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Author Topic: Feeding poultry without layers pellets???  (Read 7351 times)

lesleysprite

  • Joined Mar 2010
  • Fife
Re: Feeding poultry without layers pellets???
« Reply #15 on: May 20, 2017, 08:49:06 pm »
I don't keep chickens now, but when I did (just a few years ago) I fed them a mix of wheat, sf seeds, meal worms, peas or beans, and sometimes mixed bird seed if I could get it cheaply.  I had a spreadsheet where I worked out the energy content and percent protein, they seemed to do well enough off it.

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Feeding poultry without layers pellets???
« Reply #16 on: May 20, 2017, 09:49:31 pm »
I only fed mine grains. Wheat, barley, rape and anything else we had on the dryer or in sheds that got swept up. I Collected it all for winter and just fed minimally in the good months, that, greens and free range. They did fine. In the hungry gap I'd go out everyday and turn some stones, logs or junk over so there was some fresh bugs too. And they stole half of the rodents that the cat brought in! ...cat food hasn't been around that long either. It's over a year (maybe 2years) since I've bought my cat proper cat food, just gets scraps and I make stock once a week and he gets all the skin, scraps and gristle off that. He looks fine for about £1.50 a week. Marketing.

DippyEgg

  • Joined May 2017
Re: Feeding poultry without layers pellets???
« Reply #17 on: May 22, 2017, 12:07:44 pm »
This is really interesting! I would love to be able to spend less on layers' pellets. Won't they get fat on wheat though? And what about calcium?

macgro7

  • Joined Feb 2016
  • Leicester
Re: Feeding poultry without layers pellets???
« Reply #18 on: May 22, 2017, 12:37:32 pm »
I remember spilling some sand ones and chickens starting eating it lol
They can get calcium from it as well as grit and collect pebles themselves while free ranging
Growing loads of fruits and vegetables! Raising dairy goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits on 1/2 acre in the middle of the city of Leicester, using permaculture methods.

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Feeding poultry without layers pellets???
« Reply #19 on: May 22, 2017, 02:58:45 pm »
This is really interesting! I would love to be able to spend less on layers' pellets. Won't they get fat on wheat though? And what about calcium?

i don't believe they were overweight. They spent all day scratching around eating greens and bugs. I believe snail shells have high calcium. I didn't give them much in the summer months, just checked their crops were full at the end of the day and that egg production was reasonable. Chickens have probably been kept like this for millennia, probably not the most efficient system, (good for using nutrients that would otherwise not be put into meat and eggs, but probably not getting maximum yields either) but they'll do ok. :-)

 

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