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Here’s an overview of several prominent strategies we will expand on in coming posts. We are eager for additional ideas, so if you have any, please post to comments.
 chooks on patrol The following major headings are the primary strategies for meeting chicken nutrition at the home-scale level, in as sustainable a manner as possible. Our assumption is that you will provide purchased feed for your chickens, and then will supplement with one or more of the following strategies to reduce the need for purchased feed. Our vision is that over time the percentage of supplanted feed would grow, increasing regional food security, creating happier hens, and improve the quality of our eggs.
breed selection will be important: choose chicken breeds that are good foragers, more wild and hardy, able to walk around and feed themselves from the land.
deep bedding within the hen house and in an enclosed outdoor area can develop into a rich, deep compost over time that will provide many small bugs and insects that the chickens will be able to scratch and peck into for a substantial amount of their protein needs. There are many forms this strategy could take.
compost can be used in multiple ways by poultry for supplemental feed, and to turn the compost for the gardener, saving some labor and chiropractor bills.
planned grazing around a property allows chickens to access a variety of food sources, spread their manure around, and give them and you the pleasure of each others company. Obviously chickens love to roam the garden, scratching and pecking on a daily rotation around a property, finding bugs and soil critters, and eating the plants and herbs they like to keep them healthy. Planned grazing implies that you are pulsing the chickens out into a section of the property in a deliberate manner, in order to minimize any overgrazing or damage to the plants within that property section, limiting any buildup of manure and possible pathogens, and minimizing the damage to soil roots and mulches (from dust baths for example). Planned grazing also implies that you are making sure there is adequate food within the property section for the chickens to eat. If it is mostly bare ground, there won’t be much for the chickens to eat.
Joel Salatin claims chickens can get 20% of their daily calories from grass (You Can Farm, page 233). I assume this is calories from carbohydrates (seeds) and protein from bugs and lots of minerals and vitamins from fresh grass and herbs. Carla Emery confirms this saying chickens “will use greens for 20% of their diet” (page 652)
chicken food forest is a mixed planting of multiple plant species that chickens are known to prefer. A food forest generally consists of a mix of trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses and herbs. There are many species that can fit the requirements for a useful food forest, and special attention should be given for mixed use species, plants that provide food for humans as well as chickens, might be placed to screen an unsightly view, or might provide shade.
duckweed could be the cornerstone of a sustainable poultry farm. Research indicates that duckweed is not difficult to grow, and is one of the richest sources of protein. As you might infer from the name, it is a weed that poultry like. The richer the brew it grows in, the higher the protein and the higher the quality of feed produced.
home food scraps are a well known and well used strategy. There are ways to improve the palatability and usability of the food scraps, that will increase the quantity that the chickens eventually eat.
worms and vermiculture is another well used strategy. High in protein and easy to grow, wrigglers can be an important food source for chickens, and oh how they love to eat them.
gleaning is collecting unused food resources that would otherwise go to waste. One of my favorites in Santa Fe was grabbing the large bag of popcorn leftover from the movie theater at the end of the night.
OK, that’s probably the major strategies, let us know if you have other ideas.
 We interviewed John Martan of Hunt & Behrens, Inc. a local feed store that mixes their own feed in Petaluma. John was kind enough to give me a general sense of where the ingredients come from and some of the limitations to getting some of the ingredients locally due to where certain ingredients grow best, the way ingredients are brokered and cost.
The Hunt and Behrens feed, Organic 16 Lay Pellet, is 90% grains (Corn 55%, Soy 25%, Wheat Mill Run 10%) and 10% minerals.
Corn
Corn provides calories and is the most efficient calorie provider per pound. The organic corn in this feed is primarily grown in Sacramento Valley and trucked to Petaluma. It occasionally comes from the Midwest and is railed to Napa Junction then trucked to Petaluma. It is important to note that here in Northern California we are in a Mediterranean climate, rainy short winters and long hot summers, which is not the most conducive growing environment for corn. The Midwest on the other hand is more conducive to growing corn, so where we may save on resources because it doesn’t have to be transported as far, we are using more resources here to grow corn because in California we have to irrigate corn crops.
Soybean
Soybean Meal is the bi-product of extracting soybean oil from the bean. It is a high content vegetable protein and provides amino acids. Organic soybean is from pressed soybean, which is a different processing method than is used for conventional soybeans. Pressed organic soybean provides a little higher fat, which provides more calories.
