Arizona Chickens

[tightwad]

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I really considered it. When I priced organic bulk from my co-op it worked out to be about the same as what I pay for a bag. Someone on the Valley Permaculture Alliance (is that what they're called now?) gave me her recipe once. Am I allowed to link to that site?

 

[tightwad]

Quote:
Ok, so scratch the Kruse idea for me. I'll stop and see if they have soy, wheat and scratch cheaper than Highley. I need some molasses and oyster shell, too. For that price, I'll keep mixing my own. At least they aren't getting 18% crappola!

If you're not giving away a century old family heirloom recipe that's been handed down since the 1500's- may I ask what you put in your feed & what quantities? I have the space & capability to mix my own...but the sheer volume of recipes online is overwhelming.

Thanks!!!

Ooh, yes please!

 

[Mikey D]

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It's kinda weird but skunks don't bother me too much. Ferrets are OK, I had a couple in the past, never sniffed a river otter

but I'm with you on perfumes and colognes, with one exception:

Cierra! If I smell that stuff it is like some kinda pheromone thing! I start following women around the supermarket, which make's the control tower a bit edgy...

 

[Mikey D]

Quote:
If you're not giving away a century old family heirloom recipe that's been handed down since the 1500's- may I ask what you put in your feed & what quantities? I have the space & capability to mix my own...but the sheer volume of recipes online is overwhelming.

Thanks!!!

Ooh, yes please!

X2 - cause I don't want to have to find...

Wheat Millrun, Ground White Corn, Ground Wheat, Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, Dehulled
Soybean Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Rice Bran, Ground Lima Beans, Monocalcium and Dicalcium
Phosphate, l-Lysine Hydrochloride, d-l Methionine, Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Direct Fed
Microorganisms (Heat Stable cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei, Bifidobacterium
bifidium, Enterococcus faecium and Aspergillus oryzae), Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried
Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles, Hydrated Calcium-Sodium Aluminosilicate, Yucca
Schidigera Whole Plant Powder, Betaine, Selenium Yeast, Zinc Methionine Complex, Manganese
Methionine Complex, Copper Lysine Complex, Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Niacin Supplement,
Tocopherols, Natural Flavoring, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Lecithin, Choline Chloride, Vitamin A
Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin
Supplement, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin B-12
Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Tribasic Copper Chloride, Ethylene
Diamine Dihydroiodide, AND Sodium Selenite.

 

[southerndesert]

4 out now and 2 more pips.... Dang this looks like we may get a real good hatch.... Perhaps all 12 Tracydr you good with that if it happens? Looks like they are all moving around on the bator floor...

 

[tightwad]

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So exciting! I wouldn't want to leave the bator. Who care about work when you've got chicks hatching!

 

[mclevinson]

I am not getting the same posts from my iPad as I am from my conputer! Arrrrggghhh.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

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Becky, which do you buy, Magill Ranch Cascade or Rogue? I've been getting the Magill Ranch because it's soy and corn free, whereas the Rogue is only soy free. I don't like the waste with the Magill Ranch though because it can be so powdery sometimes. Plus, I've never fed pellets before and don't know how large they are. How big are they? I'd hate to have my hens not eat them.

I've never had mine buggy or rancid either. I love ordering from Azure!

Can't wait to get my order on Tuesday. I ordered 60 lbs of "juicing" apples to make applesauce. Organic and only 50¢ a pound!

I feed the magill ranch Cascade corn and soy free. I have a hanging feeder that they don't knock much out of and then when it gets down to the powdery bottom I mix it with yogurt and they eat that too.
I've been feeding this for at least a year and the chickens do great on it.
I fed pellets before this feed and they ate it OK. If they get hungry enough I'm sure they'll eat it.

 

[Tracydr]

You know, what I'd really like to do is find a real, old fashioned feed mill that would actually mill it for us. The problem I have is finding the pre-mix and weird ingredients that I would love to include, like fishmeal and field peas. A source of bulk sea kelp, instead of the two pounds online, two. But, if we found an old-fashioned mill, they could source all of that. All we'd need to do is give them the recipe we'd like to use, which I have a bunch of.
I can store quite a bit in my containers, probably at least 500-1,000 pounds, although I'd probably like to move the grain over to my horse barn in those amounts because right now I have the bins in the coop and I'm not confident about the floor strength, plus the coop isn't water tight.
A mixer would be nice. I haven't been grinding and even the small chicks have been enjoying the whole wheat, whole Milo and cracked corn. I have a grinder but it grinds into a flour.
I've been sticking the soy bean meal with molasses to get it to blend with the rest, seems to work, although it might be better to use some type of oil and molasses, I'd just worry about rancid oil. I'm working on finding feed grade molasses right now. I'd love to find roasted soy beans or even field peas and fish meal instead.
I need to find a bulk source of Brewer's yeast or nutritional yeast or a place to find a vitamin pre-mix. But, really, it's not that hard and so far the Cornish seem healthier than the ones I grew last summer on flock raiser. I'm growing the batch behind them on straight flock raiser so we can compare.
Right now I'm throwing things together and I'm sure I'm not doing the best of jobs but I'm hoping I'm doing better, since at least they're getting wholesome whole grains instead of by-products like wheat-middlings as a second ingredient and nearly %19 percent ash.
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You can try Tempe Feed. I know they have organic; it's Nutrena (used to be Arizona Feeds). Can't tell you whether it is buggy or not, though. There's also an Ace Hardware in Queen Creek or SanTan that carries Purina and supposedly stores it in air conditioning/refrigerator, and it's supposedly not buggy as a result.

I was hoping for a local store but if I have to travel a bit to get good stuff for the peepers, so be it. Being a Noob I'm not familiar with trends. Is the difficulty we are experiencing finding feed common?

or

Is this a fluke and it's always been pretty easy.

I'm almost on the Tracydr bandwagon and am willing to mix up a bulk batch with you folk!

How bout it Tracy? What will it acutally take to make our own feed?

I've got a huge truck & trailer & can help in any way. Do we need a mechanical mixer or a grinder or storage silos? Drums for transport & storage? Maybe those 275 gallon storage tanks?

Control Tower in authoraitve police voice, "Step away from the project!"

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

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Looks good...I do not see any marigold in it. My Dellie was turning yellow with the Purina/Layena. That is why I switched to Manna Pro. Stock shop wouldn't be bad to drive to. I have family on that side of town.