Inexpensive ways to raise protein level in feed?

[Al Gerhart]

No need to dry fish, freeze till you need it. Just serve it raw in small quantities. Lots of local trash fish available.

Do you have a source of natural duck weed or water hyacinth? Ponds or rivers usually have some during the right time of year and it can be raised at home.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

The local feed and farm stores nearby are lousy. And I noticed feed price at the stores are going up. There's a place that has feed with good quality ingredients with 16.5% protein but I need something with around 20%. A 50lb bags cost $20 any idea what I could add to boost it and how to calculate that? It would have to be something I could order online or something because I doubt a local store would have it.

you can order crickets and mealworms on amazon. they are food grade, so sometimes me and my birds have a lil snack.

 

[Sally PB]

From the beginning of July through the middle of September, I can gather Japanese Beetles for free. If I wanted to spend a LOT more time doing this, I might make a tiny dent in how much feed my chickens eat. I can freeze them for off-season use. (Yes, hubby approved of me putting bags of bugs in the freezer! That surprised me.)

One of my hens will not eat JBs. The rest go crazy for them, she looks on in disdain.

 

[NatJ]

The local feed and farm stores nearby are lousy. And I noticed feed price at the stores are going up. There's a place that has feed with good quality ingredients with 16.5% protein but I need something with around 20%. A 50lb bags cost $20 any idea what I could add to boost it and how to calculate that? It would have to be something I could order online or something because I doubt a local store would have it.

You could ask about turkey starter or gamebird starter. They usually have a higher protein (over 20%) but are otherwise pretty similar to chicken food nutritionally, and they often cost about the same as the chicken feeds do.

If you find a feed with 24% protein and a feed with 16% protein, then mix equal quantities, you have a feed with 20% protein. (This works with complete feeds. If you try to do it with something like a 24% protein dog food, the protein would still work out to the right number, but some of the other nutrients will be wrong for chickens.)

 

[saysfaa]

From the beginning of July through the middle of September, I can gather Japanese Beetles for free...

Out of self interest because I feed a lot of them too, have you found a nutritional profile for adult japanese beetles? I'm surprised at how much insects vary from species to species.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Out of self interest because I feed a lot of them too, have you found a nutritional profile for adult japanese beetles? I'm surprised at how much insects vary from species to species.

Fellow posters, please don't @ me this time.

Answer is No. Only one study I am aware of which partially addresses the A A profile of the larvae stage. None on the nutritional profile of the adults. It does not appear to be well studied, as deliberately growing an invasive as potential feed material is no longer looked upon with the same eagerness and enthusiasm as, say, importing kudzu....

 

[saysfaa]

Oh, good gracious - never deliberately grow japanese beetles (well, unless, maybe, you live in Japan where they are, presumably, not invasive.)

Just to clarify, I am battling japanese beetles every way I can. With some success in my yard. They are still available by the hundreds per foot of plants on friends' and neighbors' properties. And roadside plants although that has too much risk of unknown contaminants for my comfort.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Oh, good gracious - never deliberately grow japanese beetles (well, unless, maybe, you live in Japan where they are, presumably, not invasive.)

Just to clarify, I am battling japanese beetles every way I can. With some success in my yard. They are still available by the hundreds per foot of plants on friends' and neighbors' properties. And roadside plants although that has too much risk of unknown contaminants for my comfort.

No reason I can find not to let your chickens graze on them, just cant reliably predict the impact on their diet. Their AA profile *should* be good. It is for insects generally. They may be moderately high in fat (as insects are generally), but they are mostly water when live, which should buffer those effects, and only seasonally available - another buffer.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

@saysfaa This thread might help? It deals with using Japanese Beetle lures to give the chickens access to the bugs.

 

[Mid Wales chicken keeper]

The local feed and farm stores nearby are lousy. And I noticed feed price at the stores are going up. There's a place that has feed with good quality ingredients with 16.5% protein but I need something with around 20%. A 50lb bags cost $20 any idea what I could add to boost it and how to calculate that? It would have to be something I could order online or something because I doubt a local store would have it.