I appreciate your input, especially since I haven't received many comments. My Dorkings are not good enough that I would feel right selling hatching eggs, so I need to sell eating eggs to make a little income and help with feed costs. There is a lot of competition here. People seem to either want certified organic eggs or cheap eggs. I'm somewhere in the middle and have trouble finding buyers.
I admire that you buy local and I do think that is important. I can't seem to find many chicken feed ingredients local.
Do you disagree with the protein levels that the ALBC recommends or do you think that the chickens are finding a lot of protein by ranging?
Another reason that I want to mix my own feed is that most commercial rations are mostly corn and have ingredients that I would rather not feed to my chickens.
Thanks
Kim
I won't say I disagree with the ALBC because they are professionals. What I do say is that being in the field with my birds, there is optimal feeding conditions and there are normal feeding conditions and then there are of course, the old farmers feeding conditions. The optimum protein isn't my biggest concern as I'm more concerned that they have a well balanced diet and that they grow healthy and strong naturally. Free ranging my chickens is the best way I know to do this and in the summer I think of the feed as supplemental and the yard the diet. Winter is a whole different ball game... Also, when I want more eggs, I up the feed protein levels to accommodate for that.
I get around 70% hatch rate in my Leahy. I used to get 80% but it has dropped for some reason. Probably because my eggs are getting older before I set them since I wait to have enough for a tray that holds 104 eggs. I doubt it is feed but it may be... I notice that on the grass, the chicks have more vigor though so not sure how that plays into the equation.
In the pre electricity days, farmers would turn their chickens out into the field and they would ONLY get scraps from the kitchen. That is the extreme and I couldn't imagine that being a healthy way to have birds. Mine seem to be starving to death each night when I replenish their feed rations. They have sleeked down since winter's all you can eat feed but their bodies still have a nice meaty feel to it so they aren't really starving... But, I think most chickens think they are starving even when they have food all the time.
I'm not opposed to corn being fed to chickens... I am really opposed to GM corn being fed to anything around me. Creepy stuff there... Sometimes, I go to the day old bread store and pick up several loafs to give them some diversity. I raise worms for them and feed that from time to time and when it gets to be Japanese Beetle time I will set up traps and drop those babies right into the chicken's pens. I LOVE Japanese Beetle time... Free protein and very, VERY happy chickens. lol
