Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[WPFarmstead]

i only put less than 10 percent flax in the mixture I give.....
   as for chia it will be a very tiny amount.
Plus as to the veggies they only get a little.
and thids thread is about homemade feed  not bagged commercial soy loaded stuff. thanks all

Yes, I realize that, but if the eggs are soft shelled, you have an issue with the fees or with the bird. For me, it would be worth finding out which is the issue, as if it's the feed you can change your formula and improve it an ditch the bagged stuff altogether. If it's the bird, you can either cull or just deal with it until the bird passes on its own.

I personally much prefer homemade feed, but even when I do buy commercial feed, I do not buy soy or gmo laden feed as we sell our eggs based on that label. We feed our birds the best stuff possible, because that passes into the meat and down to the egg, which is not just better for me to eat, but also better for when we hatch chicks as better nourished chicks thrive much better from the start.

What I said was not intended to be offensive, I was merely commenting on how I would work out the issue if it occurred in my own flock. I have over 75 chickens and ducks and can count on one hand the number of soft-shelled or thin shelled eggs I've gotten in the last 6 months.

 

[balloonflower]

My chooks love chia seeds, either mixed in or sprinkled on top of their ff. They also loved chia sprouts when I grew those for them.

 

[chickengr]

yeah I give that but still getting everyday mostly one or two shells or soft shelled eggs.....
they mostly get their Naure Best organic layer feed...
plus all the bugs etc they find.....
usually in eving sunflower seeds too....

viruses like IB, ILT, etc can cause soft shells. very young or old hens can lay soft shelled eggs as well. I have noticed that my 2 yo red sex link lay some funny eggs. I don't know if it is their age, heat or molting.

 

[WPFarmstead]

Can anyone beat $6.99/lb for nutritional yeast? I'd be willing and able to buy bulk, too.

 

[ladyearth]

where can you get for $6.99 a lb ?
I got some on sale a while back via the net It is 22 oz oatmeal sized round cardboard container.Kal brand
I use it in my scrambled eggs everydayplus tumeric and black pepper for myself
I put some in the chickens occ dry grains and grasses mix,too

 

[WPFarmstead]

where can you get for $6.99 a lb ? 
I got some on sale a while back via the net It is 22 oz oatmeal sized round cardboard container.Kal brand
I use it in my scrambled eggs everydayplus tumeric and black pepper for myself
  I put some in the chickens occ dry grains and grasses mix,too

One of my local yuppy stores sells it for $6.99. I think the name is Natural Grocers. I have one more yuppy shop to visit and check prices on their nutritional yeast. There was one place online that was cheaper per pound, but shipping was atrocious.

 

[farmer jon1]

I'm apologize in advance I am new here. This may get a little long and a tic off topic. I started reading this a from the beginning a few days ago. While drinking my morning coffee before work. I only got half way through and had to skip to the end. I am in the western part of the mid west bordering on the great plains. I don't have access to many of the things some of you are feeding. Like kelp. I don't even know what that is. Then I read someone say they will go to the beach and get some. Well that's out for me. Some of you have 10+ ingredients in your formula. That is out for me too. I follow the KISS formula. Keep it simple stupid. I do not believe some of the things being said. Someone said corn is cheap filler. Soy is bad. Stay away from GMO. FYI if you eat pork. You are eating a heck of a lot of soy. When we raised hogs 1/4 of our feeder pigs ration was high pro soy bean meal and all the corn is GMO.

Now that I have that out of the way the reason I am here.

I have found a recipe that i am going to try. I have everything already except one. I cannot get. nobody in my area grows it.

1 part cracked corn
1 part regular ole wheat. any kind just wheat
1 part milo
2 1/12 parts hi pro soybean meal

I have everything but the milo. can I substitute BOSS for the milo?

I grow and grind my own corn. I get wheat from the neighbor. I get the SBM from the feed mill in town. I can order BOSS for abut $20 a big bag from the feed mill. I read about 30 pages back that layers should not get BOSS. I dont know anything aobut sunflower seeds so the reason for my question.

The ration I am currently feeding is 150 lbs of Purina brand layer pre mix and 350 lbs of corn. The pre mix cost me around $70 Corn was basically free. Im almost out of it so I need to get my new rations figured out pretty soon.

The reason I want to change is I got some scratch grains and they went nuts for it. So I figure why not give them a variety every day instead of just ground corn with some powder in it. they free range every day but winter is coming soon and there wont be anything to free range on except snow.

 

[WPFarmstead]

I'm apologize in advance I am new here. This may get a little long and a tic off topic. I started reading this a from the beginning a few days ago. While drinking my morning coffee before work.  I only got half way through and had to skip to the end. I am in the western part of the mid west bordering on the great plains. I don't have access to many of the things some of you are feeding. Like kelp. I don't even know what that is. Then I read someone say they will go to the beach and get some. Well that's out for me. Some of you have 10+ ingredients in your formula. That is out for me too. I follow the KISS formula. Keep it simple stupid. I do not believe some of the things being said. Someone said corn is cheap filler. Soy is bad. Stay away from GMO. FYI if you eat pork. You are eating a heck of a lot of soy. When we raised hogs 1/4 of our feeder pigs ration was high pro soy bean meal and all the corn is GMO.

Now that I have that out of the way the reason I am here.

I have found a recipe that i am going to try. I have everything already except one. I cannot get. nobody in my area grows it.

1 part cracked corn
1 part regular ole wheat. any kind just wheat
1 part milo
2 1/12 parts hi pro soybean meal

I have everything but the milo. can I substitute BOSS for the milo?

I grow and grind my own corn. I get wheat from the neighbor. I get the SBM from the feed mill in town. I can order BOSS for abut $20 a big bag from the feed mill. I read about 30 pages back that layers should not get BOSS. I dont know anything aobut sunflower seeds so the reason for my question.

The ration I am currently feeding is 150 lbs of Purina brand layer pre mix and 350 lbs of corn. The pre mix cost me around $70 Corn was basically free. Im almost out of it so I need to get my new rations figured out pretty soon.

The reason I want to change is I got some scratch grains and they went nuts for it. So I figure why not give them a variety every day instead of just ground corn with some powder in it. they free range every day but winter is coming soon and there wont be anything to free range on except snow.

Is this your sole feed or to mix in with the layer feed? If it's going to be the sole ration, you'll need to add some vitamins and minerals to the mix. That's where the kelp comes in. Kelp is high in many nutrients and low in salt if processed correctly. I order mine through Amazon, but I can also buy it through a few other places online and have it shipped here. Birds need about .5% salt, too. And B vitamins which are not in very good concentrations in kelp, so you'll have to supplement that, too. Plus, you'll have to provide calcium in one form or another if you aren't giving a layer feed.

 

[farmer jon1]

I was going to get a flock block to put out during the winter.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/purina-flock-block-sunfresh-recipe-25-lb

 

[farmer jon1]

I was going to get a flock block for the winter. From Tractor supply. If you don't know what that is you will have to google it. I tried to post a link but it wouldn't let me. Sorry
I didn't know I couldn't do that.