How to Feed Chickens for FREE (6 AMISH Ways to Cut Feed Costs!)

A bag of layer feed runs better than twenty dollars now, and it climbs every year. But the Plain folks kept big flocks for generations and barely darkened a feed store's door — and not by growing some miracle plant. They did it by being careful in six plain places most people never think to look. 🌾 In this one I walk you through the six, the way I run them on my own ground — none of them a magic trick, all of them just careful old-fashioned farming: 🐔 Buy your grain whole from the mill and mix your own ration (and the group-buy trick that drops the price again) 🌽 Follow the harvest — let the flock glean the garden, the stubble, the windfalls, and the manure for free 🥛 Put your milk surplus to work as clabber (the one detail the slick videos get flat wrong) 🐀 Stop feeding the rats and the bare ground — the feeder and storage fix that cuts the bill by up to a third ❄️ Don't board freeloaders all winter — and the old hands-on way to tell which hens are actually laying 🐣 Let a broody hen raise your next flock for free — no incubator, no heat lamp, no bought chicks Take a quiet look around your own place — the mill down the road, the milk pail, the windfalls under the trees, the feeder, the flock itself — and start with the one that's easiest for you. If even one of these saves you a season's worth of feed, give it a like and subscribe — I put out plain, practical farming like this every week. 🙏 --- CHAPTERS 0:00 The twenty-dollar bag nobody questions 1:05 #1 — Mix your own ration from the mill (quit the branded bag) 5:00 #2 — Follow the harvest: let the flock glean for free 8:40 #3 — Sour milk & clabber: free protein from a milk animal 11:40 #4 — Stop feeding the rats: feeders & storage that save a third 15:20 #5 — Don't feed freeloaders: right-size the flock for winter 19:10 #6 — Let a broody hen raise your replacements for free 22:30 Putting all six together + an honest word of caution --- Ezra Stutzman is a composite educational character representing a lifelong small-farm tradition. This content is general farming experience for education and entertainment — it is not professional or veterinary advice. Animals, climates, and soils differ, so always check with your local extension office or a veterinarian before making changes on your own place. The goal is a cheaper flock, never a hungry one. #homesteading #chickens #backyardchickens #amish #selfsufficiency #cutfeedcosts #raisingchickens #plainliving #frugalliving #homestead #poultry #layinghens #broodyhen #offgrid #farmlife #savemoney #flockmanagement #thriftyfarming #smallfarm #oldways