About Making My Own Chicken Feed

[Perris]

hello @chickenbreederinchina , welcome to BYC

Just wondering if anyone else here is making their own feed

Yes I do, have been for a few years now. I've written about how I do it here with an update here https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wholesome-homemade-feed-2.79307/.

I’m also curious whether this kind of homemade feed needs extra supplements to keep the hens healthy in the long run

Yes it does. What you are using is carb heavy and protein light, and you really want to get more variety and balance into their feed before they start to moult.

 

[saysfaa]

Molasses is used in the pelletizing process for various reasons including as a binder. I don't know how much other than one needs to be more careful not to use too much for chickens compared to hoofed livestock because of their different digestive system.

Yes, you need other ingredients. There is no combination of corn, soy, and wheat bran that will give them enough of the essential nutrients. Well, technically, there might be if they could eat enough of it but then they would have toxic amounts of other nutrients. Depending on what definition of "supplements" is used, it could take more than supplements to get them what they need. It takes quite a lot of soybean oil meal to get close to enough protein; if you have a different form of soy, it is harder to get close without running into other problems (like too much fat or not enough palatability). Either way, a different source of protein is needed because it isn't just "protein" that is needed; it is enough of each of the essential amino acids without being too much other things. Like not just "minerals" are needed - each kind of mineral is needed. Anyway, no combination of any form of corn, soy, and wheat will provide that.

If your chicken have access to a good pasture, they may be able to find enough other ingredients to get what they need in addition the pellets. "Good pasture" has enough amount and variety of nutritious-to-chickens plants and critters. So, soil fertility matters (more aspects than the N-P-K that are most important to plants), moisture levels of the soil matters, time of year matters in most climates...

 

[C Siena]

Greetings & Salutations. Welcome.

I've read Perris' article, very good.

This is a wonderful site on which to Learn and enjoy. We are pleased to have you in the community.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Just started making my own chicken feed pellets – looking for some advice
I’m pretty new to raising chickens—just keeping around 20 laying hens in the backyard for now. Nothing too big, just something for our own use. Lately I’ve been trying to make my own feed pellets, mainly to cut down on costs and have more control over what goes into their feed.

I’m using a small pellet machine at home. For ingredients, I’ve been mixing cornmeal, wheat bran, and a bit of soybean meal, then adding some water to press them into pellets. So far, the chickens seem to really like it. They eat it quickly, and there’s definitely less waste compared to the mash I used before.

That said, I’ve run into a few issues. Getting the moisture right is tricky—too dry and the pellets fall apart, too wet and it jams the machine. Sometimes the pellets aren’t firm enough and crumble easily. I recently tried adding a little corn flour as a binder, and that seems to help.

Just wondering if anyone else here is making their own feed pellets at home? What kind of ingredients do you use? Any tips on natural binders? I’m also curious whether this kind of homemade feed needs extra supplements to keep the hens healthy in the long run.

Thanks in advance! Looking forward to learning from you all.

Welcome to BYC, you seem to have really jumped in with both feet!

I commend you for your eagerness, but recommend you NOT make attempt to make your own feed until you've done your readings and your research. No combination of the three ingredients you've suggested will make a complete chicken feed meeting their daily dietary needs. Starting with Soy Meal helps - you've avoided one of the most common home made feed failings by including a protein dense source rich in Methionine and low in fat. But there's still much more to consider before you have a complete feed.

Doing as you are attempting will help you control what goes into your feed, yes - but absent highly unusual circumstances it has been my experience that it is almost always more expensive than obtaining a complete commercial feed off the shelf.

Suggest you click on the search button, look for posts by me referencing Joel Salatin or Justin Rhodes. They both have "make at home" feed recipes that both output good numbers from a calculator AND have the benefit of years of tried and true experience by many keepers. (I'd search myself, but I'm at lunch and need to get back to work) and of course the link @NatJ provided to @saysfaa 's collection of old feed recipes. Once you understand why Joel and Justin chose the ingredients they did, and why those old feed recipes work, you should be ready to head down to your supply store, start writing down prices, and calculating the most cost efficient complete feed you can manage locally - and compare to your shelf options. I can help with calculations as required.

Good luck to you on your chicken keeping journey!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[N F C]

Hi, lots of good info here for you to take in. Always feel free to ask questions and make yourself at home!

