Chicken feed--what do you feed your chickens?

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LOL, you sound like me. None of ours go to freezer either. But if it got bad they would, We just like the eggs. Hubby use to hunt and can clean anything if he has to.

Yeah mine are pets first, and a wide mix of breeds so I can tell them apart. Though I did "man up" and once actually processed a large hen that the dogs killed just to see if I could do it, plus it seemed a shame to waste all the meat. She was a nice hen but not one I was close to, and I pressure cooked the meat to add to dog food.

Even after pressure cooking for 30+ minutes the meat was incredibly tough! I mean like leather, and the bones were very hard too. I knew it would be tougher than store bought but had no idea how tough. If things ever get desperately bad then chances are the chickens will attract thieves/trespassers, and their meat is likely a lot more tender. :)
 
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Yeah mine are pets first, and a wide mix of breeds so I can tell them apart. Though I did "man up" and once actually processed a large hen that the dogs killed just to see if I could do it, plus it seemed a shame to waste all the meat. She was a nice hen but not one I was close to, and I pressure cooked the meat to add to dog food.

Even after pressure cooking for 30+ minutes the meat was incredibly tough! I mean like leather, and the bones were very hard too. I knew it would be tougher than store bought but had no idea how tough. If things ever get desperately bad then chances are the chickens will attract thieves/trespassers, and their meat is likely a lot more tender. :)
Yes your suppose to let them ' rest ' I think is the term. 3 days on ice or in fridge I think till rigormortis sets in and tenderizes it.
 
Yes your suppose to let them ' rest ' I think is the term. 3 days on ice or in fridge I think till rigormortis sets in and tenderizes it.

Ahhh...yeah then I didn't wait long enough. I think it was maybe 1 or 2 days before I processed the carcass (and then pressure cooked to kill any pathogens). Meat looked perfect though, and I didn't bother with plucking as that would have been way too much work. Just skinned it.

I have never hunted or processed game, have just watched a few videos on youtube.
 
The big 45 gallon barrels with lids and rings used for shipping food, are only about $8 dollars each or cheaper if you skip the middle man. Wheat stores for a heck of a long time and if it is feed grade, mylar isn't needed. It will still take quite a few tons, but a few chickens can go a long time on a few barrels of wheat. I have 70 or so hens, so I cannot stock up that much. I buy 6 tons a year from my Amish neighbours and that is good for a year and some. I slowly build up extra over time.

If the brown stuff truly hit the fan, than I would not be keeping very many chickens; just enough to get by and raise a few replacements and even that would be difficult. Self-sufficiency in my mind, does not mean relying on a stock pile with out the ability to replace it with one's own efforts in one form or another. There aren't any truly self-sufficient farms. There are farms that can make do or do without. Outside input of some sort will always be needed. Farmers like every one else, need a network.

If keeping animals, the sheer work involved to raise their feed with less than modern conveniences doesn't bear thinking about. With modern conveniences, which cost a lot of money, one cannot buy all of the equipment on the wish list needed to do anything on a bigger scale, and scythes ect...are only going to get the job done on a very small scale. Most people have $million farms. They start with a $million and end up broke.

Even groups like the Amish, rely on community. It is why villages have existed since the dark ages. One or two people simply cannot find enough time in the day to do or create everything that is needed. The first rule of the holy grail of self-sufficiency, is to limit expectations. Those in the South however, stand a better chance of feeding their animals than those of us in the North as they do not have to stock pile vast amounts of feed to get through the winter; they can stock pile it in the form of pasture that does not have be cut, dried, gathered and stored. So, somebody kick the soap box out from under me.
 
If the brown stuff truly hit the fan, than I would not be keeping very many chickens; just enough to get by and raise a few replacements and even that would be difficult. Self-sufficiency in my mind, does not mean relying on a stock pile with out the ability to replace it with one's own efforts in one form or another.

Agree. Plus choosing the right breeds would be paramount for long term self-sufficiency. A lot of the modern laying breeds wouldn't be a very good choice IMO, they need a lot of food for constant egg production and they can't reproduce naturally. Many aren't well suited for free ranging either (due to being bred for low intelligence, poor instincts, high caloric needs and coloring that attracts predators).

150 years ago most breeds laid far fewer eggs, the hens would go broody and they could raise their own offspring, and many were geared towards free ranging (though pet breeds were popular even in colonial times). Saving/preserving eggs for cooking was a high priority as the birds laid sporadically and mostly in the spring/early summer. Lighter bodied hens that are smart, go broody, and can fly a bit would likely be good long term.
 
