Permaculture - Chickens: feeding, costs, responsibilities (lesson 41)

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FOOD

Once we will have the chickens and all the stuff they need, we have to take care of the food. Of course, we may buy ready food for the birds but it's a more expensive and less healthy solution. Remember - the better your birds are eating, the better you eat while consuming eggs or meat.

_{photo by @papi.mati}

It's quite fine to feed chickens with leftovers from the kitchen, grains, and occasionally meat (bugs that they will find on themselves), but we have to remember that some things we are using in the kitchen are not healthy for the chickens. We should avoid feeding them with:

rye	tallow	palm oil	avocado
sweets	salt	moldy things	sorrel
ferns	horseradish	chestnuts	flowers
wheat bran	legume seeds	onion	citrus*
apple seeds**	rapeseed meal***

*it reduces egg production
**but the rest of the apple is okay
***allowed in limited quantities

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So how could look like the perfect home-made feed for chickens?

First of all, we need the base which will be approximately 100 g of the grain per chicken. It can be wheat, oats, barley, maize, spelled, sorghum, rice, broad beans, vetch, lupine, rapeseed, flax, soybeans, sunflower seeds - all shredded (thinner for regular chickens, a bit thicker for laying hens). It can be mixed with green fodder in summer and silage in winter.

Besides the base, we will need approximately 20g of the extra ingredients per chicken. For laying hens the best ingredients are:molasses, dried fruit pomace, seaweed, vegetable leftovers, whey protein or milk. Optionally ground crustaceans, eggshells, tiny litter as an aid to digestion
For the rest of the chickens we can add to the food nettle, yarrow, red clover, chopped alfalfa, fodder beet, cabbage, and other finely ground plants.

_{Photo by @papi.mati}

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WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES CHICKEN-RELATED?

Every day

• in the morning:
  a) release the hens on the run, checking whether they are healthy
  b) throw away old food, wash the container and refill with a new one
  c) pour out the old water, wash the container and refill a new one (every other day with a tablespoon of apple vinegar for every 1 liter of water, as parasite prevention)
  d) turn the eggs in the incubator
• at noon:
  a) collect the eggs with clean hands. Put fertilized eggs in the incubator with the date on the shell
• in the late evening:
  a) turn the eggs in the incubator
  b) close the hens in a chicken coop, bring in food

Every week

• Hatchlings older than one week should be placed in the cage with their mother
• Move chickens older than six weeks with their mother on a separate runaway
• check if there is too much manure under the bed (if necessary, move it into the composter)
• check if there is fresh hay/sawdust
• carefully check the health of the chickens.

A sick chicken has at least one of the following symptoms:

a) has blurry eyes
b) hasbroken beak
c) has a sternum can be felt under the finger (emaciated)
d) has spots without feathers
e) has visible parasites
f) has exfoliated skin on the feet
g) has dirty cloaca
it may be necessary to catch the hen for inspection. We always catch a hen with both hands, starting with pressing its wings.

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Every year

• thorough cleaning of the chicken coop

As required:

• Undercutting ailerons
  Three feathers from one wing are enough. We trim where the scape is white, not dark (blood supply), three first-order darts, i.e. approx. 10 feathers from the end of the wing
• slaughtering hens for a meal.
  First of all the cocks, apart from the sperm donor, then the old hens
  ATTENTION! Old hens (from two years) are good only for broth and stuffing (hard)
  Never eat chicken that has died because of any disease or old age
• vaccination at the vet:

Hen egg decline syndrome (EDS '76)	Salmonellosis
Coccidiosis	Infectious bursitis (Gumboro disease)
Infectious bronchitis (various strains)	Newcastle disease (Newcastle disease)
Infectious laryngotracheitis	Avian viral pneumonia (avian metapneumovirus)
Tremovirus

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