 

[chickenbreederinchina]

Like to Welcome you here to BYC.
As to the home-made Pellets,, I have no info to suggest,, except look at the ingredient label on store purchased pellets. There are minerals, and vitamins and other things there. And a big one is Calcium. That can be provided by having Cracked oyster shells, free-choice.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

Thanks for the welcome! I’m realizing there’s a lot more that goes into proper feed than I thought. I’ll pay more attention to the mineral content and keep learning as I go. Appreciate you taking the time to share that.

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Your homemade recipe is severely lacking in nutrients. The first thing that sticks out is it doesn't have quality protein. And it is going to be lacking in many micronutrients. You might want to look into what the actual nutritional requirements are for layers before you attempt to make their feed. I hope you're at least offering oyster shell on the side for additional calcium they require for shell formation. But until you get a better formula I would switch them to a commercial all flock type of feed that offers 18 to 20% protein with oyster shell on the side.

Thanks so much for the honest feedback! I really appreciate you pointing that out. I’m still learning, so it’s super helpful to hear this. I’ll definitely look into commercial feed options with higher protein and make sure they have oyster shell available. Thanks again!

 

[chickenbreederinchina]

Is there a reason to grind it up and turn it into pellets? Chickens can eat whole corn just fine, which saves you a lot of bother in feeding them the corn.

When you are comparing with mash, were you feeding it dry? There is often less wastage with wet mash. Some people find it easier to serve wet mash each day than to try to make pellets.


Your ingredients do not make a complete feed. I'm don't know enough to tell what is missing, just that some things are missing (I've read enough feed-making discussions to know that corn and soy can be a good start, if you have the right proportions, but that it needs other things too, and wheat bran will not supply them all.)


About a century ago, it was common to have two-part chicken feeds. One part was whole grains ("scratch") and the other part had an extra-high rate of protein and certain vitamins and minerals ("mash"). If the chickens ate the right balance of the two parts, they got about the same nutrients you would find in a modern complete feed. I imagine the "mash" part could also be made into pellets if you wanted. The advantage of two parts was that the hens could scratch for the whole grains and get exercise, and there was a lot less grinding (and maybe pelleting) to do because those grains were not mixed with everything else. But it only works when the two parts are properly designed to go with each other.

Many of those older recipes require the chickens to be fed large amounts of green plants too (free range, or brought to the chickens in their pen). The plants apparently provided some of the vitamins and minerals that were not readily available as supplements at that time.

Here is a thread with some discussion of historic recipes, from a time before commercial feed was so readily available:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-feed-recipes-articles-and-systems.1510115/

Here is an article from someone with a somewhat different method of feeding chickens, that has apparently been working for them for several years:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/

And @U_Stormcrow has a feed calculator: he can run a feed recipe through it and figure out what is missing and/or what it has too much of. He does need to know how much what is in the recipe (measured in pounds or kilograms or some other measure of weight). Also, he's done enough of them that he can usually tell the problems with a simple recipe just by reading it, because he knows what is missing in some of the most common ingredients.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. I really appreciate your explanation. It is very helpful.

I started making pellets because cornmeal goes bad easily where I live, and wet mash takes a lot of time and effort to prepare every day. I once saw a video of someone using a pellet machine to make their own feed. It looked interesting, so I got one too. It has actually made things a lot easier for me.

I am also very thankful for all the advice on feed formulas. Everyone has been so kind and helpful. I truly appreciate it. Your message helped me a lot. Thank you again.

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Are your birds free ranged or confined to a pen?

 

[NatJ]

I started making pellets because cornmeal goes bad easily where I live, and wet mash takes a lot of time and effort to prepare every day. I once saw a video of someone using a pellet machine to make their own feed. It looked interesting, so I got one too. It has actually made things a lot easier for me.

That is definitely interesting.

How were you making the mash? When I do it with purchased chicken feed, I just put the feed in the dish and add water. By the time I carry it to the chickens, the water has soaked into the feed and it's ready for them to eat. I do that with chicken feed that is pellets or crumbles, and it should also work with the finely ground feed that would exist before it's made into pellets or crumbles. I haven't tried it with actual cornmeal, so I don't know if that would behave the same way or not.