Soybean is brokered and generally grown in the Midwest. The catch here is organic soybean. There are sources for organic soybean meal in the US, but domestically produced is $200 more a pound than what comes from China. Since it is brokered it is hard to determine the original source, but due to costs, it is fair to assume some portion of organic soybean meal in chicken feed comes from China. It would be shipped to Stockton or Oakland and then trucked to Petaluma. The chicken feed that does come from China is tested for melamine.
Wheat Mill
Wheat Mill Run helps make a good pellet. Wheat Mill run is one of the most abundant ingredients available and is typically brokered. It could come from say Kansas by rail or Northern CA by truck; it all depends on the cost at any given time. If trucked it would come from the Bay Area.
Limestone
The limestone comes from a Quarry in the foothills of the Sierras. Blue Mountain Minerals in Columbia, CA is the supplier. The limestone is trucked to Petaluma in 24-ton truckloads.
Other Minerals Contents
All of the other mineral ingredients are pre-mixed. The mineral pre-mix comes from the San Joaquin Valley and is also trucked in 24-ton truckloads to Petaluma. A lot of vitamins A, D, and E are produced synthetically over seas.
 Green String Farm Bob Cannard, of Green String Farm www.greenstringfarm.com, has farmed sustainably for 30 years. His father Bob Cannard Sr. was an avid advocate of backyard chickens, particularly in Sonoma, CA. We asked Bob Cannard how he would feed chickens locally. He provided the following chicken meal plan.
Free range
- In your backyard, periodically rotate in your garden with fencing
- With a bigger property they can free range on a rotational pasture
- Fenced in backyard lawn - they will scratch it up a bit, but will keep it mowed
- Orchards are a great place to let chickens run around
- Good ground covers for chicken runs in the winter - crimson clover
Greens
- For egg laying hens provide 60-70% greens
- Too much greens isn’t good for growth or egg laying
- The like greens that are soft, leafy and palatable
- Some good greens - kale, swiss chard, beet tops, amaranth, not a lot but some comfrey
- Kale is a source of protein
- Avoid less sweet greens like mustard
- Pick, chop up, drop in
- Greens are great as long as the chickens are not de-beaked
- Phytochemicals come from greens
Grow an old fashioned crop of corn
- Source of protein
- Flint or semi-flint type corn
- Not hybrid or GMO
- Good choice - Semi-Flint, Semi-Sweet Country Gentleman
- Feed whole corn kernels - just shell off from cob
- Corn dried on plant will keep for feeding later
- For 20 chicken you would need 1/8 acre of corn
Alternate to Corn - Millet and Milo
- Source of protein
- Easier to grow than corn
- Yield can be lower depending on how it grows on your property
All kitchen scraps
- Everything from the kitchen including cheese and meat
Garden Waste
- Weeds - a wheal barrow load each day for 20 chickens
- Anything no longer edible for humans (but nothing rotten or moldy)
- Melons, squash, etc.
Pumpkins in the winter
- Source of protein
- Grow pumpkins around the corn
- Chop up the pumpkins and feed all winter long
- Get full sized pumpkins, New England Pie or slightly bigger Howden
- Need a couple dozen plants for 20 chickens / can get 20 tons of pumpkin from an acre
Any Squash
- Source of protein
- In the Winter: Winter Squash and Butternut Squash
- In the Summer: Zucchini, which is high in protein
Other helpful information
- You probably won’t be able to grow all the food you need for your chickens, but you can definitely grow most of it.
- To feed a flock of 20 chickens once a day, it should take on average 10 minutes a day. This assumes some days longer and some days just a few minutes
- Chickens are extremely efficient animals - converting 7lbs of feed to 1 lb of body.
- General Sustainability: Keep the pin clean, conserve manure for compost and put back on the things you are growing for their food
 Robert Plamondon's chickens on range In our extensive research of all things sustainable chicken, I finally stumbled upon Robert Plamondon, a farmer in Blodgett, Oregon who has done great thinking and writing on practical free-range poultry rearing. Robert and his wife Karen live on a 37-acre farm in Oregon’s Coast Range and raise 500-600 layers and 2000 broilers a year, something they’ve been doing since the mid-Nineties. He’s a skilled writer, with strong opinions that he backs up with facts, research and experience. I love the “Hi Tech and Overalls” theme to his blog.
His primary writing on free-range chickens can be found here. He has a nice FAQ page with well-written and helpful article on deep litter, coops, fencing, free range, yarding and confinement, and much more.
