alternative feeds for chickens

I've always had a goal of raising all my own animal feeds, and I've experimented a lot. Initially, I bought pelleted feed, but confess that its convenience pretty much made it a feeding habit and I used the alternatives as treats. Now, feed prices are such that I have to develop some new habits! So, I wanted to share the alternatives I've come up with so far, and ask if anyone has other ideas to add.

Free-ranging. We used to let our chickens out to pasture, but they become counterproductive during pasture planting seasons. They've also done quite a bit of damage to my forest garden hedgerow and forest garden by scratching around newly planted trees and young plants. And once they're used to getting out, they are impossible to keep in! I still think this is a good option, but it's something we don't do anymore.

Alternatives to free-ranging.
 - chicken tractor
 - fencing portions of the pasture with electric netting
 - portable chicken runs
 - enlarge the chicken yard and rotate where they're allowed access

Grazing beds.  Planted with any forage seed mix. Occasionally, we move the bed to a new location, and let the chickens scratch up whatever they can find in the dirt.

chicken grazing bed

Gathered greens and herbs. Sometimes I take my hand sickle and trim tall grass and clover for them. Also, I gather weeds and herbs: chickweed (a favorite), parsley, dandelion, plantain, purslane, bee balm, wood sorrel, basil, borage, marjoram, chervil, chives, cilantro, mint, echinacea, dill, comfrey, lemon balm, marigold flowers, hyssop, lemongrass, oregano, stinging nettles, nasturtium, purple deadnettle, rose, smartweed, sage, yarrow, tarragon, thyme, raspberry leaves, thyme. (I'm sure there are more, so please let us know what you gather!)

Root crops. Hang a turnip, carrot, beet, daikon, sweet potato, etc. where the chickens can peck it, and it will amuse them for quite awhile.

Winter squash. Cut into sections so the chickens can peck out the seeds and flesh.

Surplus melons and overgrown cucumbers. Fed the same way as squash.

Compost. Moving our compost bins into the chicken yard was one of the best things we ever did because chickens make excellent compost. We still do some turning, but the chickens do most of the work.

chicken assisted compost making

I confess I do some "no-nos" with this. All kitchen and canning scraps go into the compost, including dried, crushed eggshells, moldy cheese, fat and meat scraps, and butchering waste. Neither do I separate out coffee grounds and onion skins  because the chickens don't consider them food and leave them to decompose on their own.

Eggshells, dried and crushed for calcium. I never buy crushed oyster shells and my chickens never lay eggs with fragile shells. As mentioned above, these are fed via the compost. I know some people worry this will cause chickens to become egg eaters, but I've never had a chicken yet who was smart enough to look at a jigsaw puzzle of crushed egg shells and mentally figure out the pieces could be reconstructed into eggs.

Cooked eggs (scrambled or hard boiled). Extra eggs can be fed back to omnivorous livestock! We especially seem to end up with an excess of duck eggs, which I hard boil, then chop shell and all into small pieces for the chickens.

Surplus dairy. Apparently, chickens can't digest milk, but they can eat cheese, yogurt, kefir, curds, and whey. Since we have goats, we often have surplus milk, so this is an excellent way for it to not go to waste.

Homegrown grains and sunflower seeds. The thing about grain for chickens, is that it doesn't have to be processed. Wheat for example. Toss some wheat heads into the chicken yard, and they know exactly what to do with it. Growing grain for chickens is much less labor intensive than growing it for humans. Ditto for sunflower seeds, set a head out and they'll take care of the processing. Corn is the exception because it usually needs to be cracked to make it eating size for chickens.

Besides grass grains (wheat, oats, barley), small grains such as amaranth or sorghum are easy to grow and easy to feed. I toss whole seed heads into the chicken yard and they do the rest.

Sprouted grains and fodder. Both of these can stretch the feed budget a lot. We feed sprouted grains when the root tails are about half-an-inch, and fodder when it's grown about three inches tall. They eat it all: grass, grain, and roots.

sprouted grain mix of wheat, oats, milo, and sunflower seeds.

fodder of what, oats, and sunflower seeds

Fermented grain. This has the benefit of live probiotics, although I'm not sure if it actually cuts the feed bill like sprouting and foddering. But it boosts nutrition and chickens seem to love variety.

