Cheap Chicken Snacks

Cheap chicken snacks are everywhere, and chickens are a great step into self sufficiency! Providing an almost daily source of quality nutrition, chickens are a fun and inexpensive way to reduce your costs. Not only do chickens provide food but they are also great at reducing your household waste. Around 25% of household waste could be reduced simply by having a few chickens in your backyard. Just imagine, 25 percent less garbage being shipped and dumped. This is a staggering reduction in waste that can feasibly be acheived. Every city or town should adopt by laws to allow chickens on any property, for the good of the planet.

Supplementing Feed Costs

Feed costs can become an issue if you let your flock size get out of hand. However there are many ways to supplement their diet. Chickens will eat almost all of your food waste and love to forage for bugs and plants. By free ranging your chickens your required feed will reduce quite significantly. Growing your own wheat fodder in a window sill or under supplemental light is another great way to reduce your costs while providing a great food supply for your flock. A bag of seed can provide upwards of 10x it’s weight in usable food. Seasonally you can grow many herbs for your chickens, some go which have health benefits.

Cheap chicken snacks are everywhere. Sprouting lentils is another low cost protein boost for your chickens. A day of soaking and a couple of days of rinsing the lentils will cause them to sprout. Allow them to grow a few days while still rinsing. Grow them to your desired point and add to their feed.

Growing Weeds in your Yard

Growing weeds in your yard on purpose sounds ridiculous. However, as many of us know and too many of us don’t, “weeds” tend to have many beneficial nutrients and uses. These nutrients and benefits are just as good for your chickens.

Purslane

Purslane is a common “weed” containing one of the highest if not the highest amount of alpha-linolenic Omega 3 fatty acids. In addition to that, they provide a higher beta carotene content than carrots as well. Purslane is a great nutrient boost for you and your chickens, and it grows in your back yard for FREE! Simply allow the purslane to grow where it seeds, removing any limbs that extend out of its area. Free food for your birds.

Purslane also contains a high level of:

Potassium, about 494mg/100g

Magnesium, a mineral most of humanity is deficient on is also present in purslane at a level of 68mg/100g.

Calcium comes in just below magnesium at 65mg/100g.

Dandelions

Dandelions are another commonly referred to “weed” that is a powerhouse of nutritional value. Being a great source of vitamins and minerals like vitamins A,B,C,E and K , dandelions are probably the most nutrient packed greens available to eat. From the flower to the leaves to the roots dandelions have many health benefits for both you and your chickens. The leaves if the dandelion act as a diuretic and increase the amount of urine created and aides in digestion. Dandelion flowers are known to contain antioxidant properties as well. They also create a cleansing effect on the blood and liver while treating skin conditions, anemia and even lymphatic inflammation.

Chickens, especially your laying hens will benefit greatly from the added calcium provided by the dandelions by putting it to use making strong shells. Chickens will devour the flower, stem and roots in no time, also reducing the feed costs associated.

Clover

Clover comes in a few varieties and both red and white clover are edible. White clover having a higher protein content makes it the nest option for your birds. Due to its higher protein content, supplementing white clover as an alternative creates a reduction in feed costs.