We will be excerpting and linking to numerous pages of interest to Sonoma County backyard chicken farmers. His extensive research into practical chicken rearing provides a helpful counterweight to the amateur fluff and speculation that is ubiquitous on most chicken websites.
Of great interest to the modern chicken enthusiast is Robert’s work recovering out-of-print books on chicken rearing written 50 to 100 years ago.
In his own words:
We’ve been rediscovering the old-time American free-range poultry methods developed during poultrykeeping’s Golden Age between 1900 and 1960. We read pretty much the entire collection of ancient poultry books and magazines in Oregon State University’s Valley Library, and tried or adapted as many of these as possible.
He has revised or “revived” several out-of-print texts under his Norton Creek Press label, including The Dollar Hen, Genetics of the Fowl, Fresh Air Poultry Houses, and Feeding Poultry. He also wrote Success with Baby Chicks, a helpful primer on raising chicks without the heartbreak.
 Deborah Grace and Chicken Tractor Deb, her husband Djubaya, and little Talise, keep 20 chickens on 3-acre rural residential property, 4 miles outside of Sebastopol, CA. They currently feed their chickens organic lay pellets from the local feed store, kitchen scraps, and garden weeds. They are interested in finding more local sources that provide good nutrition for good egg production. Her idea of chicken nutrition is organic feed, greens and as many bugs as possible. She wonders whether just greens can provide enough protein and nutrition for egg production. Local to her depends on what is possible, starting with her backyard, Sebastopol, Sonoma County, and then California.
Free ranging - They do free range the chickens part of the year and they have a chicken run in the center of their vegetable garden so they get weedings and scraps. They grow cover crops as part of their chicken run, as well. They are interested in better ways to free range. They have a chicken tractor, but the design doesn’t quite work for the number of chickens they have.
Growing food - They would be willing to grow food to let them forage, which is what they are currently doing with the cover crop, but feel it might require more labor than they have available to grow, harvest, and prepare feed. They are interested to know more about the things they can grow that the chickens will eat and receive good nutrition from and the process of preparing it as feed.
Gleaning - Their interest in gleaning depends on what and where it is coming from. They have occasionally come upon left over apples and such from local markets that they fed their chickens. She said as a regular food source they would need to become more organized about it, but food scraps maybe from Wholefoods, or other markets would be a good option.
Other notes - They want to avoid GMO food sources as much as possible, so they have been looking for a non-soy option for their pellet feed and wouldn’t be interested in say movie theater popcorn for gleaning for this reason.
Website: www.catchtail.com
 Field of Greens chicken barn We spoke with Ron Lawson, owner of Field of Greens (www.myfieldofgreens.com) in Sonoma California. “Our hens are not just free range, but FREE-WILL, raised with plenty of room to roam about in the Sonoma sunshine. Field of Greens provides eggs to individuals, high-end restaurants and groceries in the local area. They feed their chickens organic feed and are doing many things in their operation to be a local, organic and sustainable source of eggs. Ron provided some interesting information. Of the feed that chickens eat the TDN (Total Digestible Nutrient) is 12%. This means they can only digest about 12% of the nutrient provided in their feed during any given feeding. They feed their chickens organic feed from Hunt & Behrens or Dairymen’s Feed & Supply Co-op. They also feed them extra cellulous from rice straw, grass and pumpkins, in season. They grow the grass and pumpkins on site, but Ron questions whether any of the key ingredients in chicken feed sold in local stores, ground corn, soybean meal or wheat mill run, are currently grown in California and then put in chicken feed.
As a commercial operation, Ron has concerns about the potential for spreading disease, since poultry is extremely vulnerable to the transmission of food-born disease. He feels chicken owners should make sure they are 100% sure the feed they give their chickens is disease free. He thinks it is imperative to properly handle inputs and outputs, making sure wild birds, vermin and insects can’t get into feed and that chicken waste is handled in a sanitary method.
chicken tractor
After calling a few feed stores I wanted to follow up with Rivertown Feed in Petaluma as they claimed to be selling somewhat local feed. Christopher and I stopped by one afternoon and learned that indeed the feed is sort of local. What they sell is organic chicken feed from Bar Ale feeds in Williams, California which grows the feed stocks in that area of the northern Sacramento valley.
