crunchymamamaine:

I never intend to buy feed, myself. I figure if Chinese country peasants can raise chickens without buying expensive feed somewhere, why can't I? For that matter, what have people done for hundreds of years before commercially prepared livestock feeds were invented?

That's exactly what I always wanted to do, but never quite got there. It takes a tremendous amount of work and commitment to supply all of the feed necessary for livestock. Chickens would be the easiest because if they have good free range, they can almost feed themselves, but still take supplemental feed, even in the summer. In the winter they're totally dependent on whatever you've managed to grow or find for them. 

I agree that we've become more and more dependent on commercial feed when it's not always necessary. Pumpkins, melons, corn, squash, rutabagas, beets, sugar beets, alfalfa, and much more, can be grown for animal feed, but it takes room, and, as I said, time and commitment.

Keriamon:

Does your electric fence pulse frequently?  We have a solar charger in the back and it doesn't seem to pulse quite as frequently as the one in the front.  Also, how far up from the ground is your bottom strand, and how far apart are the other strands?  My husband swears up and down he saw a deer jump BETWEEN the strands in the front yard.  Our T-posts are approximtely 5 feet tall, with three strands of hot wire placed fairly evenly apart.  The back has a similar arrangement, but the posts are four and a half feet high with two strands hot and the bottom strand is not hot (because we still have low-growing junk around the fence line.  So I'm thinking if a deer can go through the fence, a goat could too, unless we alternate hot and not hot rope and put the strands closer together? 

We tried a solar powered fencer with ribbon wire the second year. Ridiculous for goats. You've got to go to the real deal, a heavy duty fencer and wire.

Strands are at 14 and 28". Our Bulldozer fencer was rated for 50 miles, and we had it on 5. We made sure we had 3 ground rods.

Train a goat on it first by taking them out in the pasture and have them touch the fence a few times while hanging on to them....otherwise they'll get jolted and go through the fence and they haven't learned anything. They have to be able to back up and run.

UMMM good ideas mainemama I guess, except IT DOESN"T WORK HERE lol.

My chickens and goats will starve to death on pine needles. The only open space on this property is for the house and pole barn and we cleared a few trees to garden around the stumps. See Cinnamon's picture to the left? Yep that's it. Snow and trees and sandy soil.

Even if you let your animals forage for themselves, there comes a day...either in August when everything is dry and burnet...or in November when everythings dead...when they will need supplementing to keep them healthy.

Cinnamonhuskies Michelle, 

I don't know about your animals, but my chickens seem to be hungry ALL the time!  I do let them forage all day, but yeah, in winter, there's not much to forage on.  I went to a local feed place last week and got layer crumbles for $12.75 (50 lb bag).  It was 17%.  Since they forage, I only pour in about 3/4 a soup can full a day (but then I only have 3 chickens).

I also give them food scraps, stale bread, cheap cereal sometimes... with just me and dh, there's not a lot scraps.  Sometimes my parents give me their food scraps too, which either go to the chickens, the worm bin or the compost pile.

sometimes I think the chickens eat out of boredom. Like in the winter, we close them in the coop with lights on a timer. Not much else to do but eat, poo, and lay eggs. If the temps get above 35 and it's sunny, I'll open up the coop and see who wants to go out. usually there's the snow to deal with, and they don't want to walk in it.

I have a hanging feeder that dh made out of sheet metal, I'll fill it halfway and wait until it's entirely emptied out before filling it again. they do waste a bit on the ground. They get all our kitchen garbage and whey after cheesemaking.

Usually I get 1 1/2 dozen eggs a day. This past saturday I got 6, and yesterday I got 9. what's up with that?! Either some went on a egg strike or are laying in places other than the nesting boxes. I'll probably find a pile in the hay somewhere...!

 I used to always open the door to the chicken coop unless we were in the middle of a blizzard. Chickens must get used to snow, since mine would come out even if it was on the ground. I remember hearing an awful fuss going on one day and looked out to see a hen stuck in a snowbank. I'm not sure how she did it, but I had to go rescue her because every time she'd try to get out, she'd just make a bigger hole in the snow. 

I've read that you can put "toys" in with chickens to keep them from being bored when they're cooped up. Things like dried grass/hay tied together and hung just above where it's comfortable for them to reach it, or just toss in a pitchfork of hay or straw and let them tear it apart.  

chicken toys! I love it! What a great idea.

no, I can't, but I do anyhow...I have a few chickens, just for the eggs....I have guineas...to get the ticks...and they free range all day long...I feed them at night, commercial food, so they come in....but the feeding in the summer is miniscule, compared to the winter....

 the chickens are banty's,,,they are small, they lay small eggs and they eat barely nothing...and they even lay eggs when it gets cold out...just tuff lil backyard banty's...

 I am not sure,but I think you have to train most everyanimal to a electric fence....I would string elec wire, pulse electric fencer...and I would tie lil white cloth to the wire ever so often....thn I would lead the animal up to it, and curiousity of course got the best of it, and it would sniff that lil white cloth, and for a second it was okay, then "bang"....so then I took a pial of grain, and put it on the othr side of the wire, about the same place...."nope, not interested"...so then I  wouldmove over some away fromthe white cloth....with that pail of grain...and tht was a different story, and then "bang" got a shock there too...and that was all it took...after that they wouldn't go near it...no matter where I set that pail of grain....

 But I never tried it with goats...so that may not be of much help at all....

JUNE EXPENSE/INCOME RECORDS:

Income eggs, cheese, goat kid sales $493

Expense grain, chicken dust $277

Net +$216.

Still have bulk grain left for awhile; this is not a typical month. However, rather than spending the excess on grain in another month we are purchasing 2 new milk goats for $400. I'm spending $200, and ds#1 is spending $200.( I am retiring 2 of mine that are low producers.)