I live in Maine. I ferment my chicken food. I recently saw an ad for 1,000 pounds of mixed cracked corn and oats, sourced locally. I look forward to trying it! I do give my chickens expired rice and canned vegetables. All sorts of scraps including the bones of a rotisserie chicken for them to pick clean. What ever i can to lower the bill. Im growing sunflowers next year.
@@RealJasmineLove Fermented feed they love! I throw the rotisserie chicken carcass out too them also! In the 20’s today… I just cooked brown rice and chopped broccoli and added leftover white rice from Chinese food. I scramble eggs frequently for them.
Great idea! We also had started growing comfrey to feed them in the summer, and then harvested black soldier fly larvae from a compost bin that they loved! so many fun ideas to save.
I feed comfrey to my chickens too. I dehydrate it for off season use. 1-3 times a week I sprinkle it into their warm oatmeal crumble mix. They love it💖💖💖
Just an update on giving my hens soaked beans... They stopped laying when the snow fell. I had been lax about giving them beans for a few days. Started again this week and i have hens laying today. Of course, we supplement with a local scratch feed which has black oil sinflower seeds. But the beans seem to make the difference between eggs or no eggs.
This is a great idea! I know i have beans that are past their prime and would be perfect for this. I might try growing a corn crop this year specifically for the chickens. My grandparents did that.
In a big pot, Boil dry beans for a couple of hours then put in a few cups of rice then add a protein if i have a few older eggs i scramble them add it to the beans and rice or some cheap mince cooked or raw. And to make it all go further i also soak the mixed grain overnight to let it swell and soften up they love it.
I use egg mash at $8.00 a 50lb bag. Mix with game bird starter $18.00. 2 to 1 game bird. I’m still getting all the eggs I need and then enough to give away. Lasts over month for 14 hens. So $16.00 plus 18.00 equals 34.00 a month or better. Less than a dollar a day. Game bird is 24% protein..
I sprout lentils and wheat berries every so often for the chickens. Also grow wheatgrass for myself (for juicing) and chickens love the wheatgrass, especially in the winter. I keep my garden fenced off but have a garden for the chickens with kale, lettuce beets
This can be a good way to use old beans but it won't save money. The cheapest pinto beans are $1.00/pound and pasta is also $1.00/pound when it's on sale. A 50 pound bag of layer pellets is $15.59 at Tractor Supply.
@@zone4garlicfarm Good point to consider. I’m wondering when you factor in portion size if that changes things, since the dry beans can swell to 2-3x their original size after cooking, and pasta about doubles in size. And maybe I can find a good ratio of other things like oats and rice that I can add in to bring the cost down to a comparable price to commercial feed. I am also not sure how much the chicken food satiates the birds compared to beans, rice, pasta, etc. Perhaps commercial feed expands in their stomachs and does a better job? Or maybe the high protein content from the beans does better. Lots of factors to examine, for sure! Thanks for bringing that up. 🤔
You can buy a huge bag of beans from a wholesale place or restaurant supply place. Would be cheaper per pound. Just cook up a cup or 2 early in the morning.
@@donniecarter4981 I wouldn't buy Tractor Supply feeds but it was the easiest to quickly look up a price. When I had chickens I fed Blue Seal or Shur-Gain.
@@jeand2139 Yes. I haven’t tried it yet, but I don’t plan to grow my own wheat to then turn into noodles. I was thinking on how I can eventually source the chicken food from the ground up if commercial food was completely off the table.
I live in Maine. I ferment my chicken food. I recently saw an ad for 1,000 pounds of mixed cracked corn and oats, sourced locally. I look forward to trying it! I do give my chickens expired rice and canned vegetables. All sorts of scraps including the bones of a rotisserie chicken for them to pick clean. What ever i can to lower the bill. Im growing sunflowers next year.
@@RealJasmineLove
Fermented feed they love!
I throw the rotisserie chicken carcass out too them also!
In the 20’s today… I just cooked brown rice and chopped broccoli and added leftover white rice from Chinese food.
