Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

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I shouldn't have used the word runt. This was the smallest and at 8 wks would still stand and walk around. She weighed 7lbs at 8 wks. the rest of the batch weighed 8 to 9 lbs. The plan is to breed with my white rocks and then line breed and keep the heaviest at 12 wks. My rocks are on average 3 to 3.5lbs and don't really gain much after that in 2 more months. 6 to 7 lbs birds in 5 months is unacceptable. She won't lay for 2 more months. The runts are caused by mixing lines. The first generation mix F1 will have large birds and small birds. Keeping the best, the F2 and F3's, will all be same weights and size on average. What should happen here is that the line will be larger and heavier. Alot of chickens come from hatcheries and the bred for eggs. Cookie cutter chickens for your backyard. All the chickens look alike but their ccolors. There is no replacement for the Cornish. If you eat chicken, you eat Cornish.
 
tobystevensonjr said:
I shouldn't have used the word runt. This was the smallest and at 8 wks would still stand and walk around. She weighed 7lbs at 8 wks. the rest of the batch weighed 8 to 9 lbs. The plan is to breed with my white rocks and then line breed and keep the heaviest at 12 wks. My rocks are on average 3 to 3.5lbs and don't really gain much after that in 2 more months. 6 to 7 lbs birds in 5 months is unacceptable. She won't lay for 2 more months. The runts are caused by mixing lines. The first generation mix F1 will have large birds and small birds. Keeping the best, the F2 and F3's, will all be same weights and size on average. What should happen here is that the line will be larger and heavier. Alot of chickens come from hatcheries and the bred for eggs. Cookie cutter chickens for your backyard. All the chickens look alike but their ccolors. There is no replacement for the Cornish. If you eat chicken, you eat Cornish.
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good, she is not a runt. many people nowdays breed cornish with the other breeds in order to get meatier birds.

the cornish breed is american. I wonder if in europe they kept them pure or mixed them with the local breeds. maybe they are pure cornish as those white meat birds cannot survive the heat. people here call them meat birds, no other name. I saw the name cornish in byc posts for the first time in my life.
 
I haven't payed attention to the name. I call them Cornish because I also raise Bresse chickens. But if someone said meat bird, I would know what they meant.
I have noticed that when feeding a homemade mix that if you don't grind it the soybean meal is the last thing they eat. The more dominant birds will eat the better in the mix and leave the bottom of the pecking order the rest.
Most grains that are not produced local are all over 75¢ to $1 per lb. for me to ship in. I makes my chicken feed and hog feed almost the same mix. I buy a bag of additives for the hog mix and leave out the salt, calcium, and bonemeal.
It's all about what you have, not what you wish you had. I found that layers spend more time in the manure pile eating than in front of the feeder. In turn, chickens raised in cages will not eat unless it's feed.
My mother raises rescued commercial Leghorns. They are usually in molt when she gets them, close to death. It takes them about 3 wks and you would never know they spent the first 18 months of their life in a cage.
 
I don't know how much the water bill is, but IV been doing a "chicken garden" consisting of green bell pepper, watermelon, yellow squash, carrot, and next year cauliflower. I am also going to include a daily scratch consisting of omega egg layer, mealworms, adult beetles, plain uncooked oatmeal, and added oyster shell powdered and crumbled. They will also be allowed to forage on our 2-3 acres in a portable pen, we have multiple different types of weeds, lots of grasshoppers and June bugs, and dry leaves to scratch in to find other bugs to eat. I think the most expensive part will be potatoes for mealworms, and the commercial feed, which can range from 5-20 dollars for 10-20lb bags. It all depends on what brand and type of feed you get.
 
Athena2344 said:
I don't know how much the water bill is, but IV been doing a "chicken garden" consisting of green bell pepper, watermelon, yellow squash, carrot, and next year cauliflower. I am also going to include a daily scratch consisting of omega egg layer, mealworms, adult beetles, plain uncooked oatmeal, and added oyster shell powdered and crumbled. They will also be allowed to forage on our 2-3 acres in a portable pen, we have multiple different types of weeds, lots of grasshoppers and June bugs, and dry leaves to scratch in to find other bugs to eat. I think the most expensive part will be potatoes for mealworms, and the commercial feed, which can range from 5-20 dollars for 10-20lb bags. It all depends on what brand and type of feed you get.
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I don't know if I could grow 2 gardens. But if I had the time, I think that's a good idea. Wouldn't take long for the chickens I have to destroy a garden.
 
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tobystevensonjr said:
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I don't know if I could grow 2 gardens. But if I had the time, I think that's a good idea. Wouldn't take long for the chickens I have to destroy a garden.[/quoterde

Even though my garden isn't fenced in, my chickens don't attack it just because they aren't allowed to free-range, but they are allowed to forage in a portable pen around our yard.
My garden is right up against the backside of our house, and I water it everyday in the evenings. I will play with them individually and take them out on walks and to play on a couple of swings, but I make sure to never take them by the garden.

If you are having issues maybe set up a garden just for them, or fence it in. Just a suggestion :)
 
here is what I do in winter: I plant some silverbeet and swiss chard and forget about it. it grows like a weed, you just need to pick it up regularly so that it does not flower strait away. when the seeds fall down they sprout and new plants grow. those are not market quality but good for chickens.
 
My mother's chickens are at my brother's farm. She lives in town and ever morning she has a problem getting out of her truck because the hens wait at the end if the driveway for her. Ever try getting out your truck with 40 chickens at your feet. Lol
 

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