Can I get feedback on this homemade feed recipe?

[SunnyFeathers]

I know that it is easier to get the proper balance of nutrients using commercial layer pellets, but my husband and I grow most of our own organic table vegetables, and we have been itching to get into mixing our own chicken feed.

We have been growing our own chickens (and occasionally ducks) since 2007, as well as supplying 4 month old pullets in a timely manner to several local Farmer’s Market egg sellers. We supply our henhouses with 14 hours of light year round and have a both heat panel and heated waterers in every house, so that it never gets excessively cold (under 40 degrees) in their sleeping quarters. We know the difference between slow down of egg production due to inadequate light levels, molting, or winter cold.

So when our birds quit laying in December, we knew it was not a normal situation. We finally got them back to laying by making up a crude homemade mix of corn, oats, BOSS, split peas and kelp meal. Things we already had hanging around the farm.

We know that is inadequate for the long term. We just wanted something quick, until we could come up with a better recipe. And get all its ingredients together.


Thanks to Spaceylocust and U-Stormcrow on another thread, we have come up with a recipe that we think will work.

We would like your feedback or suggestions for possible improvement of the recipe.

But we respectfully ask that you do not get in here just to say you think we would do better using commercial feed.

Maybe we would, maybe we would not.

But either way, after several months of few or no eggs, we want to try our hand at making our own. We surely cannot do worse than the commercial feed we have been buying.

So, here is the recipe. If you have suggestions for improving it, or other insights to offer about what we might encounter, please share. We are listening.


The recipe:

Alfalfa meal (1 part)
Fish meal (1 part)
Flax seed (1/2 part)
Hard Wheat (4 parts)
Kelp meal (1/2 part)
Lentils (2 parts)
Oats (1 part) - probably crimped, but that is still up for debate
Split Peas (2 parts)
AND finally,

Adding in the manufacturer’s recommended amount of an all-in-one pre-mix (vitamins, minerals, probiotics and digestive enzymes) from Advanced Biological Concepts. (This is similar to Fertrell’s Nutri-balancer, except that it has some digestive enzymes that are supposed to make the feed mix easier for chickens to digest.)


In addition, we will offer both oyster shell and granite based grit as free choice 24/7, and DE from time to time, as needed.


Our thought is to ferment the seeds and grains over a period of about 3 days, and then mix in the dry powder based components completely, (that is, the fisn meal, alfalfa meal and pre-mix meal) to coat the wet mix right immediately before serving.

This way, the dry powders wlii coat the wet, fermented mix, and hopefully they will be eating a well mixed grub, and not just picking out the ingredients they prefer.

So, what dou all think about the recipe?

 

[Perris]

Sounds good to me. Even better if you can also let them out onto pasture or into woodland for some time, some fresh air, some forage and some sunshine when the weather suits.

 

[Sally PB]

The proof might be how your own flock does. Keep records of how well they lay, how much they weigh at butcher, take some pictures of the dressed out birds to show how healthy the organs are, any illnesses, etc.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I know that it is easier to get the proper balance of nutrients using commercial layer pellets, but my husband and I grow most of our own organic table vegetables, and we have been itching to get into mixing our own chicken feed.

We have been growing our own chickens (and occasionally ducks) since 2007, as well as supplying 4 month old pullets in a timely manner to several local Farmer’s Market egg sellers. We supply our henhouses with 14 hours of light year round and have a both heat panel and heated waterers in every house, so that it never gets excessively cold (under 40 degrees) in their sleeping quarters. We know the difference between slow down of egg production due to inadequate light levels, molting, or winter cold.

So when our birds quit laying in December, we knew it was not a normal situation. We finally got them back to laying by making up a crude homemade mix of corn, oats, BOSS, split peas and kelp meal. Things we already had hanging around the farm.

We know that is inadequate for the long term. We just wanted something quick, until we could come up with a better recipe. And get all its ingredients together.


Thanks to Spaceylocust and U-Stormcrow on another thread, we have come up with a recipe that we think will work.

We would like your feedback or suggestions for possible improvement of the recipe.

But we respectfully ask that you do not get in here just to say you think we would do better using commercial feed.

Maybe we would, maybe we would not.

But either way, after several months of few or no eggs, we want to try our hand at making our own. We surely cannot do worse than the commercial feed we have been buying.

So, here is the recipe. If you have suggestions for improving it, or other insights to offer about what we might encounter, please share. We are listening.


The recipe:

Alfalfa meal (1 part)
Fish meal (1 part)
Flax seed (1/2 part)
Hard Wheat (4 parts)
Kelp meal (1/2 part)
Lentils (2 parts)
Oats (1 part) - probably crimped, but that is still up for debate
Split Peas (2 parts)
AND finally,

Adding in the manufacturer’s recommended amount of an all-in-one pre-mix (vitamins, minerals, probiotics and digestive enzymes) from Advanced Biological Concepts. (This is similar to Fertrell’s Nutri-balancer, except that it has some digestive enzymes that are supposed to make the feed mix easier for chickens to digest.)


In addition, we will offer both oyster shell and granite based grit as free choice 24/7, and DE from time to time, as needed.