I scramble eggs frequently for them.
@@RealJasmineLove Tons of great info here that I’ll have to try. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea! We also had started growing comfrey to feed them in the summer, and then harvested black soldier fly larvae from a compost bin that they loved! so many fun ideas to save.
@@johngamble9234 That’s awesome! I’ve seen a couple of versions of the soldier fly larvae in some videos and that’s definitely on my to-do list.
I feed comfrey to my chickens too. I dehydrate it for off season use. 1-3 times a week I sprinkle it into their warm oatmeal crumble mix. They love it💖💖💖
Just an update on giving my hens soaked beans...
They stopped laying when the snow fell. I had been lax about giving them beans for a few days. Started again this week and i have hens laying today. Of course, we supplement with a local scratch feed which has black oil sinflower seeds. But the beans seem to make the difference between eggs or no eggs.
@@Julesbc1234 That’s awesome! Thanks so much for updating us
This is a great idea! I know i have beans that are past their prime and would be perfect for this.
I might try growing a corn crop this year specifically for the chickens. My grandparents did that.
@@Julesbc1234 Let me know how it goes!
In a big pot, Boil dry beans for a couple of hours then put in a few cups of rice then add a protein if i have a few older eggs i scramble them add it to the beans and rice or some cheap mince cooked or raw.
And to make it all go further i also soak the mixed grain overnight to let it swell and soften up they love it.
@@aaronhopkins6697 Sounds like you’ve got some happy and healthy birds over there!
Beans and rice ...perfect protien
I use egg mash at $8.00 a 50lb bag. Mix with game bird starter $18.00. 2 to 1 game bird. I’m still getting all the eggs I need and then enough to give away. Lasts over month for 14 hens. So $16.00 plus 18.00 equals 34.00 a month or better. Less than a dollar a day. Game bird is 24% protein..
How many chickens do you own? @user-wq3jp3qg1o
Sprout the beans, or cook for a while.
Good point. I used to sprout mung beans for the chickens. Was nice having fresh greens for them all winter.
I sprout lentils and wheat berries every so often for the chickens.
Also grow wheatgrass for myself (for juicing) and chickens love the wheatgrass, especially in the winter.
I keep my garden fenced off but have a garden for the chickens with kale, lettuce beets
Beans must be cooked. Must be!
@@got2kittys Do you cook the beans after sprouting?
@@DiFish-z6n Having a little “chicken garden” is a great idea! I have a spot in front of their coop that would be great for that.
This can be a good way to use old beans but it won't save money. The cheapest pinto beans are $1.00/pound and pasta is also $1.00/pound when it's on sale. A 50 pound bag of layer pellets is $15.59 at Tractor Supply.
@@zone4garlicfarm Good point to consider. I’m wondering when you factor in portion size if that changes things, since the dry beans can swell to 2-3x their original size after cooking, and pasta about doubles in size.
And maybe I can find a good ratio of other things like oats and rice that I can add in to bring the cost down to a comparable price to commercial feed.
I am also not sure how much the chicken food satiates the birds compared to beans, rice, pasta, etc. Perhaps commercial feed expands in their stomachs and does a better job? Or maybe the high protein content from the beans does better.
Lots of factors to examine, for sure! Thanks for bringing that up. 🤔
Tractor supply laying pellets are terrible.
You can buy a huge bag of beans from a wholesale place or restaurant supply place. Would be cheaper per pound. Just cook up a cup or 2 early in the morning.
@@donniecarter4981 I wouldn't buy Tractor Supply feeds but it was the easiest to quickly look up a price. When I had chickens I fed Blue Seal or Shur-Gain.
@@emilyvanhaausen3728 It would be 88¢ instead of $1.00 from WalMart. Chicken feed is half as much.
you can make your own noodles.
@@jeand2139 Yes. I haven’t tried it yet, but I don’t plan to grow my own wheat to then turn into noodles. I was thinking on how I can eventually source the chicken food from the ground up if commercial food was completely off the table.