A question about whole grain diets

[rgrever2]

Hi,

I have a dog that I switched off Kibble and now feed a freeze dried raw diet to. He is more content than ever, healthier than ever and eats considerably less then when he had his kibble diet. So based off that experience I have been looking into feeding a home made diet for my chickens. I've read a lot of posts about it here but I haven't seen a comparison on the amounts you feed on a whole grain diet VS a manufactured pellet diet. Anyone notice a change in amounts when they switched?

 

[chickened]

Mine actually eat more on whole grains.
Quote:

 

[Fred's Hens]

The chicken is an omnivore not a vegetarian, so providing a balanced diet takes some homework. There are some recipe's posted on here. Finding all the components, minerals, vitamins, calcium, protein, etc, is not as simple as it appears at first blush.

 

[Erica]

Hi rgrever2,

The reason they eat more when on a natural diet is probably because most commercial feeds contain vitamins and minerals in a very condensed form (i.e. artificial premix) so birds need to eat less of the pelleted feed.

I've read that birds forced to thrive on grain/home mixes can get fat because they have to eat more. This is only true if you're not providing a broad range of ingredients (including meat based protein, legumes, B vitamin sources like soured milk or yeast, fresh greens etc etc).

I agree with Fred's Hens completely that you have to do a lot of homework. Free range doesn't cover all sins. But then again I can't free range (goshawks) and seem to be doing well as long as I keep up the supply of chopped or hanging greens.

BTW I'm with you about the dog food. I've noticed a big difference in my dog's health since giving up dry commercial food. Most of her life she's had terrible skin ailments due to allergies. Her coat is now lovely and soft and faintly oily whereas most of her life it's been dry and staring with bare patches (from gnawing at herself). I've done nothing else different except move to an entirely non-commercial diet. This means scraps, fresh and cooked meat, prepared grains, cooked vegetables, chicken remains (gizzards, livers, hearts), bones and so forth.

regards
Erica

 

[Cindy in PA]

It is not that hard to feed a grain diet. It is definitely fresher & whole grain keeps better. Find a mineral mix like Fertrell Nutribalancer and decide what grains you can get & calculate a proper protein ratio. You can also try lower protein grains & legumes & use Farmer's Helper Ultrakibble. I fed a mix of peas, sunflower, oats, spelt & a few other grains with fish meal for awhile. If you properly calculate your mix, the hens don't get fat etc. Pellets are made of grains & legumes and other stuff! It is sometimes hard to get them to eat the minerals & other powders, but you can feed these separately also. I don't feed whole grains right now, but when I did, they ate about half as much in weight. I now feed organic pellets with a separate feeder of fish meal for animal protein. Just easier at this point, but I do have access to all sorts of grains, legumes & forages around here from a small farmer if I want to go that route again.

 

[Teach97]

you will typically see a need to increase consumption with whole grains because the processed foods make more of the nutrients available to the animal....this is why you would want to feed a processed feed. Plus the mixing of the feed allows for a more consistent intake so the animal can't pick through and only eat the corn or peas or whatever and the minerals and such are more evenly ditributed. if you decided to mix whole grains one trick you can use to get the powered minerals and such to mix and not be left behind is to use a binder like molasses, syrup, some fat of some sort....gotta be carful with the fat as that is high concentrated energy.....

anyways....hope that helpd

 

[WoodlandWoman]

While you're researching diets, try adding more green feed into their diet. It's good for them, good for the eggs and good for you.

 

[rgrever2]

Thank you for all the replies! As Fred's Hens stated it indeed is not as easy to track down all the components as I thought. I feel as though I would be doing my chickens a dis-service by switching to a solely home made diet at the moment. I think I will start by making my own scratch for treats and evolving as it goes. My original hope was to be able to break away from the soy/corn based organic diets that are available close to me (I'm a believer of "everything in moderation") and be able to offer a variety of different feeds/proteins throughout the year. Also I figured if I could get them closer to their natural diet they may be healthier and happier. But for the time being it looks as though traveling a couple hours away and getting some different feed is my best option until I can come up with a solid game plan.

Thanks again! you guys/gals rock!