organic poultry food

[peppercat]

hi,
Shirleyz asked where I sourced organic food for my hens. I keep in with local organic farmers - one sells me the poorer quality barley and oats that he is left with - only barley this season and it is full of weed seeds but very cheap (I have to go and fetch it with bags). To supplement this I also buy single bags of (very expensive) proprietary organic layers pellets from my local organic veg box man, who is Soil Assoc registered and keeps a commercial flock of organic poultry so buys the stuff in bulk and lets me buy the odd bag off him at cost.

They also get household scraps because we are vegetarian and try to source organic food as much as possible and as many slugs and caterpillars as I find in the garden and throw to them. Actually letting them into the fruit, veg and herb gardens is only feasible out of season as otherwise they also eat the berries & young plants &/or scratch them up.

I also have a broody sitting on eggs that a friend bought off ebay - due to hatch next week. We usually have lots of broodies this time of year but only one at present.

Does anyone else have the problem of free range hens laying in the most innaccessible (and often unfindable) places?

[Shirley]

I had posted this in another thread but Peppercat beat me to it so I'll post it here instead

Freerange chooks - well, ours are kept in with electric fencing as we are close to the road and I don't fancy them getting squished! At our last place they used to lay in the proper place most of the time, but then every so often we'd have to go hunting - took us AGES to find one lot and we found a huge pile of about 30 eggs under an overgrown hedge. They did always go back into the house to roost though.

We've got a buff sussex that's gone broody and is sitting too, and 3 Aylesbury ducklings, a gosling and 3 more chicks that we incubated (two of our light sussex and a silver dorking)... cream legbars in the incubator at the moment.

I bought some organic layers pellets yesterday from our local supplier.... £10.75 per bag OUCH... Corn, they only had the non gm stuff in which is better than nothing and it was around £7 a bag.

While we are on the subject... what scraps do you feed to your chooks/ducks/geese etc. I know that there are somethings that should be avoided - chocolate, meat, etc... What is a favourite with your chooks.. and if you know any other foods that are absolutely bad for them let us know too.

Everyone else.... What do you feed your chooks - do you feed growers/layers.. or just mixed corn? Organic/non-organic but GM Free/non organic and don't care about the GM stuff?? How much do you pay for it?

[Martin]

you can to some extent "train" them to use the nest boxes - keep them shut in until say 10am every day - then let them out - it's easier if you do it when you get the birds in for the first time, but it's certainly worth a try now.(You should make sure there is adequate light inside the hen houses - if it's totally dark, if you leave them shut in, it could send them off lay because they pick up the "reduced day length" and stop producing!)
Make sure they have adequate nest boxes with bags of clean straw.
The main problem with them laying all over the place is that it is so easy to miss them when you gather the eggs each day, and you can end up getting some really ancient eggs mixed in with the new ones!

[Hillbilly]

Mum and dads used to lay under an old Laburnum tree which had a hollowed out trunk right at the bottom. Complete nightmare getting the eggs. They stopped using it when Anna our first female dalmatian started using it for giving birth....

[Millymollymandy]

I feed mine layers' pellets (there isn't such as thing as organic available to my knowledge) and wheat. Never give them corn as I am not fattening them up and they don't like it anyway. Cost - wheat is about €4 for 10kg and layers pellets about €5.95 for 10kg - it works out cheaper if you buy the 25kg sacks but I've only got 3 hens!

They also get treats - they adore spaghetti and rice but mostly I give them apple or cucumber and spinach beet leaves and stalks. They don't like lettuce which is a shame when I've got them going to seed! (Dumb clucks!! )

I've heard you shouldn't give them spud peelings unless they are cooked. I wouldn't bother with all that palaver - spud peelings go in the compost anyway!

[Olive]

Allen and page do organic chook feed and its not much more expensve than the non organic. You should beable to order it from any feed merchant that deals with Allen and page/smallholders feed.

[Hillbilly]

MMM - these guys do organic layers pellets. Could maybe give them a call if any of them anywhere near you?