Our thought is to ferment the seeds and grains over a period of about 3 days, and then mix in the dry powder based components completely, (that is, the fisn meal, alfalfa meal and pre-mix meal) to coat the wet mix right immediately before serving.

This way, the dry powders wlii coat the wet, fermented mix, and hopefully they will be eating a well mixed grub, and not just picking out the ingredients they prefer.

So, what dou all think about the recipe?

If you @ me, like hey @U_Stormcrow can you take a peek at this? I'll run it thru my calculator in the AM. Which kelp meal are you using, there's some variation there. Same with the fish meal.

Also, there are no "half" parts. That's:

Alfalfa meal (2 part)
Fish meal (2 part)
Flax seed (1 part)
Hard Wheat (8 parts)
Kelp meal (1 part)
Lentils (4 parts)
Oats (2 part) - probably crimped, but that is still up for debate
Split Peas (4 parts)
AND finally,

Balancer (per Mfg)

Now I can read the recipe.

 

[SunnyFeathers]

@U_Stormcrow , can you run this mix through your calculator when you have the time to do it, and see how this stacks up?

BTW, I do not know what kind of fish meal that the local feed store has special ordered for me. It is suppose to arrive there next Friday.

The kelp meal is some that I originally bought for the soil for my vegetable garden.

The premix is the all-in-one complete mix of vitamins, minerals, probiotics and digestive enzymes sold by Advanced Biologic Systems.


Both me and my chickens would appreciate this very much.

 

[SunnyFeathers]

What state are you in? And, how much are they charging you for fish meal? Thank you very much.

Tennessee.

The fish meal is the most expensive ingredient - $74.95 plus tax, for 50 pounds

 

[U_Stormcrow]

If you @ me, like hey @U_Stormcrow can you take a peek at this? I'll run it thru my calculator in the AM. Which kelp meal are you using, there's some variation there. Same with the fish meal.

Also, there are no "half" parts. That's:

Alfalfa meal (2 part)
Fish meal (2 part)
Flax seed (1 part)
Hard Wheat (8 parts)
Kelp meal (1 part)
Lentils (4 parts)
Oats (2 part) - probably crimped, but that is still up for debate
Split Peas (4 parts)
AND finally,

Balancer (per Mfg)

Now I can read the recipe.

Answer:
( I used Fertrell's Fish Meal for those numbers, its readily available and has a good label in terms of its nutritional breakdown. I also used a lower protein kelp meal, there's significant variation in that, I assume you are including primarily for micronutrients. Finally, I used whole oats (not naked/dehulled - again, lower total protein)

and???

Its good. After correcting for (assumed) water content, you should be just shy 20% protein, around 6.0-6.5% fiber, about 3.5% fat. Met 0.31, Lys 1.1, Thre 0.7, Tryp 0.21. All acceptable. I can't compute the MKe (MJ/Kg) I don't have numbers for some of the ingredients, but I expect it will come in at the right range. If you wanted to save a few dollars, you could drop the flaxseed (I know its expensive) and have virtually no change (a little less fat, a little less MKe overall). DO stick with the hard wheat, it makes almost a 2% difference in final protein, and roughly a 10% difference in most of the AAs - the price difference between the two shouldn't be horrid.

 

[SunnyFeathers]

They prefer the corn and BOSS, that is for sure.

But they do get around to eating the split peas. Soaking them for about 10 minutes helps.

Their tendency to eat some ingredients of over others is what first alerted us to the problem that just mixing ingredients was not enough.

The girls are picky eaters, as it turns out. And no recipe will be balanced unless you can either ground the grains into a course mix, or wet them down enough that the little fuss budgets can’t toss out the lesser desirable ingredients.

So, we intend on fermenting the grains and seeds. That should make the food more digestable. Dusting the fermented food with the powdery protein meals should help evenly distribute the protein and the carbs.

We have not put the entire system into place yet. Right now, we are putting in the first of our spring garden (romaine lettuce, broccoli, greens and cabbage) in two of our raised beds (under row cover, of course, as we are in Zone 7 and we still have many cold nights ahead of us.)

That is taking alot of our time. As also is readying all the other soil beds for planting later. We do not till, nor use any commercial products in our garden beds. Everything is low tech, and involves some labor on our part. The only fertilizers we use is dirt that we dig from our henhouse floors once a year, and compost from a special area in our main chicken yard.

But the rest of our garden soils are almost completely prepared for spring now, and so as soon as that project is finished, I will try my hand at fermenting.

Then in the next week to 10 days, I should have all my ingredients, and I will convert the chickens over to the new, fermented mix at that time.

 

[SunnyFeathers]

@U_Stormcrow,

Is there any difference between hard red wheat and hard white wheat?

I happen to have some buckets of hard white wheat already on hand, from the year 1999, and I KNOW it has no contamination from vomitoxin or other contaminants that have been sneaking into some of the recently harvested wheat.

I can get hard red wheat, if it makes a difference, but I am wondering if it might actually be safer to use up all those buckets of wheat. They were specially packaged by Walton Feeds (or Montana’s Best, not sure which) for very long term storage, have been stored indoors over all these years, and the seal has never been broken.

. So their age is not a problem, and might even be an advantage, I would think.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Use it up. It's not getting any fresher.