h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Most backyard chicken keepers do use commercial feed of some sort, but also supplement with various treats and, if their location allows*, at least some time foraging. Table scraps* are the cheapest type of treat and, unlike other domestic animals, there are very few human foods that chickens cannot eat. You can even give cooked poultry bones to chickens, though some people feel uneasy feeding
chicken to chickens. There are also various treats that can be bought anywhere animal food is sold--black oil sunflower seeds*, dried meal worms, and so forth. People also raise meal worms or black soldier fly larvae for their chickens, as well as any overpopulation from their vermiculture bins. Whatever treats are fed, it is recommended that they only make up 10-20% of the diet.

Some people choose not to use straight commercial feed as their chickens' staple food, and mix their own feed ( http://www.whistlepighollow.com/2013/08/13/homemade-chicken-feed-recipes-soy-free-corn-free-fermented-sprouted/ ) from scratch. Others use commercial feed and ferment it to make more of the nutrients available to their chickens. Fermenting also reduces feed costs, because the chickens eat less*.

Of course, chickens require access to clean water whenever they are awake. At times, chicken keepers may place additives in the water-- apple cider vinegar, probiotics, vitamins, garlic, medicine*--but most times, it is not needed.




*Some chicken ordinances state that chickens must be enclosed at all times, and don't consider fences at the property lines as enclosures. And some locations have a predator load high enough that owners choose not to risk losing their birds.

*Feeding table scraps to livestock is illegal in the UK, due to regulations written to encourage composting during WWII.

*BOSS

*Wet feed swells, a lot.

*To treat worms or other small parasites.

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Somehow, it seems appropriate to finish writing about feeding the day before Thanksgiving

Deb

Amazed chickens can eat chicken bones, how do the break them up without teeth?

You have not been pecked lately

They don't eat the bones, but they clean everything off them! I do need to go in and pick up what bones I can find, though, so the doesn't get them.