Thivat Nutrition Animale
La Chaume Blanche
36160 POULIGNY NOTRE DAME, France
Tél. : 02 54 30 21 21
Fax : 02 54 30 29 08

Thivat Nutrition Animale
Jean-Marc AYME
B.P. 28
03140 CHANTELLE France
Tél. : 04 70 90 60 80
Fax : 04 70 90 60 12


SNC Doux Aliment Sologne
Route Sainte Fontaine
18410 CLEMONT SUR SAULDRE, France
Tél. : 02 48 81 60 00
Fax : 02 48 58 84 98

SANDERS BERRY
B.P. 229
ZA de Belleplace
36400 LA CHATRE, France
Tél. : 02 54 06 04 00
Fax : 02 54 06 07 01

Thoreau Nutrition Animale
Gaël SAVROT
B.P. 6
45270 LADON France
Tél. : 02 38 95 50 14
Fax : 02 38 95 61 74

Guyomarc'h
B.P. 24
45120 CHALETTE SUR LOING France
Tél. : 02 38 89 44 44
Fax : 02 38 93 92 45

NUTRISUD
M. ETIENNE Michel
ZI B.P. 523
26400 CREST France
Tél. : 04 75 25 05 57
Fax : 04 75 76 72 44

Valsoleil
M. MERLET
ZA La Pimpie
26120 MONTELIER France
Tél. : 04 75 60 15 00
Fax : 04 75 59 99 50


COFNA
La Decluny
84 270 VEDÈNE France
Tél. : 04 90 23 33 33
Fax : 04 90 33 38 91

Coop Agricole A1
B.P. 936
64, Boulevard Carnot
62033 ARRAS CEDEX France
Tél. : 03 21 23 08 08
Fax : 03 21 23 97 40

COPAM
M. LARLET Laurent
Rue de la Noue Hermandre ZI
51520 ST MARTIN SUR LE PRE France
Tél. : 03 26 69 24 10
Fax : 03 26 68 47 09

Doisy Prevital
B.P. 39
59267 PROVILLE France
Tél. : 03 27 72 55 55
Fax : 03 27 72 55 50

Vanal
Stéphane DEBAVELAERE
69 Rue de Guarbecque
62350 SAINT-VENANT, France
Tél. : 03 2127 54 21
Fax : 03 2102 86 60

Nord Sanders
Alimentation Animale
59550 LANDRECIES, France
Tél. : 03 27 77 74 77
Fax : 03 27 84 72 37

VIGALARDEN
Ch. Gué de la Comtesse
B.P. 49
08303 REHTEL CEDEX, France
Tél. : 03 24 39 50 10
Fax : 03 24 38 42 80

[Millymollymandy]

Thank you for that Jo. Where did you get that list from?

[Camile]

Hi Jo,

Indeed where did you get that list ?

Any chance to find something simillar for Ireland ?

Thanks,
Camile

[debbie]

Most of the agg supplieres around here do organic feeds for just about everything (the only one I haven't been able to find is a ewe milk replacer for orphan lambs). I buy their own brand layers and grower pellets at £7.50 for a 25kg sack - £2.50 more than the standard range but definitely worth it. Do you have a large aggrecultural supplier near you? Definitely worth a try. I find Alan and Page very expensive and for some reason the chooks don't seem so keen on it so I stick to the own brands

[Millymollymandy]

We buy from the agricultural suppliers or garden centres or DIY stores. They all do their own brand feed. I have never seen organic feed, but organic isn't such a big deal in France anyway.

Your feed is cheap if you get 25kg for about £5. That's near what I pay for 10kg!!!

[Stonehead]

Your feed is cheap if you get 25kg for about £5. That's near what I pay for 10kg!!!

Mine costs £2 a 25kg bag (barley) or £3 a 25kg bag (oats) for about six months after harvest. Then it goes up to £3 a bag for barley and £3.50/4 for oats. That's delivered, but I do I buy at least a tonne a time.

Straw costs me £2 a small bale for about six months after harvest, then £3 a bale. Again though, I usually buy 88 bales at a time (the maximum load on the truck) although I use 100 bales a year.

[Millymollymandy]

I guess you are getting direct from the farmers Stoney. I've only got the 3 chooks so no point buying in bulk!!!

Anyway the pleasure I get out of their antics and the lovely fresh eggs makes up for the fact that having chooks isn't any cheaper than buying free range eggs from the shops. After all my cats cost me money and they don't produce anything for their keep! OK they give us 'presents', but we don't really want those!