Yard chickens have change into more and more common for each homesteaders and concrete pastime farmers. On this put up we’ll go over 13 artistic methods to economize on rooster feed.
Yard chickens present eggs, meat, bug management, and are merely simply enjoyable to observe!
They’re tiny dinosaurs with wings! Nonetheless, organic poultry crumbles can promote for as a lot as $25 per 50 lb bag.
And at 1/3 to 1/4 lb per rooster per day, the prices can add up shortly!
To assist decrease your rooster feed invoice, I’ve collected the 13 most artistic methods I stretch our poultry price range!
The way to Save Cash on Rooster Feed
1. Skinny the Herd
I wished to deal with most likely essentially the most tough subject first. For lots of us, our women are our pets.
Nonetheless, hens will decelerate their egg manufacturing as they grow old – making it not economical to proceed to feed them.
If every hen eats 1/4 lb of feed a day, a younger hen will take that 1/4 lb and switch it into an egg a day.
An older hen will nonetheless proceed to eat that 1/4 lb a day, however solely provide you with an egg each few days.
See extra in my put up How Many Eggs Will My Yard Chickens Lay?
So when do you have to reduce them off? Like most issues, it relies upon.
Most heritage chickens breeds will lay much less eggs a yr, however will lay constantly for 3-4 years.
Hybrid breeds will seemingly produce a TON of eggs, however just for the primary 2 years.
I simply picked up some Isa Browns (a hybrid breed) that may produce 300 eggs a yr, however most likely just for the primary yr or two of their egg-laying life.
Culling the older members of your flock ensures that the feed you might be utilizing leads to one of the best manufacturing attainable.
2. Establish Your Excellent Flock Measurement
In the event you’ve been round chickens in any respect, you’ve heard of “rooster math”. Mainly, extra chickens = extra happiness.
Nonetheless, as Justin Rhodes from Abundant Permaculture says chickens (and particularly these cute child chicks) are pigs with wings.
If your loved ones solely goes by means of 10 eggs per week, you solely want 3 or 4 hens of egg-laying age.
If you wish to promote eggs or child chicks as a supply of aspect revenue, you might want extra.
I hold further hens to provide away eggs to a neighborhood meals financial institution, however I perceive that the cash I spend on feed will get reworked right into a donation, and I’m snug with that.
In the event you solely have the variety of hens you want, you’re feeding the minimal quantity to help your loved ones’s wants.
3. Measure Out Your Rooster Feed
Chickens will eat as a lot as you allow them to. In actual fact, yard chickens will usually change into chubby which may result in Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome.
In a nutshell, Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome is the place the liver turns into too fatty and bleeds, resulting in dying.
Typically this solely occurs when flocks are given an excessive amount of fatty meals like desk scraps. Nonetheless, it’s an excellent instance of how chickens will eat to extra.
Every hen ought to eat not more than 1/4-1/3 lb of feed per day.
To search out the candy spot to your flock, reduce right down to measuring out 1/4 lb per hen per day for per week to see if it impacts egg manufacturing.
If it does, up it to 1/3 lb per hen per day and see what occurs.
4. Ferment Your Rooster Feed
Whether or not you’re utilizing store-bought feed or a selfmade combine, fermentation can really create new nutritional vitamins to your flock – particularly B nutritional vitamins and Vitamin K2.
Along with creating new nutritional vitamins, soaked grains will plump up in measurement and make your hens really feel fuller for longer.
Fermenting your feed is tremendous easy. I’ve a big steel garbage can subsequent to the coop that I put feed in after which merely add water.
Be certain that your feed is roofed by a couple of inches of water to make sure your feed ferments as an alternative of molds.
Merely proceed so as to add extra feed and extra water and scoop out what you want for the day with a slotted spoon.
5. Sprout Seeds and Legumes
Along with your store-bought feed, you may add a portion of sprouted seeds and legumes.
Sprouting seeds will increase protein digestibility by as much as 30% and unlocks extra vitamin, mineral and enzymes.
Wheat and barley are the 2 commonest grains for chickens, however you may sprout oats, sunflower seeds, alfalfa, lentils, clover, mung beans, soybeans, and so on.
Having nutritionally dense meals means you may feed much less of it.
To sprout your seeds, soak them for twenty-four hours and the pour out the water.
Rinse your seeds each 24 hours till they’ve sprouted, usually in 1-4 days.
6. Forage For Your Chickens
Whether or not your chickens are saved in a run 24-7, otherwise you free vary them, you may at all times exit and forage weeds to your chickens.
In the event you’re already weeding backyard beds, or walkways, or just need to give the youngsters one thing to do, forage dandelion, burdock, lamb’s quarter, stinging nettle, clover, and so on. to provide to your women.
In the event you don’t have a ton of weeds (luck you!), you may at all times forage wild nuts and seeds like acorns, or berries like blackberries.
7. Save Cash on Rooster Feed – Cowl Crops
Much like foraging, in case you’re already rising a canopy crop, develop one thing that may feed your flock after it’s accomplished masking your backyard.
Winter wheat could be an important cowl crop to gather the seeds from and sprout, or just reduce down and throw it within the coop with them.
Between our hop rows, we’ve laid down a crop of clover so as to add extra nitrogen to the soil.
As soon as the clover is tall sufficient, we run the chickens over it in a rooster tractor.
Something they miss, I then harvest the clover flowers, dehydrate them and make medicinal cures with it!
I like something on the homestead that may serve three or 4 totally different jobs!
8. Develop Groceries For Your Chickens
In case you have the house and inclination, you may develop crops particularly to your flock.
Natural medication allies similar to comfrey and stinging nettle are each nitrogen-fixing as properly – whereas rising they provide nitrogen to your soil, harvested they will feed your flock and double as natural cures.
