Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[ShanandGem]

How do you prepare your soy? I feed mine some during the winter, but it is very inconvenient. I boil it in large batches and then freeze it and then dole it out. If I could dry it after boiling it, it would be much easier to use

I don't prepare it at all, I just buy soybean meal in big bags from the feed store. Soy is heat treated during the production of soybean meal to destroy the protein inhibitors.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

How do you prepare your soy? I feed mine some during the winter, but it is very inconvenient. I boil it in large batches and then freeze it and then dole it out. If I could dry it after boiling it, it would be much easier to use

I don't prepare it at all, I just buy soybean meal in big bags from the feed store.  Soy is heat treated during the production of soybean meal to destroy the protein inhibitors.

I see, I get raw soybeans from my DH. It is great protein, but it is a lot of work

 

[ShanandGem]

I see, I get raw soybeans from my DH. It is great protein, but it is a lot of work

I wonder if you could bake them in the oven until they were dry, and then grind them in a blender?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I see, I get raw soybeans from my DH. It is great protein, but it is a lot of work

I wonder  if you could bake them in the oven until they were dry, and then grind them in a blender?

Not a bad idea, I might have to try it

 

[chickengr]

Soy is a great source of protein but it is full of estrogen. Many people don't like to feed their animals hormones. Though it's true it causes the bird to reach maturity faster, it also causes early death. They used soy for many years in Hawaii to feed to parrots because it caused them to mature faster and they could sell them younger. However, years later, they discovered that they died much younger and had premature brain shrinkage (discovered with autopsies).

the only soy I can get here is GMO, so I don't feed my chickens it.

I have always fed my chickens their shells back, just as they are. I have never had a chicken break their eggs to eat them. I suspect that what trains them to eat their own eggs isn't feeding them their shells raw, but rather leaving so many eggs in the nest box that they break. I collect them regularly, worst case every other day, but I have a friend who goes a week before she gets to collecting them sometimes. Her eggs break in the boxes and her chickens have learned to eat them. In 25 years of having chickens and feeding them their shells, I have never had a chicken who learns to eat their eggs.

I agree. my chickens eat raw egg shells every day and the only eggs they eat are the broken ones or shell less. if they get enough calcium in their diet they will not bother with the eggs.

 

[MultipleAnimals]

I Am Commenting On This Thread That Way When I Get A Chance I Can Go Through All The Recipes And Find Out What Works Best For My Chickens. Also Where Do You Get Oyster Shell In/Or Around Canyon Lake Texas for Cheap?

 

[MeepBeep]

Also Where Do You Get Oyster Shell In/Or Around Canyon Lake Texas for Cheap?

Any farm supply or feed store should carry oysters shells and for the amount you use they are cheap... You can also substitute crushed limestone if that is easier to find, many landscape supply stores will have it for laying down a brick bed, but make sure it's all limestone some brick laying bed mixes are just crushed misc rocks and sand not limestone... Or you can usually get crushed limestone at a gravel pit or quarry for dirt cheap by the ton...

 

[MultipleAnimals]

Any farm supply or feed store should carry oysters shells and for the amount you use they are cheap... You can also substitute crushed limestone if that is easier to find, many landscape supply stores will have it for laying down a brick bed, but make sure it's all limestone some brick laying bed mixes are just crushed misc rocks and sand not limestone... Or you can usually get crushed limestone at a gravel pit or quarry for dirt cheap by the ton...

Thank You.

 

[Kimberly4403]

I created this recipe with the help of some people from this forum which im currently using on my 3x 2 week old wyandotte chicks they love it. Im also going to ferment it for extra nutrition.

7 cups oats
5 cups wheat
3 cups red split lentils
1 cup BOSS or hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup flax seed
2tbs molasses
1/4 cup kelp
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (has a higher B vitamins then brewers yeast)
Cod liver oil (provides vit A and D)

 

[MultipleAnimals]

I Have Another Question About Grit and/Oyster Shell. Could you use Seashells as Calcium or Grit Or Both?