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How to make a DIY chicken and quail feeder for 0 dollars
DIY feeders for your brooder that cost nothing If you’ve already read my previous posts on chicken rearing, you can probably guess that I’m a fan of diy’ing over buying when possible. This applies to chicken feeders too. I hate most feeder designs because they’re yet more scraps of plastic polluting the planet. They also suck at what they’re supposed to do! No matter what, your chickens will find a way to spill their food all over the floor. Your chickens will also inevitably find a way to drop a deuce or two in their food. These things will happen no matter what. So if these things will happen no…
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How to grow sprouts and fodder for your chickens and quail
Here's how I grow enough healthy greens to feed my chickens through six months of winter. Sunflower sprouts and wheat grass fodder are a frugal and easy way...
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Hatching Trader Joe’s Fertile Eggs and Grocery Store Quail
Follow my hatch-along to see if it's really possible to hatch chickens from Trader Joe's fertile eggs and quail eggs from the grocery store.
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How we frugally shop for groceries with 0 food waste (and without eating beans!)
Eating frugally for those of us who hate beans I’m fortunate that we are a 2 person household with no picky eaters (except for my aversion to beans and rice). We can adjust what we cook and what we eat based on what’s on sale when/where we do our twice a month grocery run. We also only buy certain foods when it is in season and at its cheapest and freshest. That means lots of fresh veggies and salads during spring/summer, stone fruits, melons, and berries in the summer, and lots of root vegetables, stews, baking, pasta, and curries in winter. Our total monthly grocery and household bill for 2016-2017…
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How to start a cricket farm for under $3 and feed your chickens and quail frugally
Never waste money again on crickets from a pet shop! I mentioned in the frugal chicken feed post that we also raise crickets to supplement our chooks regular feed. While crickets are not the easiest feeder insect to raise–they jump and escape all over the place–they do provide a good change of pace from mealworms. Escaping crickets are also a good source of entertainment and exercise for pampered backyard chickens. This is the way I grew my tiny starter colony of 20 crickets into thousands within a couple of months. Try to resist feeding too many of the crickets in the first two generations before they’ve bred. Your chickens will…
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How to start a mealworm farm for chicken and quail food for under $20
Materials and supplies A plastic container with smooth (unscuffed) sides so the mealworms can’t climb out. A lid is optional. A screen or large piece of mesh cloth to allow airflow and keep out pests is better. The 1 lb. salad containers from Costco are the perfect size for up to 2000 mealworms. Try not to crowd your worms too much as this can result in excess death. Cost: $0 Grain for the bedding and food source. Some people use wheat bran, cornmeal, or rolled oats. I use regular rolled oats since that’s what I have on hand. You’ll want to fill your plastic container about 1″ deep, no more. Bedding…
