Can you raise a chicken without feed? - AMA S4:E1

Is it possible to NOT buy feed and still raise a chicken for meat or eggs?

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[drekfletch]

Sean of Edible Acres has an amazing series on how he's doing the chicken+compost deal on a home scale with external inputs (compost from restaurant and co-ops, I think mostly). He's constantly tweaking his system and it's interesting to see all the variations possible.

[ewellacres]

I have found that to help reduce feed a little further you can supplement more bugs if you have low amounts by taking worms from your compost bin (if doing vermicomposting) to strecth your feed even further.

[MrMillsy]

Thank you for answer my question. The question was poorly asked, but brilliantly answered.

[ExtremePrepper]

I have always wondered if there was a way to attract bugs which then become the chicken feed. I have wondered about one of those bug zapper lights that actually attract bugs over the coop chicken run. Also wondered if there could be something at the home level with compost heaps. The guy you reference is amazing, but was at a scale much beyond what you would do at the home level. In Africa, in the remote villages, they do not feed chickens and they do well, but that is a tropical climate, and their are a lot of bugs, and really huge ones. Also, they are producing eggs for family use, so the density of chickens is not high. Thanks for this video, it was a great one.

[CiecieNewson]

I miss seeing more of your farm animals. It is great hearing how much of an expert you are now in your field. It's time you own it. ~Smile!

[sweaterdoll]

There are plenty of ways to feed chickens without buying commercial feed. My hens give massive and plentiful eggs foraging in the yard and eating bugs, meat scraps, eggs, acorns and pecans, berries and fruit, veg scraps and a little grain. They get grit from the ground when they forage and we grind up their eggshells in a mortar and pestle and give them that mixed in their feed. We are also working on building a compost method for winter when they have no bugs available except that micro-biota. When chickens free-range on a farm, they generally get plenty of spilled grain around he horses and cows, they get milk from the cows, fly larvae from the manure patties, and all the food they need. They may produce somewhat fewer eggs according to most people, but I have not seen production lessen because the nutrition is such a high level.

[brycepj]

Sorry, this really isn’t accurate. Karl Hammer reports very good egg production. If you search for them, there are lots of other people on YouTube who are raising their birds on compost and foraged greens. Look up edibleacres. His birds are very sturdy and happy. Justin Rhodes too. You certainly have to provide a rich environment, but production can still be very high with zero feed costs. I’ve done it myself, but haven’t yet gotten to the point where I can do it year round because I live in the desert. As I grow more tree cover and perennial fodder, I’m confident I can cut feed costs 100%.

[stylus]

You can buy a bag of barley and grow fodder from it: 50 lb bag = 350 lbs fodder.. You can also send your electric fencing into the woods for bugs and grubs, beware more predators.

[MrMillsy]

Also, your jungle foul impersonation, hilarious

[CG-ngxw]

I've seen stuff on black soldier flies (I don't know how well that'd work up here in the Northeast), and Paul Gautschi (back to eden) grows kale for his chickens in winter, feeds them garden abundance and leftover veg rest of the year, plus whatever bugs happen to be only feed is as chicks. For production scale, I'd imagine that'd be a ton of produce and may not outweigh the cost of feed vs labor of growing. Maybe combining all these ideas would be enough to eliminate need for feed, if it is cost effective after all that hard to say.

[mikkeljylland]

I think you are getting things mixed up here John. "Without feed" and "Without buying feed" is not the same.

If I had less chickens I could have them without buying feed. Just feeding them kitchen waste, fruits and veggies from the garden and the sunflower and corn I grow would be enough.

And plenty of people do something like this.

And even without feeding is possible. Perhaps not for "meatbirds", but surely for egglayers and dual purpose birds.
But they need a big area with lots of variation, and things like a compost pile.

[قاسممحمد-بطص]

Thank you john, l will take your speech like advice

[stephenvandyke]

I live in ct where can I get grit I am getting 30 broilers in April

[ScinnerNo]

So you can do it without feed? Just get more of them? If I live on an island alone and have 100 chickens they will provide me with food without me feeding them wont they?

[annelall]

How much feed does 1 broiler chicken consume for a life cycle of 6 weeks?

[jordanmusleh]

Question.: was it Tough when you stated your Fame..??

[ede]

+ Lots of bio in a jungle compared to a temperate zone, so jungle fowl had more to survive on.

[PeterSedesse]

You can't just free-range them and be very productive. If you want good egg production and fast broiler growth you need to devote a good chunk of your time to making chicken feed. Bsfl, wheat, duckweed are three easy ways to get a lot of chicken food.

[BradfordLowry]

I think you should do the next episode ONLY using your "jungle-fowl" voice. :) I'd give that a thumbs up for sure, lol!! #doubledareya John!

[jameskozlowski]

Its like your eating that same feed, you wouldn't do well, healthy chicken give healthy eggs, and meat for your kitchen table. you end up doing the same thing as these big chicken farms, you are what you eat. All this grain, soy gmo corn is killing us slowly.