All natural/organic feed better???

[dianehodges]

I feed my chickens the layer pellets, along with meal worms, sun flower seeds and vegetables from the garden They get no meat, left over tables scraps etc Is the organic feed any better for the chickens and can it be made cheaper than sold at the feed store?

1 veteran 1 lab 8 hens 1 rooster 1 very old cat

 

[Flavum]

I'm also very interested in using organic feed. Ive priced a couple brands on line and the cheapest Ive found is around $50-60 for a 40lb bag. That's around 4xtimes the cost of what I'm currently using ( dumar brand, I think just corn and sugar with some synthetic vits added)

For me the only way this would be do-able is if i grew the ingredients myself. Looking into mimicking a couple recipes.

heres a couple ive been thinking about

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2 parts whole corn (in winter this is increased to 3 or 4 parts)
3 parts soft white wheat
3 parts hard red winter wheat
1 part hulled barley
1 part oat groats
1 part sunflower seeds (in winter this is increased to 2 parts)
1 part millet
1 part kamut
1 part amaranth seeds
1 part split peas
1 part lentils
1 part quinoa
1 part sesame seeds
1/2 part flax seeds
1/2 part kelp granules
free choice of granite grit[/FONT]​

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]free choice of oyster shell[/FONT]

- 2 parts whole corn
- 3 parts soft white wheat
- 3 parts hard red winter wheat
- ½ part Diatomaceous Earth (not the kind you put in your pool)
- 1 part hulled barley
- 1 part oat groats
- 2 part sunflower seeds
- ½ part peanuts
- 1 part wheat bran
- 1 part split peas
- 1 part lentils
- 1 part quinoa
- 1 part sesame seeds
- 1/2 part kelp

 

[galanie]

Be careful of the "all natural" tag because it means basically nothing. "Organic" means more since it at least has to be certified organic to carry the tag.

No, it's not cheaper to make it yourself unless you have access so some pretty cheap grains. Today's world has managed to make the individual ingredients more expensive than the mixed product. I'd personally love to mix my own but for the moment I'm not able to.

 

[dianehodges]

My birds are healthy and happy, that's what counts Thank you