Wake Up And Smell The Poultry
Posted on January 3, 2011 by Jon Porter
Lately, my wife and I have been working on improving our diet by reducing the amount of packaged foods we eat, and foraging for the ultimate in fresh food; wild berries and greens – pick it and eat it foods. If we can’t get it from the garden, we can get it from the forest. We also get fresher and healthier foods by sprouting grains and growing microgreens in the house. We make our own bread and juice fresh fruit and berries. We are eating “beyond organic”. The result of this is that we are feeling healthier and our food costs are down to below $200 a month for both of us. In a pinch, we could reduce our food costs to $75 a month while retaining a very healthy diet, and accomplish this effortlessly in a spare bedroom. Of course this is without meat.
This year, we are raising poultry to provide our own meat – not in the spare bedroom, mind you. That might be a bit tacky. We have a nice poultry house that we call our “coop de ville”, and a nice large fenced in run. Our poultry have beaucoup space. Our goal is to raise high quality meat economically and with minimal effort. Remember the book “Five Acres and Independence”? I call it five acres and misery. Working ’round the clock for the joy of calling ourselves independent is not my idea of independence. So the effort of raising poultry, in my estimation, aught to be reasonably simple and time efficient.
We bought 30 chicks and 10 baby turkeys from the CO-OP Country Store in April. I fed them non-medicated chicken starter for the first three weeks. Then I began supplementing their food with wild foods that grow near our home including dandelions, comfrey, plantain, clover and other edibles. Dandelions are like candy to the birds. I also have been feeding them worms (the other red meat) in order to increase their protein intake. I collected worms from the garden and created a little worm farms in large plastic containers. I feed the worms coffee grounds, corn meal and strips of newspaper that have no colored ink on it. The worms are multiplying rapidly enough to be a useful feed source. I am also feeding them sprouted whole oats and wheat berries. I buy the grains in 50 pound bags from the local CO-OP Country Store. Sprouting these grains significantly increases the volume and nutritional value of the grains and is very simple to do. I spend about 15 to 20 minutes a day caring for our birds. What’s next? I am looking for inexpensive sources for high quality barley and lentils for sprouting for ourselves and our flock.
Good health requires good water, which we are fortunate enough to have from our well. We don’t have to remove the fluoride or chlorine poisons from our water as would be necessary if we were connected to our community Sandpoint City water system. Poultry need good water too. Can you imagine bringing in hundreds of gallons of Aquafina for the chickens? What a hoot! It is a serious issue. I can’t see the point in feeding them
high quality food and low quality water. I do, however, put one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of their water which reduces the chances of the birds getting sick with coccidiosis. I am a chemist and I have worked in the past as a water chemist. So quality water is important to me.
The result of all this, is that we have healthy, happy, and rather large chickens and turkeys that we have raised economically and with little effort. Bon appetit.
Jon and Janice Porter live in Bonner country near Sandpoint Idaho on the Upluck’m ranch.
© 2011, Jon Porter. All rights reserved.
Lately, my wife and I have been working on improving our diet by reducing the amount of packaged foods we eat, and foraging for the ultimate in fresh food; wild berries and greens – pick it and eat it foods. If we can’t get it from the garden, we can get it from the forest. We also get fresher and healthier foods by sprouting grains and growing microgreens in the house. We make our own bread and juice fresh fruit and berries. We are eating “beyond organic”. The result of this is that we are feeling healthier and our food costs are down to below $200 a month for both of us. In a pinch, we could reduce our food costs to $75 a month while retaining a very healthy diet, and accomplish this effortlessly in a spare bedroom. Of course this is without meat.
This year, we are raising poultry to provide our own meat – not in the spare bedroom, mind you. That might be a bit tacky. We have a nice poultry house that we call our “coop de ville”, and a nice large fenced in run. Our poultry have beaucoup space. Our goal is to raise high quality meat economically and with minimal effort. Remember the book “Five Acres and Independence”? I call it five acres and misery. Working ’round the clock for the joy of calling ourselves independent is not my idea of independence. So the effort of raising poultry, in my estimation, aught to be reasonably simple and time efficient.
We bought 30 chicks and 10 baby turkeys from the CO-OP Country Store in April. I fed them non-medicated chicken starter for the first three weeks. Then I began supplementing their food with wild foods that grow near our home including dandelions, comfrey, plantain, clover and other edibles. Dandelions are like candy to the birds. I also have been feeding them worms (the other red meat) in order to increase their protein intake. I collected worms from the garden and created a little worm farms in large plastic containers. I feed the worms coffee grounds, corn meal and strips of newspaper that have no colored ink on it. The worms are multiplying rapidly enough to be a useful feed source. I am also feeding them sprouted whole oats and wheat berries. I buy the grains in 50 pound bags from the local CO-OP Country Store. Sprouting these grains significantly increases the volume and nutritional value of the grains and is very simple to do. I spend about 15 to 20 minutes a day caring for our birds. What’s next? I am looking for inexpensive sources for high quality barley and lentils for sprouting for ourselves and our flock.
Good health requires good water, which we are fortunate enough to have from our well. We don’t have to remove the fluoride or chlorine poisons from our water as would be necessary if we were connected to our community Sandpoint City water system. Poultry need good water too. Can you imagine bringing in hundreds of gallons of Aquafina for the chickens? What a hoot! It is a serious issue. I can’t see the point in feeding them
high quality food and low quality water. I do, however, put one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of their water which reduces the chances of the birds getting sick with coccidiosis. I am a chemist and I have worked in the past as a water chemist. So quality water is important to me.
The result of all this, is that we have healthy, happy, and rather large chickens and turkeys that we have raised economically and with little effort. Bon appetit.
Jon and Janice Porter live in Bonner country near Sandpoint Idaho on the Upluck’m ranch.
© 2011, Jon Porter. All rights reserved.