Chickens are one of the easier backyard livestock to have on our homesteads. One issue I’ve always struggled with, however, is buying feed for the chickens. On our homesteads, we’re always trying to close the loop. In other words, working towards importing as little as possible onto our sites over time. With a suburban homestead, this is harder to do than on a farm because you are limited by space and the animals that you might be able to have. So, every year, I accept the fact that I’ll import some compost, along with leaves, some manure and, of course, chicken feed. But minimizing additional inputs is always the goal.
If I had all of the time and energy, I would grow black soldier fly larvae or expand my worm operation to feed my chickens, but like I tell my clients, there are only so many projects that you want to have going at one time on your site, especially if homesteading isn’t a full-time endeavor. While I always do buy layer mash and scratch for my chickens, I try to make the feed last as long as possible and supplement their diet with kitchen scraps, garden volunteers like borage and extra greens, as well as weeds from the food forest. The other thing I do to give them supplemental feed is what I discuss in my video today. This strategy allows me to grow supplemental food for my chickens while also growing more soil for my garden beds. So click on the video above to learn more!