Made my own feed

Alyooo14

In the Brooder
Mar 31, 2023
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I made my own feed, the list of ingredients is below. Does any one have any suggestions of things I should add? Or proportions suggestions?
Whole corn kernels 25lbs
Whole grain soft winter wheat 25lbs
Seed mix 2lbs
Shelled hemp seeds 1.5lbs
Whole grain oats 1lb ( meant to have more of this but I ordered the wrong bag size)
Moringa leaf powder 1lb
Ground flax seed 1.5lb
Kelp powder 1lb
Split green peas 2lbs ( meant to have more of this but I ordered the wrong bag size)
Pumpkin seeds 1lb
Dried hibiscus flowers 16oz
 

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Hi @Alyooo14, I’m also putting together a recipe, it’s for quail so the protein levels might be a bit different to yours but similar ingredients maybe other than the oats and wheat which I have to avoid.
I like the idea of moringa and haven’t looked into pumpkin yet. Is there a particular reason for using the hibiscus? I like it in tea but don’t know much else about it.
These are my current recipe ideas but it’s a work in progress, methionine seems to be an important factor I hadn’t considered, cannabis seeds and seaweed contain high levels of it.

Chick starter 27.27% total protein

1 part flax (13% protein)
3 parts peas (26% protein)
1 part polenta (7.5% protein)
1 part quinoa (13.8% protein)
1 part buckwheat (9.6% protein)
1 part chia (19% protein)
1 part corn (9.4% protein)
1 part millet (11% protein)
1 part amaranth (14% protein)
1 part teff (9.6% protein)
1 part dried fish (63% protein)
2 parts soya flakes (41% protein)
1 part sunflower seeds (15% protein)
3 parts mealworms (53% protein)
1 part black soldier flies (41% protein)
3 parts cannabis seeds (32% protein)
1/2 a part in combined total of Seaweed, oregano, fine oyster shell, garlic, meridian yeast extract, raw honey, kefir grains.

Breeder mash 19.48% total protein

2 parts flax (13% protein)
2 parts peas (26% protein)
2 parts polenta (7.5% protein)
3 parts quinoa (13.8% protein)
2 parts buckwheat (9.6% protein)
1 part chia (19% protein)
1 part corn (9.4% protein)
2 parts millet (11% protein)
3 parts amaranth (14% protein)
3 parts teff (9.6% protein)
1 part dried fish (63% protein)
1 part soya flakes (41% protein)
3 parts sunflower seeds (15% protein)
1 part mealworms (53% protein)
1 part black soldier flies (41% protein)
3 parts cannabis seeds (32% protein)
1/2 a part in combined total of Seaweed, oregano, fine oyster shell, garlic, meridian yeast extract, raw honey, kefir grains.
 
I'll have to add a few of those ingredients to my spreadsheet, and some of those protein numbers look high - as if they aren't corrected for moisture content. and while that only makes about a 10% difference +/- with dried grains, which are usually reduced to 10% water content or less, it makes a huge difference with things like fish, BSFL, and mealworms.

I'll also ignore the last half part, since that's both not a recipe, and because the combined ingredients in that half part total less than 1/80th the total recipe.

This weekend.

It also looks expensive.
 
Hi @Alyooo14, I’m also putting together a recipe, it’s for quail so the protein levels might be a bit different to yours but similar ingredients maybe other than the oats and wheat which I have to avoid.
I like the idea of moringa and haven’t looked into pumpkin yet. Is there a particular reason for using the hibiscus? I like it in tea but don’t know much else about it.
These are my current recipe ideas but it’s a work in progress, methionine seems to be an important factor I hadn’t considered, cannabis seeds and seaweed contain high levels of it.

Chick starter 27.27% total protein

1 part flax (13% protein)
3 parts peas (26% protein)
1 part polenta (7.5% protein)
1 part quinoa (13.8% protein)
1 part buckwheat (9.6% protein)
1 part chia (19% protein)
1 part corn (9.4% protein)
1 part millet (11% protein)
1 part amaranth (14% protein)
1 part teff (9.6% protein)
1 part dried fish (63% protein)
2 parts soya flakes (41% protein)
1 part sunflower seeds (15% protein)
3 parts mealworms (53% protein)
1 part black soldier flies (41% protein)
3 parts cannabis seeds (32% protein)
1/2 a part in combined total of Seaweed, oregano, fine oyster shell, garlic, meridian yeast extract, raw honey, kefir grains.

Breeder mash 19.48% total protein

2 parts flax (13% protein)
2 parts peas (26% protein)
2 parts polenta (7.5% protein)
3 parts quinoa (13.8% protein)
2 parts buckwheat (9.6% protein)
1 part chia (19% protein)
1 part corn (9.4% protein)
2 parts millet (11% protein)
3 parts amaranth (14% protein)
3 parts teff (9.6% protein)
1 part dried fish (63% protein)
1 part soya flakes (41% protein)
3 parts sunflower seeds (15% protein)
1 part mealworms (53% protein)
1 part black soldier flies (41% protein)
3 parts cannabis seeds (32% protein)
1/2 a part in combined total of Seaweed, oregano, fine oyster shell, garlic, meridian yeast extract, raw honey, kefir grains.
I originally got the dried hibiscus flowers for their nesting boxes but after looking into it more I read that it is immune boosting for them so I decided to add some to their feed. When they find it they get grab it and run like they do when they find a bug
 
I'll have to add a few of those ingredients to my spreadsheet, and some of those protein numbers look high - as if they aren't corrected for moisture content. and while that only makes about a 10% difference +/- with dried grains, which are usually reduced to 10% water content or less, it makes a huge difference with things like fish, BSFL, and mealworms.

I'll also ignore the last half part, since that's both not a recipe, and because the combined ingredients in that half part total less than 1/80th the total recipe.

This weekend.

It also looks expensive.
Hi @U_Stormcrow I also ignored the last half a part of the ingredients for the same reason.
I’d love to know your opinion re. This recipe, it will be more expensive than standard pre mix but it’s all organic and gluten/oat free which is not commercially available here so not really comparable and I don’t expect my small flock of button quail to get through it very fast.
I got most of the protein ratios from the place I’m getting the grain, it could be higher than expected because it’s organic? The ratios for fish and bugs are from the Internet.
 
You mean you made your own scratch. No nutritional target?
First time making feed... What do you mean by no nutritional target? I researched things that are nutritional for chickens had them shipped to me and mixed them together. I have little knowledge over this that's why I asked on here.
 
@U_Stormcrow if you can help I’m trying to work out how much seaweed I need to add to get the methionine levels where they should be and anything else you think I might have missed. Thanks in advance for looking into it.
@Alyooo14 I’m new to this too so not the best person to get advice from but from what I’ve read it’s really important to balance the level of nutrition to be suitable for them at the different stages of life, they need more protein as chicks and many of the things they eat are lacking in things they need like methionine so this needs to be corrected by adding the right quantity of something else that’s higher in it.
You basically add up all the percentages of nutrients and divide them by the number of parts and that’ll give you a total percentage for the mix.
You’ll need less protein in your mix than I’m using for quail so you just use less of the higher protein ingredients and more of the lower protein ones until you reach the correct total percentage your birds need.
Hope that helps.
 

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