The various feeds arrive to the store in Petaluma in bulk and is bagged for sale. So far, this is the most local chicken feed we have found in Sonoma County, although we realize it is most accessible to those living or working in Petaluma. One local producer of free range pastured, organic eggs, Suzi of Stonybrooke Sustainables, told us that she buys her feed at Rivertown because it is as local as she could find and it is very fresh. She also told us that Western Farm Supply in Santa Rosa sells unmedicated chick starter feed although it is not local.
 pasture raised eggs are delicious and nutritious In case you needed additional incentive to keep a backyard flock of hens, research done by Mother Earth News has documented the improved nutrition associated with pasture raised eggs. Testing eggs from 14 different locations around the country and comparing the results to USDA data on conventional eggs, they found that pasture raised eggs had 2 times the omega-3 fatty acids, 3 times the vitamin E, and 7 times more beta carotene! I’m no nutritionist, but I think that’s a good thing. The latest research has shown that pasture raised eggs have 4 to 6 times the vitamin D as conventional eggs. If you’ve been following recent nutritional research, you know how significant this result is.
They defined “pasture raised” as chickens that had significant access to the outdoors with fresh pasture, lots of bugs and seeds and nutritious greens to eat. If you’ve had an orange yolked pasture raised egg, you know it tastes better; these tests now confirm that it is better.
The Mother Earth News overview page on eggs can be found here.
 compost chickens at Vermont Compost Co. Harvey Ussery and his wife Ellen are modern homesteaders. Their excellent website is a treasure trove of eloquent writing on the new life of the land. They have numerous well written articles on food independence, composting, chickens, bees and cows, and occasional musings on the state of the world. Their website is clear and easy to navigate, not something we can say about every chicken enthusiast site out there!
There is excellent information on raising poultry, organized here, with sections on getting started, feeding, shelter, pasture, etc. We are particularly interested in his views on feeding poultry. In a recently posted article (previously published in Backyard Poultry magazine)
Harvey would like:
to suggest that a whole paradigm shift in the way we think about feeding is in order. We have become so inured to the thought that chicken feed is something we buy, it is difficult to imagine raising our chickens largely, or even completely, without purchased feeds
Does that sound familiar? Out of all of the research we have done he is the most forward thinking with regards to replacing-reducing-supplanting purchased feed. Harvey has been a long-time contributor to Backyard Poultry magazine, with many excellent and helpful how-to articles. Hopefully more of those will soon be available online.
In this article he details the work done by Karl Hammer of Vermont Compost Company (located in Montpelier).
Harvey describes how
Karl has made just such a paradigm shift, and his experience is instructive. As part of his composting operation, Karl raises 1200 layers… If you think his feed bills are astronomical indeed, you’re wrong. Karl doesn’t feed his layers any grain or purchased feed. Whatsoever.
Karl lets the layers range freely throughout the compost windrows, and they scratch and peck their way to a full stomach, without a bag of feed in sight. Now that’s an achievement!
For Sonoma County backyard chicken enthusiasts, it might be difficult to envision the applicability of Karl Hammer’s commercial compost system to your home life, but we think his example is instructive of what is possible. Obviously chickens can be very happy and well fed feeding solely on compost, such a scheme can certainly be emulated on a smaller scale in a backyard.
 post carbon chickens I found a great blog post over at the Energy Farm website, a project of the Post Carbon Institute.
I’ll admit that I don’t understand the name of this organization, as I love being a carbon-based life form, and would hate to lose that. As all life on the planet is fueled by the carbon cycle, that is, photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide to create usable biological energy, I’m not sure if they’re envisioning a post-life life. Whatever, they’re doing cool work!
One project they’re working on is producing feed for chickens on site, though it seems that they are focused on growing grains as their primary strategy.
The post can be found here: http://www.energyfarms.net/node/1507
They provide a lovely run down of protein content for a long list of foods. As you’ll remember from the nutrition lectures, carbohydrates are relatively easy to provide, bringing your protein content up is the main challenge for laying hens. Their helpful list:
Food Source Percent Protein, by weight
Dried fish flakes 76
Dried liver 76
Dried earthworms 76
Duckweed 50
Torula yeast 50
Brewers yeast 39
Soybeans (dry roasted) 37
Flaxseed 37
Alfalfa seed 35
Beef, lean 28
Earthworms 28
Fish 28
Sunflower seeds 26.3
Wheat germ 25
Peas & Beans, dried 24.5
Sesame seed 19.3
Soybeans (boiled) 17
Wheat bran 16.6
Oats, whole 14
Rice polish 12.8
Rye 12.5
Wheat 12.5
Barley 12.3
Oats 12
Corn 9
Millet 9
Milo 9
Rice, brown 7.5
Thanks Post Carbon Institute, that was very helpful research!
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