Just cover with water and feed after it starts bubbling.

Grubs. Any time I dig anywhere, I keep a small bucket handy to toss grubs into. The chickens adore these, and I hope it helps keep our insect population down as well.

Earthworms. The chickens find these in the compost, but with vermiculture it would be a great for stacking functions: castings for the garden and excess earthworms for the chickens.

Other insects and insect larvae. Some people raise mealworms or solder fly larvae for chicken feed. I've never tried either. If we ever find a cache of larvae, we scoop it into a bucket and take it to them. They also love crickets, but these aren't easy to catch and transport!

This is my list so far. Does anyone have ideas to add?

Leigh Tate wrote:Corn is the exception because it usually needs to be cracked to make it eating size for chickens.

 My chickens love full sized kernels of corn.  If I have chicks I grind it up but other than that my "chicken feed" is whole oats, barley, corn, flax seed and roasted soybeans with a bit of mineral stuff added.  I'd love to do more growing of chicken food myself but we're a bit limited on space and growing season.  I'm considering setting up vermicompost so I can feed some of the worms to the chickens in winter when they're not free-ranging.

My mom just gave me some eastern redbuds.
I think I'm going plant them just outside the chickens composting yard, so they can catch the nutrients and cycle them into chicken and people food.

My husband has a portable sawmill so we always have end pieces or excess scrap wood.  I put some of those 3 to 6 foot pieces in their run and flip over a few daily so they can eat the termites, sow bugs and earth worms which gather under them.  I also raise mealworms for them, and they get the extra whey when I’m making cheese.  Sunflowers are also easy to grow, just dry and store the whole heads.  The chickens will pick them out themselves, saving us a ton of work.  They also get butternut when I have extra and the squash seed help keep them wormed.  

Interesting about squash seeds for worming.
I very recently read about using ground up squash seed to treat tapeworm in humans.
The source suggested following the seeds with a purgative herb.

William Bronson wrote:Interesting about squash seeds for worming.
I very recently read about using ground up squash seed to treat tapeworm in humans.
The source suggested following the seeds with a purgative herb.

From what I’ve read about pumpkin seed (or any winter squash seed) for ridding tapeworm in humans is to take it daily for 3 months.  Don’t know if this would apply to pigs or not.  I don’t know the correct dosage.  

I’ve also given black walnut with wormwood (Artemesia absinthen) tincture to goats and pigs.

William Bronson wrote: My mom just gave me some eastern redbuds.
I think I'm going plant them just outside the chickens composting yard, so they can catch the nutrients and cycle them into chicken and people food.

That seems like a great place for redbuds. Some good shade too! I know the flowers are edible and delicious. I just now read elsewhere that the young seed pods are edible too. Apparently they're quite nutritious,
"The seed is about 25% protein, 8% fat and 3% ash. More so, a 2006 study show the flowers and the seeds to be very high in antioxidants as well as linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid. The seeds also have oleic and palmitic acids."
https://www.eattheweeds.com/eastern-red-bud-pea-pods-on-a-tree/
Have you fed any redbud to your chickens yet? I know mine resist eating peas, haven't yet determined if that is true for other Fabaceae.

Mine go crazy over cooked beans. Just soak and simmer as if you were making them for yourself, but don't add salt or other seasonings. I sometimes add zucchini, assorted grains, freezer-burned fruits or veggies, and anything pantry bugs have gotten into. It takes a while for the beans to cook, so I tend to make a huge batch and then freeze it in convenient size containers.

My chickens won't eat raw zucchini, and they're not too keen on cucumbers either. But they'll eat anything if it's cooked in with the beans.

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:Mine go crazy over cooked beans. Just soak and simmer as if you were making them for yourself, but don't add salt or other seasonings. I sometimes add zucchini, assorted grains, freezer-burned fruits or veggies, and anything pantry bugs have gotten into. It takes a while for the beans to cook, so I tend to make a huge batch and then freeze it in convenient size containers.

My chickens won't eat raw zucchini, and they're not too keen on cucumbers either. But they'll eat anything if it's cooked in with the beans.

My chickens much prefer cooked squash as well.  They will eat it raw, but just kind of pick at it over days.  Cooked, they gorge on it.

