Video summary
In this video, the host from Survival Dog introduces viewers to an economical method for feeding chickens by utilizing food waste found in grocery store dumpsters. He explains that Americans discard approximately 80% of their food daily, with each supermarket throwing away over a hundred pounds of edible items every day, often past their expiration dates but still perfectly safe for animals. The host emphasizes that while some stores lock their bins at night, they are generally accessible during the day or can be found down the street if one store is inaccessible. He stresses the importance of safety gear like heavy-duty rubber gloves and boots when accessing these dumpsters to collect high-quality scraps such as vegetables, meat cuts, and even whole chickens for animal feed.
The collected food serves multiple purposes within his homestead setup, primarily acting as a protein source for both dogs and chickens while also generating natural insect larvae. For the chickens, he places whole carcasses into a specialized maggot bucket designed with holes at the bottom; flies enter through these openings to lay eggs which hatch into maggots that fall out onto the ground below for the birds to eat. This process creates a sustainable cycle where waste is transformed into high-protein feed without purchasing expensive commercial chicken pellets, saving significant money on animal care costs. The host also notes that his dogs thrive on raw meat and hamburger scraps rather than cooked food or grains, as their digestive systems are naturally adapted to handle such diets better than processed alternatives.
However, the host provides crucial warnings about managing this feeding method responsibly to avoid attracting pests and predators. He advises against leaving large amounts of rotting food in the chicken pen overnight because it attracts flies and can lead to raccoons tearing through fences at night; he has experienced this twice already, making fence repairs a frequent hassle. To mitigate these risks, he feeds his animals earlier in the day so they consume most of the scraps before dark, then secures any leftovers immediately by placing them in lidded bins inside the coop until morning. He also suggests setting up fly traps nearby if necessary, though he notes that with proper management and timely cleanup, flies have not been a major issue for his operation.
Ultimately, the video concludes by reinforcing the idea that dumpster diving is an effective strategy to reduce food waste while providing nutritious meals for livestock at no cost. The host reiterates that every grocery store generates substantial amounts of usable food daily, making this practice accessible to anyone willing to take the time and follow safety precautions. By adopting this approach, individuals can significantly lower their expenses on pet supplies and animal feed without compromising nutrition or health. As always, Survival Dog reminds viewers to be prepared for various challenges in self-sufficiency while encouraging them to utilize resources that are often thrown away by others.
Read the full video transcript
greeting friends this is survival dog
today I'm going to show you how you can
feed your chickens for free and what I'm
talking about is dumpster-diving
Americans throw away 80% of their food
every grocery store in this country as a
dumpster and every single day there is a
lot of food every day there's a hundred
pounds of more food that's dumped and
each one of those dumpsters another con
talk about foods where the expiration
date has expired
but you can find anything there in the
dumpster any day of the week if you
happen to be in a grocery store where
they lock their dumpster up then just go
down the street to the next grocery
store because all of them have it what
you're going to need or at least what is
recommended plug to plug in big rubber
gloves and rubber boots and sometimes it
seems to have a ladder to get inside
this thing
old watermelon chickens love Parma
this is just a partial sample of what I
picked up today attentively about five
minutes to throw there's not even five
minutes to throw this all in my bin
usually I find a lot of vegetable matter
um today was neat day and I got a lot of
lead to the chickens or are omnivorous
they'll eat anything they'll even eat
other tickets and what I'll do I'll just
throw these whole chickens to the maggot
bucket we'll turn those into maggots for
the chicken
I'll put these aside give them one of
these eat today this meat I've got way
more meat than my chickens can eat in a
day or two so I'm going to be putting
this much of this in my freezer this
right here will be Rio's dinner tomorrow
night look at that beef sirloin tip
roast look at that I figure I probably
got about the best fed dog in the county
this is Rios we work for going with me
today sayings you can see you can save a
lot of money on your dog food too and I
know people who eat out of a dumpster
there's a lot of good food in dumpsters
and in case you're wondering yes I feed
raw meat to my dog there's nothing
better for them dogs or dogs don't their
digestive systems not designed to eat
cooked meat certainly not designed to
eat grains it's the best thing for them
right here for all me look at that how
many dogs do you know eat like that look
at them go for that raw hamburger meat
hamburger is perfect good cause it's all
ground up in bite-size pieces just
perfect particular
this is my maggot bucket I'll put the
whole chickens in here flies will Carl
to these holes lay eggs and in about a
day or two maggots start falling through
these holes
I have holes in the bottom two and best
thing to do is to just hang this thing
inside the chicken coop let the maggots
fall right on the ground
and the tickets will gobble them up
one thing you do have to be aware of is
throwing a lot of food like this in the
chicken pen does draw flies and so you
want to have this where it's not really
close to your house and you also might
want to put some fly traps out too but
we haven't found the Flies to be too big
of a problem and the other problem is if
you leave this food in here overnight
predators that come along at night like
raccoons we won't try to get in there
when they see good food in there
especially meat raccoons will actually
tear through chicken wire to get at it
so what I do is I feed down this food
earlier in the day so that they can have
it eaten up by dark and then when
darkness comes and it's time to put the
chickens away I will pick up whatever is
left there and put it in the bin with
the top on it and then just set that
inside the chicken coop until tomorrow I
can't leave a lot of food in here
because already twice I've had raccoons
break into my chicken coop that night
and it's just a bother to have to repair
the fence after they do that
and every grocery store has a dumpster
behind it and every grocery store throws
away 100 pounds or more good food every
single day like I said I know people who
eat out
he eats food out of their our dumpsters
and for me I just use it to feed my
animals and it saves me a huge amount of
money because chicken feed is expensive
this is survival doc reminding you be
prepared or be prepared to be fleeced
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