Question for Polly

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Polly, Could you tell me about feeding your chickens dandelions? Do you use leaves and flowers? Is this your garden variety danelion? And do your chickens love to eat them? Thanks.

-- J (jjdenton@st-tel.net), April 24, 2002

Answers

J, Yep, just dandylions out of the yard, nothing special. I cut my dandylions off just slightly under the ground with one of those snake fang weeder thingies and toss them in a mop bucket; then when the bucket is full, I just toss 'em over the fence. The flowers appear to pretty much get stomped into the yard, but the greens disappear pretty fast. The girls haven't had fresh green pasture in a while, since we've had too much rain to move our heavy chicken house, so they really go after the dandylions - and just about any other weed I toss in there. They easily eat a bucket a day; sometimes more if I'm up to weeding them out. I have only 8 hens right now, and one rabbit.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), April 24, 2002.

Rabbits love them, too. :-)

-- Cheryl in KS (klingonbunny@planetkc.com), April 24, 2002.

What else are you feeding your chickens besides the greens? Grain or store bought mash or crumbles?

-- J (jjdenton@st-tel.net), April 24, 2002.

My chickens always love to eat spaghetti. It is really funny watching them try to slurp the long noodles.

Chicken will eat anything. Next time you clean out you fridge toss them all the old food.

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), April 24, 2002.


I joked with people that bought free range chicken last year that ours were raised on organic grain and macaroni and cheese . It was kinda true since they did get leftovers from the kids meals. They go nuts for any pasta (the chickens that is). I heard last year that if your chickens aren't quite right in the spring and aren't ranging, then to feed them dug up dandelions as a spring tonic. Folks swear by it.

-- Alison in NS (aproteau@istar.ca), April 24, 2002.


My ladies get free choice laying mash, (lg coffee can every other day keeps the feeder full, less often in summer) kitchen scraps, oyster shell and occasional scratch grains - not often, because I usually use them to prep ground/clean up weeds for me, so there is no sense adding to the weed problem. We had a lovely patch of millet last year in an area that I tilled just once after we moved the chicken tractor!

Are you wanting to feed your chickens for less money? I've done a bit of that in my time! Greens from the yard or field are good - try some of those 10 cent a pack veggies such as beets, chard, spinach, kale - most of those you can trim and they will keep growing. You can give them anything that is a bit aged in the garden, and they love the residue from canning and freezing - beet tops and peelings, snap bean ends, tomato seeds and peels, cobs that you've cut sweet corn off...a warning though; be prepared for very dark orange yolks if you give them tomato or beet peels! If you raise sweet corn, you can save and dry the overmature ears, then shell and crack the corn. They do a wonderful job of cleaning up the garden for you in the fall too! Letting them roam in the barn yard and clean up after the cattle and hogs was good; when we had those critters. The more choices they have, the less they will need store bought feed, but you need to make sure that they are getting the nutrients they need. Keep a watch on their overall health - look at the combs and the feet for good color, check the vent to make sure it isn't dry, the feathers should look shiney and full and they should be busy and "talking" most of the time when they are awake. Pop said that Granny used to mix up cracked corn and oats and boil it in the hominy kettle to make a warm mash to keep the hens laying in the winter. He also said that if they shot something they didn't want to eat, like a muskrat; that they would skin it and boil it up, then give it to the chickens as a protien source.

Do you have chickens now?

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), April 24, 2002.


Yes Polly I do have chickens now and have had them for seven years. I was looking for a cheaper way to feed my chickens. I love the idea about buying discounted seed packets and growing them for the chickens. That is a great idea. My chickens are free range in the summer but in winter it seems they eat me out of house and home. I could grow these seeds in winter under grow lights in my house and clip greens every now and then for the chickens. Thanks!!

-- J (jjdenton@st-tel.net), April 25, 2002.

Well, they will keep you poorer and busier in the winter from feeding since they can't fend for themselves. There is no getting away from that unless maybe you try to offset winter feedcosts by setting aside some feed money in the summer, scrounge table scraps from friends and neighbors, produce scraps from the local shops if possible...the poissibilities really are endless. My good friend keeps her girls laying all winter (albeit at a reduced rate) feeding whole wheat, table scraps(anything edible), and an evening dinner of super cheap dog kibble in warm water (for the protein content). This doesn't save money by my calculations but does keep them laying for her and she sells excess eggs. I just feed scratch grain, oyster shell, and kitchen waste and they do fine. They get to scratch around in the barn a bit too in winter too if its a warm enough day for them to venture from the chicken coop. Here is an idea for winter greens. Plant carrot, beet, and turnip TOPS rather than tossing them. They will resprout and you can trim the greens for your critters. Grains (peas and lentils too) can be sprouted in mason jars topped with screening real cheap and next to effortless. Or grow some grains in a container of soil for trimmable greens. Bear in mind that the more chickens you have the more space you need to grow their food if thats your choice...have you got a green house? How many chickens do you have to feed,J?

