Feeding Chickens Sustainably

Reader Contribution by Mary Lou Shaw
Published on February 5, 2014
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In olden days, wealthy people were the ones raising chickens while cows and goats belonged to the poor. Why? A ruminant animal could always be fed by tethering it in common ground while poultry required buying grain. Today, however, many people are feeding chickens  and other poultry in a sustainable way. Let’s look at how this can be done.

Free-Range Advantages 

Chickens are omnivores, and they thrive when outdoors if their pasture has a great variety of plants in addition to insects and reptiles. Yes, chickens do eat snakes and frogs! The realities that make free-ranging poultry difficult are predators, winter weather and lack of outdoor space. Therefore, even if you are the rare individual who has plenty of land in which your chickens can roam, you will need to safe-guard them at night from predators. Additionally you will probably need to supplement their free-range food during coldest weather.

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