homemade feed?

It seems to me that if you're going to have to buy the ingredients to mix your own chicken feed that you are not gaining anything.  Just buy the premixed stuff from your feed dealer.   If you happen to raise corn and wheat and sorghum, etc. then you might want a recipie to mix your own mash. but otherwise it's pointless.

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by detali 

It seems to me that if you're going to have to buy the ingredients to mix your own chicken feed that you are not gaining anything.  Just buy the premixed stuff from your feed dealer.   If you happen to raise corn and wheat and sorghum, etc. then you might want a recipie to mix your own mash. but otherwise it's pointless.

It's not pointless.  Once grains are milled, they oxidize and go rancid very quickly.  Grinding them in small batches, as needed, solves this problem.  Also, for those who are eating the eggs and meat of the poultry they raise and wish to avoid soy, it's almost a necessity as--at least in my experience and in my area--it is impossible to find feed that does not contain it.

What is you main reason for avoiding Soybean?

Chris

I make it with wheat, corn, peas, sunflower (all four ingredients are sprouted first), soy meal (non GMO here at the moment, but I'll stop using it when it changes), alfalfa, soured milk, shell grit, seaweed and a tiny bit extra salt. The layers don't get much soured milk but they do get good quality free range.

This isn't a money saving exercise. My costs are about the same as for a formulated ration for layers, more for chicks (the milk is expensive) but they birds are in better condition than any I've ever raised on commercial feed, the chicks have grown faster, and best of all they're not plumped up full of artificial methionine (made from petrochemicals) which is one of the protein builders in commercial food.

Good on you for avoiding soy. When it becomes GM here, if I can't get meat meal and bulk skim milk powder I'll stop raising chickens and start with lamb, which have a wonderful thing call the rumen that can make magic out of grass.

Erica

I avoid it for health reasons.  Unless it has been fermented, as in soy sauce and miso, it's not good for you.  Here's an article out of Oregon State University:

smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/su10soypoultry

And here is an article from one of my very favorite real food blogs that lays it all out:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/dangers-of-soy/
 

If it's the Phytoestrogen (plant based Estrogen) that is keeping you from using soybean then I would say that there are going to be a lot of grains and foods that you will be cutting out. 

Chris

Yeah, I don't do flax.  Then you see that soy-based items are next on the list, then bread.  Store-bought whole grain bread contains flax and soybean oil.  I don't buy it.  I make my own (sprouted/soaked) bread.  The numbers drop significantly after that.  I don't do mung bean or alfalfa sprouts either.  Garlic and hummus is eaten in small enough quantities to be okay.  The rest of the items on your list are low enough to be okay, too.  And no, it's not JUST the phytoestrogens that are a concern with soy.  But I thank you for your concern.