OK, Im just askin shit here cause this is pretty amazing, what if no feed was commercially available?
Adult birds will eat any commercial chicken/duck feed. Literally anything. Calcium is important for layers, so if you only had shitty feed, you'd have to grind up their shells and mix it into their food. The 28% protein is only important under 6-8 weeks.
If somehow feed became like toilet paper in early 2020, I'd let them graze in the yard. Maybe build a low and wide net enclosure out of that super cheap nylon deer fencing? I guess I could start a cricket farm.
Well I work with deer and have no idea what cheap deer fencing is, so basically you would have to have like a movable chicken tractor only much closer to the ground?
My actual duck/chicken tractor allows them to be on bare ground. My quail tractors have wire bottoms about 6" off the ground. I was just saying I'd have to net in my entire backyard to keep them from escaping while they graze.
Deer fence is typically black and 7ft tall on a 100ft roll for about $15-$25. It's usually ~1" squares and made out of a plastic material. People use it around fruit trees etc to keep the deer out. Here, I found some: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sta-Green-Actual-100-ft-x-7-ft-Wildlife-Netting-Black-Polypropylene-No-Dig-Garden-Extruded-Mesh-Rolled-Fencing/50119481
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