I've not tried the pods or flowers out on my chickens.
The truth is, they are overfed to the point that they are incredibly picky.
They still make great compost out of whatever they don't eat, so I'm good with it.

A blogging friend gave me instructions for growing black solder fly larvae. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems pretty easy!

In an open bucket mix:

scoop of livestock feed (cheap kind okay)

about a cup of water

In about a week the larvae congregate in clumps. Scoop some out into a shallow pan and and let the chickens have at it. Uneaten feed can be returned to the bucket to propagate more larvae.

2 buckets can feed up to 20 chickens on a regular basis.

Apparently, the BSF larvae can also be used as fish bait!

Wow Leigh you are amazing 🤩.  I have nothing to add, you seem to be doing it all.  I'm thankful you posted, because I got a lot of great ideas.  I work for a co-op, so between my discount and what my sister-in-law insists on paying me for my eggs I actually make money. What I worry about is boredom.  Like you I used to let them out every day, then at least in the evening when I was in the garden. Now my forest garden want to be has lots of tasty seedlings the hens will demolish, so I can't let them out at all right now.  
Unfortunately I stopped putting my compost in the coop because I don't have enough, and simply never got any compost, maybe I will start putting stuff back in there to give them something to do.  I do have a huge pile of weeds and dirt, and old wood chips I want my son to dump into the chicken yard. It's full of cockroaches, and other bugs they love, and I don't have to worry about all the weeds  He uses the bob cat, and it needs repair at the moment. I love the box you are growing.  I have tried fodder, they loved it, but I just don't have to time or water for that. Do the chickens pull up the roots and all so you have to keep reseeding it? Or do they only eat what is above the chicken wire?  Either way I think I will try it.  It's kind of like fodder, only with soil, and mulch on top I wouldn't need to water as much.  I also like the larva bucket.  I buy dried larva, and even with my discount it is stupid expensive.  So they only get it now but then as a treat.  I hate maggots, but would deal if it saves me money.  What I'm not sure of is what feed to use, I don't have other livestock, can I use chicken crumbles?  Also I don't want more flies!!!  How do I do this without increasing the fly population?  Multiple containers, and give them everything?  
Thanks for all the great ideas.

Another thing I did for mine when they weren't free range was to dump all my lawn clippings in the run.  Anything that didn't get harvested from the garden in time went in, all my kitchen scraps went in.  They also love autumn olive and seaberry bush berries.  Any run I have in the future will have both planted in there.  You have to fence around them until they are established, but after that, it's a free for all.    

I do have grapes growing on the back fence. The chickens get everything on their side of the fence.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:What I worry about is boredom. . .  I do have a huge pile of weeds and dirt, and old wood chips I want my son to dump into the chicken yard. It's full of cockroaches, and other bugs they love, and I don't have to worry about all the weeds

Jen, I think that's a really good idea. Chickens love to scratch, so giving them something to scratch through is extremely entertaining for them. Trace mentions dumping grass clippings from lawn mowing into their area, and I think this is a really good idea too.

Do the chickens pull up the roots and all so you have to keep reseeding it? Or do they only eat what is above the chicken wire?  Either way I think I will try it.

The grazing beds work really well for us. The chickens just trim what's above the chicken wire, and occasionally we move the entire frame to a new location and they scratch through the remains. I find this less work than the fodder, and they still get fresh greens.

I've not yet tried the fly larvae! From what I read, the chickens completely demolish the maggots, so you don't have to worry about more flies. I think you could use any kind of cheap feed. Pellets would mush up when wet as would crumbles, so what's the difference? If you try it, I hope you'll let us know how it went!

Trace Oswald wrote: They also love autumn olive and seaberry bush berries.  Any run I have in the future will have both planted in there.  You have to fence around them until they are established, but after that, it's a free for all.

This is another really good idea. I'm guessing any kind of berry bush that grows well in one's area would be a good choice. Or grapes, like Jen does! My chickens also appreciate the cover of bushes, so that would be another plus.

When I had chickens, I soaked the feed, and fermented it with mushroom spores. Plus I let them free range over about 3 acres. My chickens were ginger broilers and they were as big as Narraganset Turkeys. And their body cavity was full of leaf lard when I opened them up.

My chickens are "free ranging" in a fairly large fenced area: a) for their protection, b) for the protection of my crops.

