I made the enchilada sauce and the tortillas that I made the corn chips out of. The eggs are from the backyard so those were free.
Cost per person: $1.08
I made the enchilada sauce and the tortillas that I made the corn chips out of. The eggs are from the backyard so those were free.
Cost per person: $1.08
I watched a YouTube video where a farmer said he’d switched from cracked corn and laying mash to cooking 2 lbs of dried pintos, adding any table scraps along the way and that fed 20 chickens a week. They ate less and were less aggressive to each other, while after a few weeks were producing just about daily, when they were barely producing before, he claimed. It was a good while back, so I don’t have a link handy, maybe you can find it with a search. Fairly young black guy, I believe he was in the thumbnail.
Our problem isn’t nutrition. It’s that every bird we have is over two years old combined with the normal winter slowdown in production. We will be getting some fresh birds this spring.
I’m not a fan of changing away from layer pellets. They provide balanced nutrition and necessary calcium. Very few people that brag about an alternative diet for chickens are still doing it six months later and they don’t post about how they went back because they count the brag about the hits and don’t report the failures.
Tbh when I had chickens, I moved away from laying mash because I couldn’t find any that was GMO and organic in my state. All my hens were between 1 and 4 when I rehomed them because I was relocating, and they did slow down in winters but I had enough eggs that I was giving them away. I did keep them on corn, table scraps and whatever I cleaned out of the fridge, though, and crushed oyster and egg shells.
Of course, everyone should do what’s right for themselves.
They get the cutting board scraps and occasional table scraps. I’m literally half a mile from the Feed & Seed and it’s even cheaper than Tractor Supply. The effort of creating alternate feed with consistent nutritional balance would be my wife’s task and she isn’t up for it.
I have zero issues with GMO. I’d prefer peanut over soy based feed but that’s a big increase in costs. But, and this is crucial, if I attempt to interfere with my wife’s feeding preferences I will be destroyed.
I hear you.