Homemade feed questions?

[ChickenCanoe]

That's my point. A person with a few chickens is buying 50 pound bags of grain at best. The feed company is buying by the trainload and micro nutrients by the ton.

Furthermore, an appropriate balance of amino acids is essential. That requires animal protein or a good understanding of the proper mix of grains and legumes to get all the amino acids that are essential to chickens.

Grains and Legumes won't have micro-nutrients like selenium and copper or vitamins like K, D3, etc.. There may be the possibility of getting a general supplement with those things. Some vitamins are water soluble and some are fat soluble which is another mixing and preservation issue.

Fat and salt levels are important considerations as well.

If one is just mixing grains and seeds, it won't be long before there are nutritional deficiencies unless their chickens have year round access to pristine pasture with lots of bugs and other animal protein sources.

ETA
If one searches hard enough, they can find an organic complete feed at a cost less than they can mix themselves and without the hassle.
I use an organic 16% grower as my base feed for all birds. It's under $22 for a 50 lb. bag. It took me a long time to find it. For chicks and molting birds, I add fishmeal to up the protein. A 10:1 ratio gives me 20% protein.

 

[Chris09]

That's my point. A person with a few chickens is buying 50 pound bags of grain at best. The feed company is buying by the trainload and micro nutrients by the ton.

Furthermore, an appropriate balance of amino acids is essential. That requires animal protein or a good understanding of the proper mix of grains and legumes to get all the amino acids that are essential to chickens.

Grains and Legumes won't have micro-nutrients like selenium and copper or vitamins like K, D3, etc.. There may be the possibility of getting a general supplement with those things. Some vitamins are water soluble and some are fat soluble which is another mixing and preservation issue.

Fat and salt levels are important considerations as well.

If one is just mixing grains and seeds, it won't be long before there are nutritional deficiencies unless their chickens have year round access to pristine pasture with lots of bugs and other animal protein sources.

I agree with this post.
I will also add that people overlook the fact that chicken eat to fill there energy needs. When the energy need is met they stop eating.

Nuffsaid had said that her birds eat less of her feed than a commercial type feed, this may be true and one of the reasons may be that there feed is a high energy feed when compared to a feed that has correct energy levels. The biggest down fall with a high energy feed is that the birds don't receive all the nutrients they need per feeding.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Dogs are easy because they're primarily meat eaters. Chickens being omnivores/scavengers have a broader mix of nutritional needs.

http://feed-additives.evonik.com/pr...trition/feeding-strategies/pages/default.aspx

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/feedingchickens.pdf

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~chibale/an12poultryfeeding.pdf

 

[OldMcContri]

This is exactly why I asked this question. Even though there are tons of homemade recipes around the internet for chicken feed, there are still others that say it is not worth it and actually not nutritious enough for the chickens.

For now I am going to be buying organic feed, but will make my own sometime in the future. Funny though, if you look at alot of the organic feeds out there you will see additives of minerals and vitamins and other things. Funny I thought organic meant everything was natural and not an additive such as those added vitamins.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's not the point though. People eating junk food isn't the topic of conversation. I just find it hilarious that people are convinced nobody can figure out how to make food for a dog, cat, chicken, etc. but we are all totally fine feeding ourselves and children. Nobody makes kibble for kids, lol.

I can figure it out, it's just much cheaper for me to buy organic feed than to buy all the organic ingredients individually.

And yes, I am an omnivore and I do know how to feed myself as well.

 

[6of6chicks]

I just bought The Chicken Health Handbook a few days ago and there is a chapter on health and nutrition. Then it talks about vitamin deficiencies, and quite frankly that chapter was more frightening than the disease chapter. Even if I somehow managed to get a balanced feed, a chicken's nutritional requirements vary at different times in its life (like during molting). It just seems like it would be impossible to keep it all balanced, especially since you're dealing with an animal whose eating habits can't be controlled. I can mix my dog's food and she will clean the bowl, giving me some degree of control over her diet. But chickens? In eight weeks I've seen them eat everything they can get their little beaks on, nutritional or otherwise.

Maybe it's just because I'm new and don't have enough experience with chickens and that's why I don't get it. For those people who successfully mix their chickens' feed, could you provide a basic recipe you use for a balanced feed? Maybe that will help me understand how it's done.