On the outside of  the large perimeter, I have planted fruiting shrubs like aronia, cornus mas, eleagnus, gooseberries, black and red currants, raspberries, amelanchier, sea buckthorn, etc.  They eat what is on their side of the fence, I eat what is on my side of the fence.

Inside their enclosure are fruit trees, apples, figs and mulberries mostly, they eat all the fallen rotten fruits.  Along the fence, I plant Achocha (Cyclanthera pedata), an annual but a happy self seeder.  They go nuts about those and it is prolific, I am quite partial to it myself.  Between or in front of the shrubs, wherever there is space, I plant courgettes, and pumpkins, mostly for their benefit, easy to lob over the fence after breaking it with a small hatchet I keep for that purpose.  Nearby, I also grow giant sunflowers, again, easy to lob a whole head or 2 over the fence (beware of birds though, they'll try and get at it first).

The compost bin is in there too, so they love to scratch away, and of course a wheelbarrow full of weeds is paradise for them.

I also grow some corn and buckwheat for them for the winter, and of course, I keep those pumpkins and some sunflower heads.  I grow a surplus of cabbages, kale and chard so that they get green stuff in the winter.  They just love the  dry corn still on the cob, and the dried sunflowers on the giant flower head, it keeps them busy and I don't bother with shelling.  In the winter, I  also cook all our vegetable scraps, carrots, potato, pumpkin skins, etc add some left overs if any and mix it with some shredded greens and soaked bread.  I am lucky that where I live I can get a gigantic sack of stale bread for the equivalent of $5 (past the sale by date in the supermarket).  The trick is to keep it dry if it gets damp, it gets moldy and it's no good for the chickens.  

During the season when I have a surplus of eggs, I freeze some, so I sometimes add some to  their diet and of course the shells are also ground in the food. They get to go into the large hoop house for a few days, so that they can eat all the bugs and weed seeds, while fertilising the soil at the same time.

I do buy a bit of grain for emergency, but all in all, that's it.

Hi, I am wondering if chickens can eat the peas of perennial wild peas?  I do not have much success with regular peas, but I have a huge "wild" bush that has flowered and now has a lot of pods.  I also have a friend that has them growing wild on her property, and I should be able to harvest pods there too, if they are edible.

I hope someone can answer this better than I.  I'm not familiar wild peas.  Sugar peas, snow peas, cow peas, are great for chickens.  Sweet peas the flower are poisonous for humans and chickens.  I'm not sure what category your peas fit into.  Good luck.

Hi Elsa,
Could the plant be a siberian pea shrub (picture below)? If so, I would love to know people's experience with it. Google says that the seeds can be eaten by people and chickens just fine, but that the taste is nothing as good as traditional garden variety peas. If chickens would eat it, then I imagine it would be a  great source of food.

If it is indeed Siberian pea shrub (Caragana arborescens), then yes, chickens can eat the peas or beans whatever they are called.  I used to grow them along the chicken fence when I lived in the Pyrenees and will grow some again in my new place.  Personally, as human food I found them to be pretty bland and insipid, but there is no accounting for taste!  I like to grow them as it is a nitrogen fixer, easy to grow, it has lovely yellow flowers that the bees seem to like and let's face it, famine food and all that?! It's nice to have something to fall back on when times are hard.

I have lil chicks who are 6 months old and they eat granules.

Hi, Lily welcome to the forum.

Any and everyone can buy granules.  My suggestion would be to use one of the above methods to feed those chickens.

I especially like the sprouts and fermented grains.

With the price of feed going up every day making your own feed is just being smart.

I also raise duckweed for my chickens, high protein and I just put in their water container and they seek it out and eat it.  Over winter I move buckets inside the passive solar hoop house to grow it.  Summers in totes outside.  During warm temps (70’s) it can double every day.  I put a little calcium/phosphate and a pinch of wood ash in the water to give it more nutrients to also grow faster and make it more nutrient dense for the birds.  

One of the best systems for chicken tractors and compost I've seen is Perma Pasture's Chicken Tractor on Steroids

@Devin Lavign Kind of a long post, but I totally love ol' Billy. :)

Also, surprised this topic hasn't mentioned it, but Joel Salatin's got a few different takes on chicken systems - mostly mobile.