Sustainable Chickens and goats

Hey, everyone!

Come summer-ish, I'll be buying some chickens and some goats, and want to know how I can get away from buying feed....

The goats will be a bit harder to start with, but once I get enough land..... Shouldn't be hard.

The thing is, with goats, people are saying they need supplemental vitamins----- But... How did that work for goats BEFORE being domesticated, or even before the whole commercial goat food trade? I mean.... surely there weren't wild goats dying off because no one was around to give them their supplemental vitamins...

And chickens.... How can I get away from buying 'scratch' or chicken feed?

Mind you, I will have a 1/4 acre to work with to start. I imagine the goats will be coming later.

Sorry this is so scattered.
----------------------------------

Recap:

How do you promote sustainability for chickens and, so that no money is being spent on buying commercial feed.

 

Chicken can free range during spring, summer , and fall but we feed ours pellets in the winter when not as many bugs are out for them to eat.

 

Chicken will eat table scraps, too.

When I had a goat, she grazed around in the woods clearing out the underbrush, plus we fed her about a soup can full of sweet feed every day.

 

Thankfully, where I will be keeping chickens, there won't be much of a winter at all... unless 50's* count?

Panama.

 

I think you could get away with letting the goats go feed-less more than the chickens.

Our goats just naturally grazed and seemed fine - chickens, (if they're laying hens) sometimes need supplements from feed or oyster shells.

Best of luck!

 

I am thinking of culturing roly polies and meal worms. Roly Polys/ Pill bugs are actually crustaceans and not bugs, which make then wonderful to have in place of oyster shells

 

Yes, chicken keepers all seem to rave about pill bugs/sow bugs/rollie pollies..... High in calcium and easy to grow!

 

Not sure if you have shops near you but fruit and vegie shops (I guess you have them in the US) throw out heaps every night as do supermarkets.

Goats love roughage, they will eat bushes etc and are good for cleaning up a block.

 

I have laying chickens and I feed them table scraps etc and never had a problem

 

If you keep moving the goats and chickens onto new pastures, they will have better access to their natural diet. The goats could be put on a running tether, which is easy to move and can be set up where you would like and land cleared of vegetation.

 

you have access to some land, you can grow grain for them. Small-scale grain growing is not difficult. You can broadcast it by hand and use a scythe to harvest it. You may also want to ask a farmer who is harvesting grain in your area with a combine. It is best to offer to pay but most will probably let you have a few bags for free.