I just wanted to chime in because this is exactly the sort of thing I would normally do without realizing the consequences down the road. Google homemade chicken feed, try it out - because hey, that sounds great! - and end up with sick chickens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I just bought The Chicken Health Handbook a few days ago and there is a chapter on health and nutrition. Then it talks about vitamin deficiencies, and quite frankly that chapter was more frightening than the disease chapter. Even if I somehow managed to get a balanced feed, a chicken's nutritional requirements vary at different times in its life (like during molting). It just seems like it would be impossible to keep it all balanced, especially since you're dealing with an animal whose eating habits can't be controlled. I can mix my dog's food and she will clean the bowl, giving me some degree of control over her diet. But chickens? In eight weeks I've seen them eat everything they can get their little beaks on, nutritional or otherwise.

Maybe it's just because I'm new and don't have enough experience with chickens and that's why I don't get it. For those people who successfully mix their chickens' feed, could you provide a basic recipe you use for a balanced feed? Maybe that will help me understand how it's done.

I just wanted to chime in because this is exactly the sort of thing I would normally do without realizing the consequences down the road. Google homemade chicken feed, try it out - because hey, that sounds great! - and end up with sick chickens.

IMO, you bought the best book any chicken keeper can have on their bookshelf.

If you don't mind, did you buy the version updated this year or the original edition. I personally haven't bought the new edition yet but plan to.

 

[6of6chicks]

IMO, you bought the best book any chicken keeper can have on their bookshelf.

If you don't mind, did you buy the version updated this year or the original edition. I personally haven't bought the new edition yet but plan to.

Didn't even know there were multiple editions, lol! I bought this one from amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Healt...1&sr=8-1&keywords=The+chicken+health+handbook

The copyright says 1994, so I'm guessing it's the original edition?

This is one scary book! I had no idea how much could go wrong with chickens. It's why I chimed in about mixing your own feed vs. store-bought feed. With everything that can go wrong with a chicken, why CREATE more potential problems by messing with their food? I'm not wild about highly processed stuff either, but at least I won't have to worry about my chickens getting rickets, anemia, or any of the other awful things caused by vitamin deficiencies AND overloads.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good point. The new edition came out in February or March. It may be scary but the number of problems that can affect chickens aren't isolated to chickens. Humans and most other animals can be affected by as many problems I'm astounded when someone posts a single symptom and wants to know what is wrong with their chickens.

 

[SavageDestiny]

I'm a newbie and my chicks are only 8 weeks old. However, I wanted to comment because it isn't just experienced folks reading threads like this. Newbies are reading too, and for me personally it's sometimes hard to know who to listen to.

I just bought The Chicken Health Handbook a few days ago and there is a chapter on health and nutrition. Then it talks about vitamin deficiencies, and quite frankly that chapter was more frightening than the disease chapter. Even if I somehow managed to get a balanced feed, a chicken's nutritional requirements vary at different times in its life (like during molting). It just seems like it would be impossible to keep it all balanced, especially since you're dealing with an animal whose eating habits can't be controlled. I can mix my dog's food and she will clean the bowl, giving me some degree of control over her diet. But chickens? In eight weeks I've seen them eat everything they can get their little beaks on, nutritional or otherwise.

Maybe it's just because I'm new and don't have enough experience with chickens and that's why I don't get it. For those people who successfully mix their chickens' feed, could you provide a basic recipe you use for a balanced feed? Maybe that will help me understand how it's done.

I just wanted to chime in because this is exactly the sort of thing I would normally do without realizing the consequences down the road. Google homemade chicken feed, try it out - because hey, that sounds great! - and end up with sick chickens.

My recipe is:

2 cups white wheat
2 cups barley
2 cups lentils
2 cups black oil sunflower seeds
1 cup alfalfa pellets
1 cup split peas
1 cup soft red wheat
1 cup bird seed (red and white millet plus sunflower hearts)
1 cup flax
1 cup chia

I ferment my grain mix. Whole grains are difficult to digest, fermenting makes the nutrients more available as well as provides probiotics. Plus each hen gets 1 tsp kelp, 1/2 tsp yeast, and 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper and turmeric each day. Grit and oyster shell/egg shell are offered free choice.

It's important to note that I don't consider this complete if the hens are not free ranging or supplied with variety. Chickens are omnivores and shouldn't be forced to survive on grains alone. So I provide insects, fresh greens, veg, and fruit, as well as fresh meat occasionally.