Soy Ocean Soup

Hens sharing a bowl of Soy Ocean Soup

We have been experimenting  with something we call Soy Ocean Soup. 

Soup is a good alternative way to feed chickens if you feel that some chickens are having trouble getting their share at feeding time due to competition. We noticed that as the summer was drying out the dirt in the woods, the chickens were no longer able to find as many worms and insects in the usually rain softened forest soil.  We chose to feed them some soybean to help replace any protein they might be missing due to the effects of the dry soil conditions on the availability of the worms.   

We were already making soy milk from soy flour in a pressure cooker, and saving the solids in a pot to feed the chickens. We decided to add kelp meal and fish meal for the additional micro nutrients in the seaweed, and protein and calcium in the fish.

Kelp Meal,    Soy Flour,  Fish Meal.

Soy Ocean Soup contains the same full fat soy flour that we use for making soy milk for ourselves, we buy it in 35lb. bags. We found out that we can order large bags of food products from the bulk foods section at the grocery store and just go down and pick it up.  You can save a lot of time, travel, money and heartaches, buying things that you eat a lot of in bulk.

Kelp meal  is packed with every mineral found in the sea and produces an aroma like a sea breeze, The Chickens really seem to enjoy it. but they really like the fish meal, which smells more like the sea shore in the summertime. We get the kelp meal. and fish meal. from the feed store in 50 lb. bags. 

(incidentally, we used the fish meal when we made the cat her food, and she went nuts)

Ocean Concentrate (seaweed and fish meal)

Each day Jin puts a heaping cup each of kelp meal, and fish meal, along  with  an appropriate amount of water, to make a nice thick broth, into the pressure cooker. Pressure cooking really opens up the seaweed and creates a viscous fluid that helps to keep the soy and fish particles in suspension.  This is important because we want all the chickens to get equal sips of this goodness, and this also helps from having a lot of thick stuff in the bottom of the pot when the pouring is done.

When the pressure cooker is full of seaweed, fish meal and water   Jin sets the timer for 30 minutes , and quickly leaves the house to go water the garden. While I hurry to go out, and clean the coops.  The cat goes nuts.

When the air clears, (smells like the sea!) she returns and pours the "ocean concentrate" in to the large pot where we save our soy milk making solids, and the like, for the chickens.

Chickens can eat soybeans but ONLY if they have been cooked. There are bio-toxins in soybeans that are anti-nutritive, and prevent chickens from properly metabolizing proteins. These harmful substances are destroyed when you cook off the raw bean taste. Once cooked the Soybeans are a great source of protein and minerals for the chickens.

 

The chickens find it delicious and would like to drink it straight from the cooking pot, but there is not enough room in the pot for 50 some chicken necks.  So we pour it into smaller, pans and bowls around the yard, so they all get to drink in their own cliques.

 

The hens and roosters mingle around the yard sipping from one bowl and then another. It is a very much calmer "garden party" type vibe, than the mosh pit experience that comes with a grain feeding.

When the food is in a liquid form the chickens don't tend to be as aggressive as when they are eating solid foods, not so much because it is not yummy, but because, I think, it is not possible to steal food from someones mouth when it is in liquid form.

When the bowls are empty there are always a few chickens that like to stay in the yard to treat us to music, tinking and clanking on the empty pans into the evening.

For some the party can go quite late.