Liz Crain demonstrates how to open a Grain Bag containing Feed for her Chickens on Leafhopper Farm a Permaculture Demonstration Project in the Pacific Northwest. She also discusses the benefits of using loose assortments of grains over pressed pellets.
How to Open a Bag of Grain
- Put the Grain Sack upright
- Look for the corner with a slip loop in the string
- Pull the end of the long paper tab to release the loop
- Pull the string from its loosened end until the bag is open
Benefits of Loose Assorted Grains
- Allows Chickens to pick out elements of the feed containing nutrients their bodies need.
- Does not need to be heated like Grain Pellets leaving more nutrients and enzymes intact.
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I use Scratch and Peck too! I just love the customer service, they've been so great when I've contacted them! All my birds love the feed! I love that they're soy free. I'm pretty sure their feed is corn free as well, unless there's options to buy feed with corn in it?
Oh man, is their factory near buy?! You should go and do a video. I'm in Central Oregon, but I'd love to see something like that from you!
It's hard to explain my willingness to spend $30 bucks on a bag of Grower, more on Starter, and a bit less than $30 on Layer, but all of my birds (chickens, geese, ducks, and quail) seem happy and healthy! My quail make all kinds of fun sounds when I put out their food for them, it's the best.
I love that the feed is formulated perfectly for waterfowl as well! I was nervous to get ducks and geese because I didn't want to mess with adding supplemental niacin. They were so kind to me when I contacted them with my worry, they reassured me and even thanked me for doing research before getting my animals! They solidified me as their long term customer!
Do you ferment your feed? I have been thinking about doing it for a while but have been holding back for whatever reason. I know Scratch and Peck sort of has a how to on their website, but, I'd like to know more in detail information. I have 22 chickens and I just don't know how much to make for them.
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Yeah, we could visit scratch and peck, that sounds fun.
I do not ferment my feed at this time, it's too much an added step considering everything else I do on the farm besides birds. I know people who do, and they say it's great. Sprouting grain also works well, people who do that say it makes the feed last longer.
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Yeah, I am not terribly interested in adding more steps to my routine. But with 22 chickens, 4 ducks, three geese, and a handful of quail, and even free ranging the chickens and rotating the geese and ducks, I am going through feed like mad! Hahah. It's spendy stuff!
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Back when I was still living in the country, I used a lot of scratch feed for my chickens. They always seemed to prefer it to the mash if they had access to it. They also liked digging through the horse manure for the bugs and the seeds that weren't digested by the horses. :-)
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Why would you give chickens grains anyways? Why not give them plants, worms and instects? Like that is what they normally would eat. Grains are far from nutrient, makes the chickens fat but not healthier?
I also eat grass-fedd beef so I would like to eat natural chickens 😊
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Hey newlifeprojects, great question! Grains are grasses, grasses are plants too. The chickens at Leafhopper Farm are pasture raised, meaning on top of a nutritionally balanced feed (which includes the grains) the chickens are in a movable paddock system rotating through fresh leafy greens from sun up to sun down. You could call that "grass fed" just like your beef.
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I love that the feed is formulated perfectly for waterfowl as well! I was nervous to get ducks and geese because I didn't want to mess with adding supplemental niacin. They were so kind to me when I contacted them with my worry, they reassured me and even thanked me for doing research before getting my animals! They solidified me as their long term customer!
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