The chicks are growing, and now have feathers.
Animal food has been a problem for us. We used to buy ‘natural’ chicken food, until we realised that it was largely genetically modified corn (milho) and soya. So, now we have been buying individual sacks of rye (centeio), barley (cevada), wheat (trigo), wheat germ, sunflower seeds, and white corn, grown by the local agricultural co-operative (and they assure me it is not GM). Unfortunately grown chickens and ducks don’t seem to like the grains – and a lot of what I have read recently about raising animals seems to suggest that they shouldn’t depend on grains.
They also get all our leftovers, greens from the garden, slugs that have been found eating seedlings and anything else that we think they might enjoy. But we don’t get as many eggs as we did when they were eating a commercial mix – I suspect because the protein levels are lower.
Do we up their protein, by buying in stuff, and get more eggs, or be happy with what we get and work towards growing more protein rich foods for them?
This year I am growing a lot more Hopi blue corn, and Thai black soya beans with the intention of making these a protein basis for the birds.
The chicks, on the other hand, are very keen on the grains, which I mix with ground corn, sorghum seeds, ground soya, wheat germ and also anything that they might like. In nature, the birds would eat a huge range of things, so we try to replicate that as much as we can in their pen (we tried having them completely free, but they ate all our garden vegetables and foxes/dogs ate them!)
If only the EU hadn’t allowed GM foods into animal food. It is now practically impossible to find premixed animal food that does not contain GM corn and soya. The choice has been effectively taken away from us.
Although I like growing vegetables very much, personally I would prefer not to have to grow chicken food, and I would prefer to support local business and other farmers by buying a product that takes the stress and hassle out of feeding our chickens. But, hey, no point thinking if onlys. I will have to continue learning what kind of food they like best, what grows well in this heat, and keep modifying my chicken food mix while watching how many eggs get laid for us, and keeping an eye on how healthy and contented they seem…..