-- Alison in NS (aproteau@istar.ca), April 25, 2002.

Alison- I don't have a green house, I wish I did. I have about 18 hens and a few banties. TOO MANY. I plan on culling few older hens this year. I have two grow lights that can each light two flats (if that makes sense.) In the summertime it is no problem keeping them full with kitchen scraps, garden scraps, and such but in the winter pickings are slim. I do have some old egg noodles I could boil up and feed this coming winter however. I also feed them hard boiled eggs but wanted some ideas for variety. I appreciate everyone's input. Thanks.

-- J (jjdenton@st-tel.net), April 25, 2002.

One more question, J! Can we be nosy enough to ask your general location? Or growing zone? Whoops, two questions - Do you have room to grow extra stuff? Lots of greens, like chard will continue producing long into the fall, especially if succession planted. Making a wide bed with straw bales on the N, W, E sides of it in a U shape, then draping a heavy plastic (look in the dumpsters behind the mattress store) over it to form a cold frame will let you extend the season even more - in spring AND fall. Beets, turnips and carrots will remain good in the soil until spring if mulched with a heavy layer of straw once the tops have been killed off but before the ground has frozen. We used to just set whole bales down the rows, moving them aside when we wanted to dig. Chickens also love pumpkin and hard shell squash - and they are very easy to keep all winter long by putting them somewhere that is dry and doesn't freeze (under the bed in our back bedroom used to be perfect!) You can feed them raw - just cut 'em in chunks; or you can poke holes in them and bake them, or stew them with a bit of water in a pot on top of the woodstove. Cabbage will keep for quite a while as well, and brussles sprouts will keep all winter (darn it!) in the garden if they are just bent over and covered with a layer of leaves. If you don't have room to grow them, you can probably get pumpkins at a large discount after Halloween and Thanksgiving, if you even have to pay for them. When we had the orchard and were cleaning out the cooler for the season in December, the apples that weren't good enough to send to the food bank just got dumped in a "box" made of - you guessed it! - straw bales; then we would shovel up a bucket or two daily for the critters - couple of cows, hogs and the rabbits and chickens. You may be able to work out a deal with an orchard near you for their leftovers; or to go over and pick up their drops. Might have to sign a release to do that, tho. Another idea is Bakery Thrift Stores; see if you can buy the stuff that is too old for them to sell.

Gee, when did I forget how to live cheap?!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), April 25, 2002.



Polly, My growing season is only from May until late September. I honestly never thought of feeding chickens pumpkins and squash in the winter. I guess what surprises me is that chickens LIKE to eat things like dandelions. And you say they like Chard, Beet tops, and Carrot tops and Turnip tops ? Do you feed them the actual beet or turnip? We live quite a ways from town and traveling to a bakery wouldn't prove cheap. There is no known orchard in our area either, (gonna have to be totally self-sufficent on this one.) My DH grandmother fed her chickens cooked potato peels, and my chickens like potato peels it just seemed odd to cook them for the chickens to me.

-- J (jjdenton@st-tel.net), April 25, 2002.

Nobody mentioned sprouts. You can sprout wheat, alfalfa etc. and they really love it.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

Thanks, Diane; I forgot sprouts. J, chickens like just about anything green - and that includes stuff out of the back of the refridgerator that shouldn't BE green!! Carrot tops, I don't know; but carrots for sure. Greens are fine to feed as is. Turnips and beets (also mangle beets, the yellow ones) I seem to remember cooking first; along with the scroungy looking potatoes. Pumpkin before it froze outside, I just cut open and tossed in the pen; after the freeze, I'd chunk them and toss them in the oven or a pot on top of the woodstove - having warm food and water in the winter seemed to keep them healthier and keep the egg production up a bit. My girls love apple peelings, pear cores, yucky bananas (peeled) melon rinds and things like that, too. I'm sitting here looking in my pantry door right now; and I don't see a thing in there that a chicken wouldn't eat!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), April 26, 2002.

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