What would you feed your flock(s) if you couldn't buy or get commercial type feed?
Think about this for a minute--
Roads are blocked, NO commercial feed is available and won't be for awhile. Water might not even be available. It might be real cold, and no electricity either.
Now--how and what are you going to do to keep your birds healthy and well fed.
Have you planned something in a "worst case scenerio?
I would sure like to hear from people who might not even use commercial feed. And from those who have planned ahead.
cs
Feeding your flock(s) without commercial feedwhat if.
Pumpkins that left over from halloween or thanksgiving ,they love the flesh and seeds,cut them in half and turn seed side up
This message was edited Dec 7, 2010 11:56 AM
This message was edited Dec 7, 2010 11:58 AM
A chicken scratch grain for me this year completely by accident. I kept pouring the chicken water outside and noticed some plants coming up. Whatever grain it is obviously grows great here. It's possible you could take a bag of chicken scratch and grow your own feed.
With a battery and an inverter you could keep a light on to thaw water and keep the chickens a bit warmer. A small solar panel or a wind generator would keep the battery charged.
Love the question BTW.
I suppose if things were really desperate you could always build a campfire or use a propane barbeque grill or heater to melt snow for water.
Generator would be great of course.
I do not have a lot of electricity here where I live. I have a large gauge extention cord that my landlady has been kind enough to allow. I only run a 1200 watt heater to try to keep warm with, this laptop computer, and 1 desk light.
So, I have to plan accordingly. I have a 55 gallon wheeled trash can full of water that I fill once a week and that is in the basement of the LL's house.
As for food, I have a sack full of scratch as well as commercial feed.
But, I am wanting to get away from commercial feed. It's getting way to expensive and I fear that things are going to get worse. Need to plan some other ways of feeding my flock.
I am going to look into soybeans and/or soybean flour, etc.
Ground corn is soooooo expensive as to be just not an option.
Wheat berries is something that my pidgeon's would eat along with the chickens. I am planning on buying a a quantity of it and store it in some big airtight/waterproof buckets or even a 30 gallon can.
If I had to, I can get water from a creek here, but everyone tells me it is polluted from a trailer park above us on a hill. The water runs down the hill and into the creek. Yuck.
To keep my birds warm in the winter, I have several birds into one cage and they keep each other warm that way. This year I had wanted to build a chicken house but it wasn't to be. And, to be honest, this land I am on isn't mine, so hopefully one day in the very near future, I hope to have my own land and out buildings.
BUT--I have found that the more purebred a Serama is, the less likely he/she is to take much cold at all, at least with my own flock. I have one little Serama roo that is gorgeous, but at about 65 degrees, he starts getting sick. He's inside in the basement with a light, and is doing better. He also has all of his hens with him to keep warm with too.
I want to start breeding a tougher Serama. I have one of the above named roo's son's that is looking real good, is a tough little thing, and my friend across the way also has some Serama roos that are tiny, and seem to be able to tolerate the cold better. These chickens also have a pea comb which helps with the cold.
I have had so darn many problems with the coons, my chickens must be locked up at night in a very secure enclosure. We also have hawks so to say the least, I don't leave my home for much time at all.
Any other ideas everyone?
This year I put a bale of hay in the small 4X3X3 coop. It fit perfectly. Seems like it will really help them keep warm.
My coop and run are 8' long, 3' high, and 4' wide. The last 3 feet is boxed in with plywood, which is where I put the bale of hay. The wire for the run is 1/2 inch hardware cloth. That wire seems particularly secure, and no coon could get his little paw in there.
Congratulations on your seramas Copperstone. People that have them on here really seem to love them.
I think these same kinds of things, what if this, what if that. I try to be somewhat prepared, though I am not as prepared as I'd like to be. Prices are going up on food products, that's obvious enough to see.
Wishing you the best.
Karen
I have a garden to grow veggies for my birds and freeze them. I also make poultry blocks and cookies ahead of time and freeze them. I have 3 trash cans filled with grains,crack corn and feed. I have a generator to turn on my water well pump in case we ever get temps back down 28 or so. I also wrapped my water tank with xmas lights along with black trampoline tarp. I do have a bale of hay in case I need to put in my hoophouse as well.. I keep my whole oats,sunflower seeds, and dry kitten food in the house..lol..I am pretty much supplied for this winter since I started way back in September stocking up..
Moodene, what is a "poultry block"? Is this something we could make, or is this a "commercial" item?
I make my own..I figured out a recipe give or take. You can change it out with any grains, sunflowers seeds or chopped up nuts..you can use chopped up dried fruits as well.
Recipe for the Poultry blocks and cookies: Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
I make small amounts at a time but you can use a large pot and double the recipe.
4 qt pot
bread loaf pans and 2 or 3 cookie sheets
parchment paper
Pam Spray or grease the loaf pans well with oil- not butter!
3 cups of water
2 cups of powdered milk
3 cups of scratch grains
3 cups of whole oats
2 cups of corn meal or grits
You can also add cracked corn, rolled oatmeal, black oil sunflower seeds, and finely chopped nuts to the mixture. If the mixture gets to thick, just add little amount of water at a time. You can give or take on the mixture as you learn what can be mixed together with what you have on hand.
Put in pot- water and it comes to a boil then turn off and add the milk. mixed well.
Add the rest of the items. Mixed well. If there is liquid still in bottom of the pot, add any kind of oatmeal to thicken it up.
Grease the loaf pans and fill them 3/4 full with the mixture. I used 3 big ones and 2 small ones with this recipe. Baked about 20 to 30 mins depending on your oven.
Put parchment paper on cookie sheet so the mixture doesnt stick to the pan..greased cookie sheet will not work..
Just drop 2 big spoonsful on the cookie sheet. Bake about 15 to 20 mins. depending on your oven.
Now for the jump start egg laying dept: Sprinkle red pepper powder on the blocks and cookies. it is shown in the first picture..lol.. I feed my blocks to them everyday and it doesnt hurt the hens. NO CHILI POWDER..too strong..I also mix garlic powder with the red pepper as well..
These blocks and cookies do freeze well and I make several baggies full of them to keep on hand.
If you have any questions: just ask on here and I will answer them the best I can. Picture below.
Pic- The blocks in picture are made with small loaf pans. You can use any size, but the bigger they are, the heavier they will be..If you have muffin pans, use those dont have alot of birds. You can use donut pans because they have holes in them, put string thru the holes and hang them up so the birds can peck on them.
I am fixing to make some with sunflower seeds tonite and will post a pic of what they would look like in muffin pans.
