yet to breed crickets, but there are MANY other bugs you can raise. Worms are excellent. They're natural composters and if you breed enough you can always sell some for bait locally. Again, you could breed them in the same size container (though it'd be smaller scale). Wax worms are another good one. They take a little bit of prep, but they're really not difficult. I again use insect cups, make a mix of honey and bran (I forget the exact recipe off the top of my head) and crumple up a little bit of wax paper and put it in the cup, add your wax worms and forget about them until they turn to moths. They'll breed within three days, and then you move the wax paper to another cup with fresh bran/honey mix. Pull out any grubs you want for feeding and put them in the fridge, leaving some for breeding. Wax worms are easy, but they're difficult to come across. Many "mom and pop" petstores will buy them from local folks to sell as feeders in their stores.

 

[BarredBuff]

I am loving this thread!!