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Some birds will also injure other birds. Aggressive birds should also be kept with caution.
I'm not sure which chickens have been genetically modified but that is a good point and should be looked into. I figure the breed we have gave us at least 6 years of laying and were pretty sturdy flocks. These new ones we have now will just have to wait and see.
We found the most important thing is how well they are protected from preditor's.
Keep perches far enough away from outside walls so coons and such can't eat them through the fence while they sleep.
Half our pens have tin roofs and chicken wire on top and sides so we don't feed the wild birds all day long.
Lay down a 4 foot strand all the way around fence line so chickens can't dig out and predators can't dig under. 2 feet inside and 2 feet outside.
Make sure the birds have shade in summer and shelter in winter.
Have at least 2 pens so you can let one rest from bird crap and have time to clean it.
 
My brother has the chickens & use store bought feed.
I am thinking of growing flex and millet to feed the chicken.
I have the room & it can be a summer cover crop, so the cost per pound would be low.
Also someone told us that split peas are cheap at the Dollar store.
 
Ahhh...yeah then I didn't wait long enough. I think it was maybe 1 or 2 days before I processed the carcass (and then pressure cooked to kill any pathogens). Meat looked perfect though, and I didn't bother with plucking as that would have been way too much work. Just skinned it.

I have never hunted or processed game, have just watched a few videos on youtube.


Laying hens are more active and older than broiler and need to be cooked slowly. Commercially broilers are butchered at 4 weeks old. If the bones were still hard they needed to cook longer. Even with a pressure cooker.

I was taught to either cook right away or wait until after rigor so the muscles relax. I've never and a hankering for chicken after a day of processing so I don't know for a fact if rigor really makes them tough or not.
 
So what would you all feed birds that weren't laying yet? Ours will be 7weeks old when we get them.

I feed them all game bird feed (or flock raiser) with a side dish of oyster shell for the active layers. That works for everybody (chicks/roosters/layers).

Even laying hens don't lay all the time especially during winter and the extra calcium in layer pellets is not healthy if they aren't producing eggs.
 
We have always fed our chickens certified organic layer pellets and organic hen scratch, they are a very flock of 25 hens and two small fighting cocks that do a great job of looking out for the hens. When or if the SHTF, probably most of the hens will become food for us as Co-op feed might end, but I am considering growing wheat and barley from the hen scratch in our lower field if I can get someone to disc it for me, years ago I planted wheat we brought from Texas and it really did great here. We get up to 20 eggs a day, the only time they back off laying is when it gets too cold or too hot when they need the energy to take care of themselves.
 
So what would you all feed birds that weren't laying yet? Ours will be 7weeks old when we get them.

Thats about how old ours are now. Born March 3 td. We feed them organic starter and about to start on starter finisher and I give them bread bu not much,they love it too much.
 
I am thinking of millet & broom corn.
These can be planted in rows & harvested a little each week.
You can plant rows 2 weeks apart, so the feed will last all summer & store any seeds not used in the feed shed.
First I should feed some seeds to the birds to make sure they will eat it.
 
We raise 50-60 meat chickens every year. I believe they are called Red Rangers. They're great chickens and always do really well for us. For the past two years we've used feed made at a local feed mill. The recipe they came up with for us for 1 ton of feed is: 1310 pounds of corn, 600 pounds soybean meal, 50 pounds of brood cow (I have no idea), 20 pounds of salt, and 20 pounds of lime. Using our own sacks, this was custom ground for me for a total of $287.37 this past April. The birds do really well on this recipe and it sure is cheaper than buying 50 pound sacks all the time. We think we're going to butcher over Memorial Day weekend this year.
 
We raise 50-60 meat chickens every year. I believe they are called Red Rangers. They're great chickens and always do really well for us. For the past two years we've used feed made at a local feed mill. The recipe they came up with for us for 1 ton of feed is: 1310 pounds of corn, 600 pounds soybean meal, 50 pounds of brood cow (I have no idea), 20 pounds of salt, and 20 pounds of lime. Using our own sacks, this was custom ground for me for a total of $287.37 this past April. The birds do really well on this recipe and it sure is cheaper than buying 50 pound sacks all the time. We think we're going to butcher over Memorial Day weekend this year.
I really like the red rangers but they can't take our heat.
 
I've been raising 8 Cornish that are also being butchered on Memorial Day weekend. I don't know about the soy in that mix, I know it's a cheap filler. I try to keep soy out of my own diet, and that's a challenge.
 
I don't disagree but for what it's worth they do really well, cheap filler or not. They grow fast, stay hardy, and don't have any health problems. I think for us this works and we're going to keep using it. We confirmed today that butchering day will be Memorial Day Monday.
 

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