Ways to reduce reliance on commercial feed for homestead critters

I wanted to post a pic and link to a method that I am starting to use this year to make a dent in how much commercial feed I have to purchase to support our homestead critters.

We started with muscovy ducks right about 2 years ago. The first year was spent mainly learning the needs of the birds, building infrastructure, and getting used to eating duck eggs as well as learning to butcher/process the meat.

I have our orchard, where the ducks are housed, right next to our main garden. The fence keeps the ducks mostly out of the garden, and allows us to throw garden scraps/waste over the fence. They love the garden scraps, but we don't have enough to really make a big difference in how much feed they eat.

I use a game bird mix/crumble and it has worked well to provide the main protein/calories/minerals.

The orchard is about half an acre and is also fenced in. The ducks mainly stay towards the garden end of the orchard, and in their ~1000 gallon pond. They are good foragers, which helps reduce the feed compared to if I had them in a small pen, but when the ducks start hatching out little ones, the growing birds can really eat! Last summer, when we had over 50 little ones at a time, the feed bill was way too high.

Starting in the fall, I decided to get more serious on making use of the compost piles for more than just garden/orchard nutrition. This video, from one of my favorite permaculture instructors, was a big influence:

So now, instead of taking the bedding from the duck house straight to the garden compost pile, I am using it along with weeds, cat-tail reeds, and other sources of carbon to make ~1cubic yard compost piles around the orchard, in between the fruit trees. I probably don't turn them as often as I should, so it takes a few weeks to a month before they start turning into something other than the starting material. After that, when I turn the piles, the ducks have it figured out that there is something very interesting going on...

Lots of worms and other creatures that they find tasty are easy for them to find when I fork and rake the piles around. I am curious to see how this goes as we move into summer, but I am hopeful as I keep building these compost piles in the orchard, I will have enough supplemental free food to minimize how much extra commerical feed I have to put out to grow out the young ducks for slaughter.

We picked up 3 laying hens a couple months ago and they are very interested in this program, as well. The scratching behavior of the chickens is different than the dibbling of the ducks in the piles, but it gets the same results.

I am still maintaining a large compost pile separate from the ducks that is in the main garden. It is probably between 3-4 cubic yards. Back in the mid-fall last year, I decided to quit burying the butchering waste in the garden, and put it at the bottom of the compost pile. So far so good. No terrible smells and there are mostly just pockets of bones and some wings/feathers that apparently didn't have enough heat/meat on them to break down quickly. I will keep turning them into the pile along with starting new material as the season goes on.

How are you using compost to help reduce your feed bill?

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Ways to reduce reliance on commercial feed for homestead critters