Feeding chickens with a rich diet gives you rich returns. Here are some reasons and ideas for keeping chickens on your tiny homestead.
All the Great Reasons to Raise Chickens:
Chickens are a perfect farm animal for the aspiring homesteader to get into raising. Even if you don’t have much experience with animals before, definitely try chickens!
Small Size
One of the greatest advantages to the chicken is their size. Not everyone has access to enough land or out-buildings to raise cattle or swine or sheep. But a great deal more people of much humbler circumstances are able to keep chickens.
You don’t need a farm to have a farm!
Many folk are not able to live on their dream farm out in the quiet countryside. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to make your humble abode into its own tiny homestead. Heck, that is the whole premise of why we started writing this blog!
Keeping animals (not just for the function of pets) gives a feeling of completeness to a farm. And chickens are a great tiny “livestock” to have on your tiny manor. It is a content feeling to have, knowing that you are eating the eggs and meat that you raised yourself, no matter where you live.
No more food waste
All those food scraps from the kitchen or from your children don’t have to go to waste. Save on feed and get eggs and/or meat in return by keeping a chicken pail of scraps handy! And that’s not to mention the resulting droppings that make fertilizer!
Feeding your Chickens
We buy egg-layer feed from our local feed mill. It is decently priced (for now), but it is still money out of the pocket. And being a good Midwesterner of Northern European descent, I always look for ways to pinch pennies. On that note, did you hear how copper wire was invented? It happened one day when two Scandinavians were fighting over a penny.
But I digress…back to feeding chickens. According to John Seymour in his iconic book The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, chickens can get up to a quarter of their sustenance from foraging. Being omnivores, they will gladly eat a wide range of things.
Now, the great majority of us don’t have the space to let our chickens range free. A conventional coop and chicken run is the typical set-up. But no matter how large of a space you can afford to to fence off for them, they will eventually pick and peck till there is little forage left in their run.
Well, If we can’t let the chickens forage free, then let us bring the forage to them. We try to daily pick a fresh load of green forage. This is an especially fitting job for the children!
Weeds can have a purpose too!
Modern Americans hate weeds. Boy, do they hate weeds! Just try mentioning “dandelion” in certain circles. Folk will breathe such fiery vitriol against this little barbarian of a plant that is apparently so bent on upsetting the civilization of their yards. Oh well, there ain’t nothing that tons of poison can’t solve, eh?
However, weeds were never viewed in the same light in the past as today. And it turns out, a great many weeds we commonly find in our yards and gardens are highly nutritious for both human and chicken alike. Why not find ways to press these weeds into your useful service?
Convert Weeds into Eggs
Here are a few varieties that we have growing on our tiny domain. It’s awfully decent of the weeds to self-sow themselves. That means all I have to do is pick them and feed them directly to the chickens! Man, can it get better than that?
A note on that last one:
Cleavers (Galium aparine) are a weed with an interesting cultural past. They are endemic across Europe and North America and farmer-folk consumed them as a pot-herb in the mediaeval period. According to Swedish botanist Karl Linnaeus, cleavers served as a practical milk-strainer. They certainly do make a fantastic natural filter. I have used them for straining coffee grounds when making campfire coffee. Be on the look out for more posts concerning this plant!
Anyways, an older folk-name for cleavers is “goose grass.” This was because they foraged geese on them. After reading this, I thought I’d try it on the chickens as well. It turns out they love it!
These are just some initial thoughts and ideas for your future chicken operation! There are loads of articles and blogs on raising backyard poultry. But just know that it is not as complicated as it may seem at first. As always, look to be innovative with what you have readily available (and free). ~ Nathanael
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