Right amounts to Pre mix food

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honeydoll

honeydoll

Songster
10 Years
Jul 14, 2009
693
9
131
Stark County, NE Ohio
I was wondering what ratio to mix: 50lbs. of feed, how much grit and oyster shell in it. I want to premix because my oldest boy is special needs and wants to help do chores, but get's mixed up what to add to their food. I cannot offer grit and oyster shell in seperate containers as my chickens won't eat it and end up with fragile shells. We are building a new run and coop so no free ranging right now either, so I want to add grit. Thanks for any help.

--Carolyn
 
I mix mine too, in the feed trough. I do a handful of oyster shell to a scoop of pellet feed. I just spread it across the trough after pouring the pellets in, and then stir it around a bit. Regarding grit, I just put a ton of coarse sand in the run for a path so that we do not fall down if it is real rainy. (run slopes, 5:1) They pick the grit as they want it out of that coarse sand mix. They are always pecking in that path. So I do not buy grit.

Gerry
cool.png
 
Here is a food recipe. You just have to break it down to 50lb increments.
17% Layer Ration:
965 lb. Shelled Corn
600 lb. Roasted Soybeans
100 lb. Oats
100 lb. Alfalfa Meal
175 lb. Aragonite(calcium) = oyster shells
60 lb. Poultry Nutri-Balancer
2000 lb.
The grit I would say about a handful would be enough.
 
For my grit and oyster shell, I mix them in this way (these are all approximations):

My feed storage container in my garage holds about 50 lbs of premixed seeds and grains.

I add 1/2 cup of oyster shell to 4 lb of feed per day. Quite often I skip a day. So average is 6 cups of oyster shell per 50 lb. feed.

I add 1/2 cup of grit size #3 for adults, and #2 for bantams (#1 is chick grit) to 4 lb of feed every 2-3 days. So average is maybe? 4 cups of grit per 50 lb feed.

I have no idea what the commerical recommendations are. My hens are happy and healthy with very nice thick eggshells. When they don't want to eat something, they leave it in the feeder.

Periodically (about every 2 weeks) I toss the "bottom of the barrel" picked-over feed out on the ground and let them pick over it for a few hours before I give them fresh food in the feeder. This includes pumpkin seed hulls, old oats that no one wanted, grit and oyster shell that wasn't consumed, and generally some flaxseed and Nyjer thistle seed they wouldn't eat in the quantities I wanted them to.

It's all free choice feeding. In these amounts though, I don't have too much waste at all.
 
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