Need help with theoretical garden

[digitS']

A garden can make a big difference, AMKuska. Chickie'sMoma has given some ideas on some foods and how much chickens enjoy them.

If we think about their nutritional needs, it looks to me like they are much the same as humans. Ten hens eating 2.5 pounds of food each day have requirements just a little beyond one human.

Can a person be fed from a garden? Of course.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

What I miss about my hens was they ate anything I had left over. Now it goes into garbge, they loved meat.I know meats not from garden but if you hunt or know someone who does, scraps are good food for them

 

[AMKuska]

A garden can make a big difference, AMKuska. Chickie'sMoma has given some ideas on some foods and how much chickens enjoy them.

If we think about their nutritional needs, it looks to me like they are much the same as humans. Ten hens eating 2.5 pounds of food each day have requirements just a little beyond one human.

Can a person be fed from a garden? Of course.

Steve

I keep track of all my chicken expenditures. I'm truly looking forward to seeing how much my garden scraps save me on chicken feed

All of these suggestions are great, and more importantly they do prove that you can garden for a small flock of chickens on less than 15 acres.

 

[bobm]

One also needs to calculate the crop yield per acre as to location of one's property. For our ranch in the high desert of Cal. where our average rain fall is about 8" per year and it falling from late Nov. to mid March, and the rest of the year all is a golden brown hue. Irrigation water is NOT available. There is a hardpan at or just below the soil surface. Depending on exact location will determine how much salt is on the land and/or in one's well water. Then we count coyotes by the dozen than add racoons, foxes, bobcats, possums, eagles, hawks and owls. Heck, add in the ground squirrels ( I disposed of about 90+ per year and still don't put a dent in the population ) they store their feed underground as they sure like to eat. Free ranging of chickens is out of the question... see where this is going ?

 

[baymule]

duckweed is high in protein and can be used for up to 30% of an animals feed requirements.
http://duckweedgardening.com/
http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/Russe/index-e.htm

Don't forget, chickens will eat meat too. It may sound bad, but when I butcher an old hen, I toss the intestines to the dogs and chickens. The dogs better move fast if they want to beat the chickens to it. I keep the liver, gizzard and heart, but everything else gets tossed to the hungry crowd. You'd think I never feed them.

For storing grain, think about metal trashcans with lids. Rodents can chew right through plastic.

 

[so lucky]

Steve, it looks like you multiplied 365 days by 3/4 of a pound, instead of 1/4. The 1/4 pound of feed comes closer to seedcorn's estimate of 90 lbs per bird.

just call me "nitpicker"

 

[digitS']

Thank you, So Lucky. For everyone, including me, to see! I wonder why I did that - say one thing & write another, claiming it's easy . . . usually, I misplace a decimal.

There I go spreading erroneous information again! Shoot.

Let's see 10 chickens eat 2.5 # each day and 365 x 2.5 = 913 / 10 . . . . x .25 . . . . - 32°

I just hope that Seedcorn's estimate works better for AMKuska . . !

Steve