Homemade feed questions?

[K9Dave]

So everyone, my point was made by the responses in this point (even though I was not trying to get people pecking at each others comments and opinions) However, I did do a small batch of fermented feed from the grow feed I had and have to say that the girls loved their treat. It was gone pretty quickly.

When I started fermenting the chicks food I could tell how good it was by how they attacked it. Then their feathers really started to become shiny and spraying the poop off of the back porch became easier as it was a lot firmer. FF seems to be the way to go.

Oh yeh, they eat a lot less too and I don't think the wild birds liked it very much so thats good.

 

[leighnkylie]

I feed all my animals "homemade" creations. The chickens primarily live off of fodder that I grow from purchased barley seed, and sunflower seeds that I grow myself. They eat a lot of stuff from my garden too, some weeds, most of our table scraps, and any bug, worm or slug we can get our hands on. My kids occasionally will take baskets and wonder around the yard filling them with random plants, flowers or leaves to feed their hens. We don't have anything here that is toxic and I am a big believer the moderation is key when it comes to new varieties of food.

More info on Fodder here http://www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/80359/diy-home-fodder-system

Its VERY easy to grow.

 

[SavageDestiny]

I feed all my animals "homemade" creations. The chickens primarily live off of fodder that I grow from purchased barley seed, and sunflower seeds that I grow myself. They eat a lot of stuff from my garden too, some weeds, most of our table scraps, and any bug, worm or slug we can get our hands on. My kids occasionally will take baskets and wonder around the yard filling them with random plants, flowers or leaves to feed their hens. We don't have anything here that is toxic and I am a big believer the moderation is key when it comes to new varieties of food.

More info on Fodder here http://www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/80359/diy-home-fodder-system

Its VERY easy to grow.

I fed fodder all through the winter/spring but now that summer has arrived I can NOT keep it from molding! I even tried keeping it by our window AC unit and it still molded. I've just upped their green leafy veg and I'll go back to growing fodder when it cools off again.

 

[leighnkylie]

I'm in Nor Cal and mine was molding too. I moved the system into my green house, took the lids off, and switched to watering it only 2 times per day (morning and evening). So far so good! I am convinced it was the lid that was keeping too much hot moisture on them (mold loves that). My only complaint about it now is that the freakin rats lot it. I've trapped and killed 5 rats so far. Not cool!

 

[Noobie farmer]

I have found a recipe that really works and makes use of the stuff I grow for free from the garden. We have all kinds of fruit trees too. I just take 1 large cucumber, 2 large summer squash, and 1 apple, along with whatever other optional veggie scraps you may have (like I often use carrot scraps). I chop them into big cubes and liquify them in the blender with a splash of water just enough to keep the blade turning well. I pour that into a large mixing bowl and add a couple cups of wild bird seed mix (A pinch of baking yeast is optional but I use it, as well as a fist full of hardwood ash from the stove). I then add an equal amount of store bought feed by volume. I mix it well and fold it into a dough. I have a big plastic tray I dump it out on in the sun and mash it down until its about half an inch thick almost like ginger bread or something. I lay that out in the sun for 1 hour until it forms a sort of uniform consistency. I then take it and break it up into a bunch of big chucks to increase surface area and speed up drying. I continue to slightly break down the big chunks hour after hour as it dries in the sun. This leaves a nice texture the chickens love when its finally fully dry and broken into bite sized chunks. When its too wet its very soft and will crumble into powder if you try to break them up too small too fast and the chickens prefer chunks to powder. Its a big hit with them. You can do this experimenting with different kinds of veggies but this combo works well and my garden produces TONS of this kind of stuff to use.

 

[Miss Pam]

I tried the fermenting food route and my chickens ate out of curiosity at first, but then hated it. I couldn't wait till it was finished either! The thing that bothers me with the scratch is all the corn they leave behind and don't eat. It's either too large for them or they just don't like it that much and leave a lot of wasted money on my part behind.

 

[homeshow]

I make my dry feed from local obtained grains combined with Calf Manna among other things. Finding a cattle feed lot or a farm that sells bulk dry grains is essential to keeping my costs down. I make. 18% protein feed and add different things.for different usages. Chick grit and fish meal for small chicks, oyster shell for layers, and i cut the feed with ground corn to finish my fryers. This is our 4th year mixing our own feed and our 3rd year on this recipe. It costs.me less than $10.00 per 50lb. bag.

 

[K9Dave]

I make my dry feed from local obtained grains combined with Calf Manna among other things. Finding a cattle feed lot or a farm that sells bulk dry grains is essential to keeping my costs down. I make. 18% protein feed and add different things.for different usages. Chick grit and fish meal for small chicks, oyster shell for layers, and i cut the feed with ground corn to finish my fryers. This is our 4th year mixing our own feed and our 3rd year on this recipe. It costs.me less than $10.00 per 50lb. bag.

Thanks for sharing. When I have time I'm gonna look into our local market. There are Darius all to the south of me and the other day I saw a shed with maybe 3 piles of what looked like Corn and Sorghum maybe. I don't know if they sell it. How many chickens do you keep? I feed a raw diet to the dogs and am a very good, frugal shopper for that.

Thanks for the motivation to look for better. I only have 7.

 

[homeshow]

We fed out 75 freedom rangers and 15 assortwd meat ducks this spring. We keep French white muscovies and khaki campbell egg ducks. We used to keep chickens. I have decided to keep a mixed flock of buff and lavender orps starting this fall.

 

[chick n goat ma]

I make up a batch (which includes our leftover table scraps so variations on the theme does exist) and keep it refrigerated till all gone 3 to 5 days depending, I suppose, on what they scratch up for themselves whilst free ranging all day for great big palmetto bugs and sundry beetles etc. I feed them at dawn around 7.00AM, and dusk just before sunset. They certainly seem to prefer the mix over straight pellets or scratch grains. I have the time to indulge my pets (5 chickens and 3 goats) I am relatively new at chicken care ,is there anything in my recipe that one should not feed chickens? They look very healthy and are lively and very friendly. My 2 Cinnamon Queens often jump up on my lap where we cluck at each other, just being chatty

1 .5 lbs Nutrena 'layer' chicken pellets
1/2 pint mixed grains Nutrena All Grain (horse food)
1 large grated potato
2 med grated carrots
1 large finely chopped onion
1 stalk chopped celery
1 chopped green bell pepper
1/2 pint cut with scissors(about 1/2 inch lengths) grass
1/2 pint bread crumbs (from my stale bread)
6 chopped up seedless grapes
8 oz bag thawed blueberries (skins too tough for human consumption)
4 oz grated suet
6-8 oz chopped or ground chicken, suet, beef, kielbasa, ham etc