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 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!
 chooks at the buffet We will take a simplified approach to chicken nutrition, as this subject has been covered extensively in half a hundred other books on keeping the home poultry flock. We also operate from two core assumptions: one, that mimicking a chicken’s evolutionarily appropriate diet is the clearest path to success, and two, that chickens are not stupid, if allowed, they will self select their best diet.
Chickens evolved from subtropical jungle birds of southeast Asia. They ranged throughout the forest scratching through leaves and the under story eating seeds and insects. The closer we mimic a similar living situation for them, the happier and healthier they will be, the more productive they will be with fewer inputs, and the closer our hobby will move us towards a sustainable food system.
Chickens can self select the diet that is best for them if they have free choice of a wide range of foods: access to grass, seeds, and multiple protein sources (read: bugs). When chickens are free to range, they choose what they want to eat when they want to eat it. They will generally ignore store bought rations. (They will still come a running to a corn scratch however, especially if you have trained them to it with a specific sound, such as when you’re shaking the corn scratch in a yoghurt container. You’ll want to continue that habit, as you’ll want them to run after you or come to you at times, very helpful when you need to put them away.)
Chickens need the same food we need, only in different forms and proportions. They need carbohydrates, protein, fat, and minerals. In the store bought feed program, corn, millet and a few other grains provide the carbohydrates and a little protein, and ground soybeans or field peas provide the majority of the protein and some carbs. Minerals and vitamins are often added as supplements to the rations. It is also recommended to add oyster shell to help add calcium for strong shells. If the chickens don’t have access to the outdoors you’ll need to add grit in some form so they can grind and digest grains in their crop.
Most books on chicken nutrition have long chapters on how to design a custom feed mix, arrive at the precise ratio of protein in your mix, change your mix for pullets (adolescent hens) and for adult layers, etc. The premise under these complex plans however is that the chickens are confined. If the chickens are unable to roam outside and forage for at least some of their nutrition then you will have to provide all of it for them, and you will need to ensure sufficient protein to keep them laying. Andy Lee’s book Chicken Tractor: The Permaculture Guide to Happy Hens and Healthy Soil is the first place I would recommend for an excellent discussion of feed rations, within the context of healthy chickens and a solid permaculture approach.
Let us say a little more about the power of free choice. I (christopher) have watched chickens over many months, with free access to unlimited amounts of layer’s mash or pellets, roaming about the farm scratching and pecking, eating seeds and bugs and some grass, and eating very little of the processed feed. When a chicken has access to your yard or farm, can graze freely and find the fresh foods they prefer, they will eat very little of the processed mash from the feed store. The chickens will lay prolifically, they will look fat and happy, their feathers will look lustrous, the yolks of the eggs will be a deep orange and taste wonderful, and you will be able to give up cable TV from the pleasure of watching them scratch and cluck and enjoy themselves. Ana Stayton at Golden Nectar Farm calls it “chicken TV,” and there is nothing better.
You buy chicken feed at your local feed store. You pay the premium and buy organic. But have you considered where that feed comes from? Well, you might be surprised. We’ve called most of the feed stores in Sonoma County, and as of fall ‘008 and spring ‘009, it is as we suspected, the chicken feed sold here is not from here.
Not even within 100 miles, an important radius for committed locavores. In general the feed comes from throughout North America, with corn from Nebraska, barley from Canada, soybeans from Iowa. Most of the feed you will find is aggregated and then mixed and bagged somewhere in the Midwest, with the exception of a few discussed in a later posts that source at least some ingredients in California.
Take this feed bag label as an example. Forgive the tear in the bag, but the first item is organic corn, with organic soybean meal, flaxseed, barley, and peas. And then there’s a long list of vitamins and minerals, the ethyllenemenadiaonepyrmidinols, you know, the super tasty secret ingredients everyone loves.
This bag of feed comes from Brentwood, Missouri, certainly not within a hundred miles of Sonoma County, California.
The distance this feed has travelled is one issue, another is the quality of the feed. Despite the organic certification, this is not a preferred food for chickens. If you give them the choice of this high protein feed ration and grass, scratch-harvested seeds, bugs, worms, etc, there is no question, the chickens prefer the real food.
