Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[satay]

I have decided to start a new experiment and as we all know I am shocking at keeping records so if I do it here I can look back if I need to. Well you all know that I have a heap of animals and as food costs rise for them all the time I have decided to have a go at making my own chook food for them . A guy I met recently told me about a place out this way where you can buy bulk grains. You can buy 40 kg bags of say sorghum etc They only sell the grains individually they don't mix them. So before we went I did a lot of research on the protein and fat contents of each grain. Well we went on Friday had to take hubby with me as I can't lift that size bags of grain. I bought a heaps of grains and brought them home. Luckily we have 2 large cement mixes so We could mix the grain in there. We ended up with sorghum, barley, wheat, corn,, boss and chickpeas. Once mixed it works out at just over 17% protein. we spent $75 for the grains and seeds and got aprox 220kg of food., So think that works out to about $7 for $20kg. What I want to track is the health of the hens etc as well as egg production to see if mixing your own grains is just as good as the shop stuff. I am doing this now too as a lot aren't laying much . They also get scraps in the after noon and free range most of the day.
What I have noticed so far is they are not that keen on chickpeas. They will eat them but they are not their favourites .
The guy who told me about this place had chickens and I saw them and they were in top condition. He just bought grains and threw them together. I wanted to be a bit more precise in what I got. For people who don't know me who may come across this post I am an x vegetarian, been an meat eater for years now and my number 1 priority will always be the health of my animals first and for most.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I have decided to start a new experiment and as we all know I am shocking at keeping records so if I do it here I can look back if I need to. Well you all know that I have a heap of animals and as food costs rise for them all the time I have decided to have a go at making my own chook food for them . A guy I met recently told me about a place out this way where you can buy bulk grains. You can buy 40 kg bags of say sorghum etc They only sell the grains individually they don't mix them. So before we went I did a lot of research on the protein and fat contents of each grain. Well we went on Friday had to take hubby with me as I can't lift that size bags of grain. I bought a heaps of grains and brought them home. Luckily we have 2 large cement mixes so We could mix the grain in there. We ended up with sorghum, barley, wheat, corn,, boss and chickpeas. Once mixed it works out at just over 17% protein. we spent $75 for the grains and seeds and got aprox 220kg of food., So think that works out to about $7 for $20kg. What I want to track is the health of the hens etc as well as egg production to see if mixing your own grains is just as good as the shop stuff. I am doing this now too as a lot aren't laying much . They also get scraps in the after noon and free range most of the day.
What I have noticed so far is they are not that keen on chickpeas. They will eat them but they are not their favourites .
The guy who told me about this place had chickens and I saw them and they were in top condition. He just bought grains and threw them together. I wanted to be a bit more precise in what I got. For people who don't know me who may come across this post I am an x vegetarian, been an meat eater for years now and my number 1 priority will always be the health of my animals first and for most.

That is great idea Satay. $7 for 20kg

. That is so good!

I can't wait to see your results and maybe join you as I have wanted to make my own feed for ages, just didn't know where to start.

Good Luck!

 

[appps]

My phone has an annoying habit of looking like it hasn't posted so I get doubles at times too.

Satay - will be interesting. I think I paid $26 for a 20kg bag of mash last time. So that sounds like a good saving!

 

[satay]

Lol. I was about to post. "We heard you!!!!! Lol"
My phone has an annoying habit of looking like it hasn't posted so I get doubles at times too.

Satay - will be interesting. I think I paid $26 for a 20kg bag of mash last time. So that sounds like a good saving!

I Used to pay $20 for top layer mash for the girls and $25 for duck pellets for the ducks and $11 for pellets for the turkeys. I will still be buying commercial starter etc for the young ones.

 

[Pinky Macgyver]

Is mash a specific food or any mixed with water?

 

[appps]

It

Is mash a specific food or any mixed with water?

It's actually a specific food. I wanted to get layer crumble because I'm starting to think since I changed to pellets my bantams have stopped eating and are just surviving on free ranging

Anyway, couldn't get a layer crumble but they had something called layer mash. What it looks like is grains that have been through a food processor till chopped up fine. Don't know if that's what it actually is though.

The girls are fairly unimpressed so far and there seems to be a lot of dust so after they peck at it there's nothing much to eat but dust till I stir it up again. Might be better in a feed tray they could scratch around more with their beaks etc but really not successful in my PVC feeder v

I'm going to look elsewhere for layer crumble and maybe mix it with this to get it eaten. Doubt ill buy it again unless the new ones love it when they get old enough

 

[satay]

Is mash a specific food or any mixed with water?

It's just grains etc mashed up fine you can feed it dry like I used to or you can wet it.

 

[satay]

It
It's actually a specific food. I wanted to get layer crumble because I'm starting to think since I changed to pellets my bantams have stopped eating and are just surviving on free ranging

Anyway, couldn't get a layer crumble but they had something called layer mash. What it looks like is grains that have been through a food processor till chopped up fine. Don't know if that's what it actually is though.

The girls are fairly unimpressed so far and there seems to be a lot of dust so after they peck at it there's nothing much to eat but dust till I stir it up again. Might be better in a feed tray they could scratch around more with their beaks etc but really not successful in my PVC feeder v

I'm going to look elsewhere for layer crumble and maybe mix it with this to get it eaten. Doubt ill buy it again unless the new ones love it when they get old enough

My hens would never eat pellets.

 

[Ashburnham]

Mash is what we fed chooks on in the old old days before pellets were invented.
It was mixed with hot water and kitchen scraps.
It had a porridge like consistency.

If you don't feed pellets, you will need to give your chooks shell grit for the calcium.

xxx M

 

[satay]

Forgot to add that I have grit available to them 24/7. I find they don't really eat it that much though.