The scrap bucket by the kitchen door is one of the best money-savers on a small place — and one of the fastest ways to lose a hen. 🪣

I'm Ezra Stutzman, and in this one I go through the 9 things that come out of an ordinary kitchen that you should never tip into the run, why each one does what it does, and then the part most videos skip: how to actually run a scrap bucket so it cuts your feed bill instead of costing you birds.

The 9:

🍄 Mold and anything gone off — the number one killer in the bucket, and why you can't just cut the fuzzy part off

🧂 Salty leftovers — why almost everything in a modern kitchen is too salty for a five-pound bird

🥓 Grease, fried food and the bacon fat jar — fatty liver, and the sudden deaths nobody connects to it

🧅 Onion in quantity — the honest version, not the panic version (and why garlic is a different story)

☕ Chocolate, coffee grounds and tea — and how they get in through the compost heap

🍺 Alcohol, including fruit that's fermented in the pile

🐟 Spoiled meat and fish — and the botulism warning every keeper should know

🥛 Dairy — an honest correction I owe you, because I repeated the wrong thing for years

🥑 Avocado skin and pit — the one that can kill in a day

Plus the one that isn't poison but does more quiet harm than half the list: bread.

Then the fix: two buckets not one, the 10% rule, feeding it midday on a board, and why you chop it.

A fair word: this is general small-farm experience from my own ground, not veterinary advice. Flocks and climates differ — if you're unsure about a food or plant in your area, your local extension office will tell you at no charge, and if you've got birds acting sick, call them or a vet.

The old ways still work. — Ezra

📖 My complete Amish homestead manual — 150 old-world money-saving methods: https://ezrastutzman.netlify.app