So, this is the problem, what’s the solution? We will be outlining our thoughts on that in upcoming posts. If you have ideas, suggestions, questions, whatever, please leave a note in the comments.
We wondered where the feed sold at feed stores in Sonoma County comes from. We’d heard that it might come from China so I decided to call around. Most of the people selling organic chicken feed had no idea where it came from. The origin of the feed was clearly not something they had thought about. A couple were willing to look at the tag on the bag and give me the brand name. I admit I was surprised that most of the feed stores carried different brands. Here’s what I found:
Larsen Feed in Cotati - didn’t know but the brand is Farmer’s Best Feeds
Western Feed Supply in Santa Rosa- didn’t know although they did look at the label for info and there was none regarding origin
Frizelle and Enos in Sebastopol - didn’t know
Rivertown - they make their own in conjunction with Bar Ale and claim is it locally/California grown (see follow-up post about their feed
Wright’s Feed in Windsor- not certain but thinks Canada
Penngrove Hay and Grain - didn’t know but said it was Purina brand
So I looked up Farmer’s Best Feeds (the brand that Larsen’s sells) and gave them a call. I was referred to a nutritionist and she was very helpful. I spoke with her at the mill in California but she told me that the corn is from Nebraska, the rapeseed from Canada, the barley from Washington, and the wheat from North Dakota. I was relieved that nothing was from China.
I tried calling Purina but ended up e-mailing as they were closed at the time and here’s the response I got:
All of our grains are from the US or Canada. Most likely from the region you live in. It depends on the supply of the ingredient in the particular region.
Animals make better people,
We make Better Animals
Thanks and have a good day! 
¸.
..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Dawn Holland-:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*
Animal Care Specialist
100 Danforth Drive
Gray Summit, MO 63039
Again, I was glad to know that their supplies come from North America. I wish she had been a little more specific but my impression from her answer is that that source as close to distribution as they are able.
Would you like to contribute to the project of localizing the food web for backyard chickens? Are you interested in helping create a more sustainable chicken? If so, please help us by answering some of the following questions. We are eager to hear about your experience, and would like to incorporate what you know and have learned into this site.
First, a little background info: where do you live, how many chickens do you keep, how large is your property or the area where the chickens can roam, what’s the neighborhood character (rural, suburb, etc), how long have you been keeping chickens (any length of time is great!), are you a gardener too, any other relevant background info?
How are you currently feeding your chickens?
Where do you buy feed? Do you buy organic?
Have you thought about where the feed comes from? Are you concerned about where your feed comes from?
Do you feed kitchen scraps and what are your strategies and habits? Do you throw the scraps into the pen on the ground or do you place them in a special container? Do you cut the scraps into smaller pieces or leave them be? Do you have a special bowl in the kitchen or how do you handle that? Any foods your chickens seem to particularly enjoy or avoid? Do you specially cook anything for them?
How do you try to feed more locally?
Do you glean for your chickens? (Gleaning is the process of making use of food that it is not economical to harvest in a traditional manner.)
Are you willing or do you currently grow food for your chickens?
Are you willing to glean or go somewhere else to get local food for your chicken?
Do your chickens range? In your yard, around the property, within the garden? Do you have strategies for moving them around the property, containing them in one place, or keeping them out of some areas, such as gardens?
Do you already grow anything for your chickens
Anything else you’d like to share about helping create a more sustainable food web for backyard chickens?
Please leave answers in the comments section, and many thanks in advance for the help!
Laurie-Ann interviewed Sean H. on Wednesday January 29th. She asked him our series of questions, and here is some of her report.
 chickens eating salad They keep 8 chickens, they are allowed to range around a section of the property. Chickens receive food table scraps and garden scraps (outer cabbage leaves, etc.) Apparently the hens are a little picky about eating too many cabbage leaves. Sean is interested in localizing his chickens’ food. They currently buy at Western Feed Supply or Penngrove Hay and Grain, both of which sell an organic feed mix. He hasn’t tried any gleaning yet. He is curious to know what nutritional need would be met by table scraps, and how much feed that can supplant. If gleaning was local, in his neighborhood, he would be interested. He was glad to know someone was thinking about the issue!
Sean and his partner live on approximately a quarter acre with a large vegetable garden. They live in a rural feeling area.
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