What can you add to feed to save money?

[RUNuts]

Yes, to lower the bill look for free or cheaper items. With 80 birds, you may ask for restaurant scraps and plate scrapings? Grocery store old produce? With my small group, it is too much.

Talk with the feed store guy. See what is the cheapest grain, usually corn, but may be different. I'm looking at Milo or sorghum since corn is mostly carbohydrates and little protein. I'm also feeding a local mill 18% Chick grower formula and adding stuff on the side. For example, the alfalfa horse cubes that I soak for a day. This gives them greens and increased the color of the yolks. I'm also not able to let them into the yard because I work sun up to sun down most days. Alfalfa is high in protein, so I cut that with kitchen scraps and grain (wheat berries and rice I got on sale). A little of that goes a long way. Really drops feed consumption, if they like it.

I was adding 1 cup of BOSS and they were picking those out. Now I add 1/4 cup to the alfalfa soak.

All the weeds in the yard. They eat what they want. Collect leaf or compost free and add that to the chick runs. They eat something - inverts or fungus - mine go crazy for the composted wood chips I get from the county collection point. This also is good litter and soaks up the stink. Good for the garden. Google composting with chickens. Hope you have several hours.

 

[Percheron chick]

No reason to be feeding a 22% layer feed. Mature layers only need about 16%. If you just drop that down to 16-18%, it will save you at least $10/week in feed cost. With 80 birds, you should be going through 150#/3 bags a week. If you are going through a significant higher amount they are wasting it or you have mice and birds helping themselves. Place rubber feed pans under the hanging feeders to catch any that is billed out. You can add a limited amount of treats such as produce and kitchen waste without impacting production. It could net you a savings of a few pounds of feed per day but the work of collecting them would probably not make it sustainable. If you have a small local brewer, they produce 100's of pounds of high protein waste that most chickens love as a treat.
Interesting you are willing to do the work to create fodder but not ferment. I ferment for 25+ in one 5 gal bucket using the backslop method. My production is higher when I ferment and i save roughly 10% in feed. It adds maybe a minute to my feeding routine. Less feed consumed = less poop. Less poop uses less shavings and bedding so that's a second cost saving.
At a minimum, I would add a small bale of alfalfa to each run. The alfalfa is a nice calcium and protein addition plus it enhances the orange yolks. Create small "compost" piles of grass, leaves, vegetables.. in the runs that will grow worms and grubs as well as have seeds for them to scratch for.

 

[Boonie Stomper]

Check produce stands at closing for where they toss their damaged discards then check there regularly. Good for beans melons squash tomatoes fruit corn...

 

[smileygreen64]

It sounds like I need to give fermented feed a try. I don't think they are wasting much. I use about 500# of feed a month. I will check around for a lower protein feed as well. Thanks

 

[purslanegarden]

The two normal things that I usually suggest (fodder and fermented foods) have been mentioned.

I also suggest table scraps, which we probably generate a lot of it. Normally some may like it for their compost pile instead, but now it can go to the chickens. It's also another way to take care of meat scraps, which you usually may not want in a compost pile.

I also like the idea of forming a partnership with friends and local grocers who might be able to give you some extras or things that are about to go bad. For example, a watermelon which I bought may have turned out not to be so tasty or even beginning to spoil, but it doesn't mean I have to toss the whole thing. I can give it to the chickens.

If your friends come across things like that in their own shopping, cooking, or preparations of food, they could possible save it for you also. It doesn't have to be every day but even a weekend food preparation would probably result in a lot of things your chickens would be glad to eat.