Natural Feeding for Chickens,
The belief that “commercial animal feeds provide the best result” is based on a sales pitch made by Feed companies trying to sell commercially produced animal feed..
For modern commercial poultry production, with modern facilities it is about the only option…
However for most people, especially those with a little space for a garden plot, there are much healthier, more cost effective options for household egg, and meat production.
For the moment I will ignore the subject of toxic feed materials, and focus on economy, and flock health. [Feel free explore the “toxic feedstuffs” situation further down the thread]
In my mind there is no doubt that a diet of green feeds ,[like green grass, kale, and other garden produce] , combined with root crops [like- fodder beets, sugar beet, rutabaga, carrot, Jerusalem artichoke] for calories, and household food scraps for added protein, will surpass anything a feed company could possibly sell you. If you add a “free range”, or “pastured” aspect to your flock management program- you will have an almost perfect situation, [from the flock health, production, and production /feed cost point of view]. If you add the “toxic waste” in our food issue, “it is a “no brainer”.
The belief that “commercial animal feeds provide the best result” is based on a sales pitch made by Feed companies trying to sell commercially produced animal feed..
For modern commercial poultry production, with modern facilities it is about the only option…
However for most people, especially those with a little space for a garden plot, there are much healthier, more cost effective options for household egg, and meat production.
For the moment I will ignore the subject of toxic feed materials, and focus on economy, and flock health. [Feel free explore the “toxic feedstuffs” situation further down the thread]
In my mind there is no doubt that a diet of green feeds ,[like green grass, kale, and other garden produce] , combined with root crops [like- fodder beets, sugar beet, rutabaga, carrot, Jerusalem artichoke] for calories, and household food scraps for added protein, will surpass anything a feed company could possibly sell you. If you add a “free range”, or “pastured” aspect to your flock management program- you will have an almost perfect situation, [from the flock health, production, and production /feed cost point of view]. If you add the “toxic waste” in our food issue, “it is a “no brainer”.