mixing my own feed

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Hi,
Why do you want to mix your own feed? Attempt to save money? No feed in your area that meets your requirement? Because of your principals?

I do it for the above three reasons and others. It requires dedication and time, and one must educate themselves to a certain degree on the nutritional value of various food stuffs.

I make one feed for all birds. I free choice oyster shells for layers, boost protein for starter and grower and so forth. Just make minor adjustments to one basic feed.

With that said. Alfalfa is a great feed component. I think the protein is around 17%, it is a great source of green when their is no green on their range, or the birds are confined......
.....IMO Alfalfa is NOT a substitute for peas or beans. (Even though it is a legume.) I suppose if you fed alfalfa seed that could work.

Field peas are at around 24% protein, soy beans at around 34%. Legumes in a feed mix help balance things like corn and help boost protein levels...

It seems to me that most that mix their own feed, use many many types of ingredients. (Diversity in feed stuff is the "key" to making a successful home made feed.)

ON

Oh thank God you are here, ON!

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Because I had read on an internet search that DE was supposed to kill worms in the digestive tract. I saw it in the recipes for feed I found on internet.

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I will give you amounts of each recipe- if you don't want to use peas you can substitute using Kim's rectangle two other things to come out to the same protein as peas. For example, I had wanted to use oats and pumpkin seeds instead of peas. So I plugged them into Kim's rectangle to see how many parts I should add of each to equal the same amount of protein as just plain peas.

I take no credit for these recipes! I tweaked the ones I found on internet and don't depend on my protein calculations or that I know what I'm doing. I'm learning just like all the newbies at mixing feed!

1st recipe:
17% protein:
18 parts corn
9 parts oats
54 parts hard red wheat (I use a rice cooker scoop but you can use any scoop)
9 parts wheat bran
27 parts millet
1 1/2 parts peanuts
6 parts black oil sunflower seeds (for chicks I get the hulled which changes the protein % but I don't worry about it)
7 1/2 parts split peas [or 6 p. oats and 12 p. pumpkin seeds using Kim's rectangle- of that oats/pumpkin seeds (25% protein) mix take 7 1/2 parts]
1/2 part DE (the bag says use no more than 2% of the total feed and I kind of ignore this because I sprinkle it on top every day)
1/2 part kelp meal (I'm probably using too much, and ON says this contains salt)
sea salt free choice
oyster shell free choice (they peck at it even though they aren't laying yet)
grit free choice

2nd recipe:
17% protein:
Alfalfa meal 27 parts (I have a bucket that I know where the level is on it for 27 parts; no scooping here!)
rolled oats 10 parts
hard red wheat 108 parts
millet 54 parts
sunflower seeds 27 parts
pumpkin seeds 27 parts
organic corn 27 parts
DE
kelp meal
sea salt, oyster shell, grit free choice

Here are protein percentages I found on internet at a lot of different websites for various foods. Again, please research it yourself too to verify these. I take no responsibility for the accuracy of them:

safflower seeds (I throw these in too sometimes): possible 15% - I guess I didn't trust the website
millet 11%
hard red wheat (soft white wheat is 12%): 14%
scratch grains 10%
oats 13.1%
peanuts 25%
peas 24.5%
sesame seeds 19%
lentils 30% (I started worrying about anti-trypsin with these and I don't know if they are good)
pumpkin seeds 31%
corn 7%
wheat bran 17%
sunflower seeds: nondehulled 28% and dehulled 42%
alfalfa meal 17%
need 1% kelp
need 1% salt

Again- I'm using info from a lot of internet pages ?I don't even remember the ones or I would post a link. I just googled them.

I just read through the other responses. It seems everyone recommends not ignoring legumes! Sounds good.

Thanks ChickensAreSweet~~!

Thats alot of typing and information you provided..

Would you agree that making your own feed almost needs to be a "hobby"..? All the time and energy that goes into it..
It is worth it for me.. My eggs are great, birds are healthy, heck scraping the poop board in the AM is not bad job either...

Oh, following you I started to add a little ground up peanuts to my dry complete mix. It seems to increase feed consumption.. They really like the taste!
Thanks for that idea.

ON

Where can I find pumpkin seeds? Last year I planted pumpkins on the recommended date online and had some very pretty pumpkins vines and pumpkins. This year I missed the date and nothing I plan to find the date I planted in 2009 and do same in 2011!

Where do you find peas...are they ground or do you feed whole dried peas?

I saw one post that said BOSS was not a great item to feed your flock. I've been feeding for some time and would like to think that their feathers look good due to the BOSS...am I right or wrong?

I'm no scientist so I come here to try to learn what is best for my flock but what I find is confusing to my old brain!

Currently feeding Purina Layena pellets mixed with BOSS and Gamebird/Turkey Feed (to get them to eat the pellets).

When I can manage to buy Alfalfa pellets or meal, I will be adding since mine do not free range.

Currently have mealworms in chick starter feed and they seem to be doing good. Also working on Black Soldier Fly Larvae...not so sure about these.

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Chartssss34, do you grow your own sunflower seeds?