Chicken feed: non-commercial

[baldowrie]

hence the invention of the gin and tonic drunk on the veranda of those out in Inidia, or so they say, as the tonic contains quinine.

Personally I think it a good excuse to have the gin

[contadino]

Er...yes. Thanks Nev. And that probably explains why my G&T's have never tasted quite right.

WRT to mixing beans with grain, yes. You still need some grains, but you can make it go a little (or a lot) further by adding in crushed dried peas, fave, etc... And lets not forget soya (which you should be able to grow well in Montenegro). They need to be boiled up first, but great fodder for chooks.

[Nikki]

Excellent tips.
Not a fan of soya. But I understand that a grain and dried beans/peas mix is a good way to go.

For the record, I also drink G&T for it's anti-malarial properties.

[ina]

For the record, I also drink G&T for it's anti-malarial properties.

It may be my imagination, but tonic (without the gin) really seems to help me whenever I feel fluey. (That really should be in a different thread now...)

[Mare Owner]

Currently we are feeding whole oats to the hens in our henhouse (cheap here), along with calcium supplement and grit. Whenever we open the door we also throw in a few handfuls of grass which they love. Their yolks are not as orange as they are when we feed the commercial laying grain, but I would think more grass would do the trick.

Our free range hens we don't feed at all, they have access to calcium supplement and go around the farm eating all manner of things. One rooster drives me crazy crowing outside the office window when I am working daily, but he loves it near the bird feeder there, lots to clean up.

[baldowrie]

Ina

It may be my imagination, but tonic (without the gin) really seems to help me whenever I feel fluey

I used to drink it a lot as it eased my joint pain.

[flower]

Their yolks are not as orange as they are when we feed the commercial laying grain, but I would think more grass would do the trick.
.

brassicas are very good for yolk colour.
suspended from above (not too high cos jumping can affect laying) chickens love a game of brassica swingball

It's a great way of using up broccolli plants after you've harvested the florets.

[burek]

So far ours have been quite happy feeding themselves free range. They also get scraps from the kitchen, including crushed egg shells, and have a feeder of corn for snacking on.
Interestingly, the other day I gave them some lentils (pea family) which were left over after I had planted a few rows of it, and they went quite mad for it - lots of fighting! Going by the growth so far, you should find lentils very easy to grow in Montenegro - and they are easy to look after (dry conditions - easy care!). So a very cheap way of producing food for the kitchen and the chickens.
Don't know about MN of course but our nearest town has a 'green' market (ie everything agricultural) and there you can buy all different feeds. For example, a kilo of chicken corn is 15p. If it is an agricultural area there will probably be someone trying to make a buck out of potential customers!