Once more – three totally different jobs!
Contemplate rising issues like sunflowers, squash, salad greens, cabbage, and so on. to your chickens or feed them the crops that end up a humorous form or rot earlier than you’ve got an opportunity to reap them.
(Word right here: by no means feed your women something moldy. However an overripe tomato, for instance, is ideal).
Develop nut timber for each your self and your chickens – oaks, beech, black walnut, pecans, hickories, and so on.
Most of those nuts, nonetheless, are fairly robust and must be damaged open earlier than your yard chickens can eat them.
Wrap them in a towel and go at them with a hammer.
Along with cowl crops, greens, seeds and nuts, think about rising fruit for them too.
Once more, any fruit that falls to the bottom earlier than you’ve got an opportunity to reap it, or will get bug-eaten, and so on. is ideal meals to your women.
9. Feeding Your Chickens Compost
In the event you’re cooking lots from scratch or gardening, you’re going to have a LOT to compost.
The whole lot from reduce grass, to veggie trimmings, to leaves, weeds, manure, and so on.
Chickens are rubbish disposals with wings. Be sure to chickens can entry your compost space and allow them to eat what they are going to.
Justin Rhoades dumps his compost immediately on a fallow a part of his backyard and lets his chickens scratch and peck and eat and unfold his compost for him!
That appears a bit of too messy for me, however what a superb homestead hack! Make your chickens do your be just right for you!
10. Feeding Chickens Animal Carcasses
I usually prepare dinner an entire rooster within the crockpot. It’s a quick, simple strategy to serve a minimum of three meals to my household.
After I’ve picked the carcass clear, I’ll add water to the crock pot and make bone broth and may it. After THAT I throw the leftover carcass within the run with the chickens.
They do wonderful work at choosing all the remaining clear, and after simmering within the crockpot for twenty-four hours, the bones are good and gentle and straightforward for them to interrupt open.
As soon as each few months I clear the run and compost the woodchips (what I take advantage of for bedding), manure and no matter meals scraps, together with bones occurs to be within the run.
It might really feel unusual at first to feed rooster…to your chickens. However keep in mind, chickens are simply feathery dinosaurs, and dinosaurs don’t discriminate.
Justin Rhoades recommends constructing one thing known as a maggot bucket.
It’s nothing greater than a easy 5 gallon bucket from, say, Dwelling Depot, with holes drilled within the backside.
You throw no matter contemporary animals elements you’ve got within the bucket, which attracts the flies, which then lay the eggs, which flip into maggots, which fall out of the holes and into your chickens’ mouths.
I haven’t tried that technique but, however our neighbor goes by means of a whole lot of pigs, so I could ask him for his leftovers quickly and take a look at it out!
You can even make a carcass soup and serve the meat and liquids to your chickens. Boiling helps extract marrow and different nutritious bits and make it extra out there to your chickens.
Don’t neglect your leftover fish carcasses!
11. Develop Meal Worms For Your Chickens
Bugs are a concentrated supply of protein. Meal worms are the larvae type of a beetle and rising them is tremendous simple.
A feminine grownup Darkling beetle can lay 500 eggs in only some months.
All you want is darkish container like an aquarium or Tupperware container.
You’ll want about 2-3 inches of feed for the meal worms to reside in – often wheat bran.
In the event you can’t get your arms on wheat bran, then rolled oats, rooster mash, or cereal crumbs will work as properly.
You should purchase your worms both online or at a neighborhood pet retailer, however ensure you know what they’ve been fed and guarantee they haven’t been given a progress hormone.
12. Develop Crimson Worms For Your Chickens
In the event you’ve been on the fence about vermicomposting, now may be an excellent time to start out!
Just like the meal worms, all you want is a darkish container, meals for them to reside in, and the beginning worm neighborhood.
In the event you vermicompost lengthy sufficient, your worms will likely be glad and reproduce.
In the event you don’t take away some, they’ll overcrowd and change into not glad anymore.
So to keep up your vermiculture, it is advisable to take away some anyway – feed them to your chickens!
In actual fact, many individuals have made a residing doing vermiculture!
You possibly can promote the worm casings for natural gardens, and even promoting further purple wigglers as bait!
For extra methods to generate profits in your homestead, take a look at my put up 28 methods to generate profits off your homestead.
13. Rotational Grazing
That is presumably my favourite one.
We don’t produce other livestock, but, however plan on doing rotational grazing subsequent yr.
In case you have different livestock on grass, you may hold your cows, horses, llamas, pigs, and so on. on a selected piece of land till they eat it down.
Whenever you transfer them to the following plot of pasture, run your chickens (in a rooster tractor), over the spent land.
Not solely will they be capable of eat and unfold the manure, however they’ll eat the bugs that the manure attracts, and any grasses or grass seeds, leftover.
We’re planning on working our pigs in our hop yard subsequent yr. We’ve pretty compacted, clay-y soil that doesn’t drain water properly in any respect.
The pigs will flip over the soil, and add natural materials (their poop), which is able to assist the soil drain higher.
We’ll run the chickens after the pigs to unfold the manure, eat the bugs the manure attracts, and add their very own nitrogen-rich manure to the now uncovered soil.
It’s a win-win-win-win!
In the event you’re simply trying into getting chickens, and are excited about elevating them from chicks, don’t miss my 9 Issues You Want BEFORE You Get Child Chicks put up! Study from my errors and be ready!
And in case you’re trying to elevate child chicks to be meat birds, take a look at The Develop Community’s Raising Meat Chickens video:
Have I missed any?? If I’ve, please go away a remark and let me know so I can add it!