What did people feed chickens before they became known as free range/organic and before the corn fed episode?
Image by terriem
Question by VISTA: What did people feed chickens before they became known as free range/organic and before the corn fed episode?
Im talking about the chickens people kept years ago on small farms/homesteads before the factory farming thing.
Give your answer to this question below!
4 Responses to What did people feed chickens before they became known as free range/organic and before the corn fed episode?
Leave a Reply
they fed them scratch
help
December 28, 2011 at 10:55 am
They fed them corn feed. Corn feed has been around since before the colonization of America. And scratch was a colloquial term for chicken feed that developed in the American Mid-west/West, which was a type of corn that was not too pleasant for human consumption, and it was called that because of the tendency of chickens to scratch the dirt as they go around pecking for bugs and seeds. You fed chickens this low quality corn feed, they scratched when feeding, so it came to be called “scratch”. We still have that type of feed corn, which is still used to feed chickens and cows. It is also used for ethanol production, which has made it very valuable and expensive to buy.
Chickens will eat a variety of things, including grass. What they eat has a big impact on the quality of the meat. When they eat grass, their meat will be tough and stringy, so it is very common to feed chickens feed corn, which produces chicken meat that is tasty and succulent.
Avery
December 28, 2011 at 11:49 am
we use to have free range chickens, before intensification things, now we going back to the old days
Behnam B
December 28, 2011 at 12:40 pm
they were generally what we now call the heritage breeds-rocks, Orpintons, etc. though leghorns were used extensively on farms as layers.
Today’s chickens all get a GMO soy and corn based feed (unless they are being fed certified organic food or the farmer raises the gain and does not grow GMO crops), even a lot of the pastured/free range chickens
In the old days layers, because there not in commercial production and not expected to lay 5 to 6 eggs a week 49 weeks a year, were fed kitchen scraps, scratch feed which is either whole or coarsely ground corn, all the bugs, small rodents and other critters they could catch. They also would clean out the feed tubs of the other livestock that were fed a grain ration for work like horses or oxen as well as go through the manure of the livestock looking for grain and insect eggs. Laying hens were not expected to lay virtually year round. Their cycle would have them laying eggs Feb to around October than they would not lay over winter. Before hens eggs were so commercialized and industrialized, most laid eggs something like 145 days a year and not the 310 days a year you get on average
Today, because we demand layers produce eggs year round, they have to be fed a grain ration so they have enough energy to produce all those eggs. Many people who have small flocks still raise them the old fashioned way and you can often find such eggs at farmers markets.
Now for meat birds, before the creation of the hybrid, the Rock Cornish cross, we got our meat chickens from the left over males from laying operations. these birds took over 17 weeks to raise to table size, did not have much white breast meat and unless properly cooked (long roasting with low temps) would be as tough as shoe leather. I have tried raising this kind of bird for meat and was pleased once I figured out just when to kill them (right before the first crow) and how to cook them.
The Rock cornish cross, on the other hand, is bred to grow quickly and will reach table size in 6 to 8 weeks, has around 5x the breast meat of the heritage breeds and is much easier to feather and gut. the drawback is because of their explosive growth the must be fed a ration of a soy/corn based feed so they get enough protein. I have for over 14 years raised this breed on pasture (which many say cannot be done but I have proven them wrong many many times) and get the best chicken one could ever hope to eat-tender, sublime flavor and texture, great roasted, fried or BBQ’ed. And the reason my birds taste so much better than the same breed raised in industrial barns is because they get to move around, eat pasture (mostly clover and forbs, they are not much into grass) and bugs and they get to be in sunlight and fresh air.
I would love to not feed this hybrid any grain but they get sick and quickly die without the high protein feed. they also will die if they get too much feed. These are not all that easy to raise.
Ohiorganic
December 28, 2011 at 1:07 pm