BEST chicken feed recipe, ever.

[Kilsharion]

With free-choice calcium, chickens are able to regulate their intake to the level that they require. That's probably why many give it free-choice - there's no way to mess it up when the chicken is able to do a better job of adjusting the level themselves.

Totally agree on that point I was just trying to figure out exactly how deficient the mix was (cuz I wanted to know more than anything). Well, that and I wanted to make sure there wasn't too much in it if I used it as a grower or developer mix, etc.

I'll be giving it free choice, certainly. My human brain is a bit too puny to calculate each of their individual needs for calcium

 

[Chris09]

True enough (re: greens and calcium %s).

I have been picking this recipe apart to see what all is in it and, I'm going to have to assume that if this is solely for adult chickens, given the sesame seeds and the protien content. Is that correct?

I went through and found a replacement for the sesame seeds that would give much less in the way of calcium but more in the way of protien to change it out for a grower feed. I am figuring any missing protien in this to be supplemented by their ranging (given their vociferious and prodigious attacks on all things creepy crawly, they are most likely making up the rest out in the pasture). However, I find myself concerned that this may not be the case.

When I compare the protein % based on overall weights (grams), it comes out to ~20%. This works for starter feed, yes? A minor adjustment, later, to drop the protein levels puts you right where you need to be for grower protien %s.

Anyway, I'm hoping that's the way you figure it; because, if you have to figure it based on caloric consumption - well, let's just say the numbers get ugly fast.

Thanks so much.
Kili

PS: Info gathered and my tweak for my babies with nutritional info based on 1g (kl = calories, P = protien, % C = calcium, % vitC = vitamin C):

whole corn (in winter this is increased to 3 or 4 parts) 102kl/3g P/0% C (nothing special)
soft white wheat 95kl/3g P/1% C/8% iron (phosphorus and manganese)
hard red winter wheat 92kl/4g P/1% C/5% iron (manganese and selenium)
hemp seeds (shelled) 162kl/10g P/0% C/15% iron (zinc and magnesium)
hulled barley 99kl/3g P/1% C (thiamin, selenium and manganese)
oat groats 108kl/5g P/1% C/7% iron (nothing special)
sunflower seeds (in winter this is increased to 2 parts) 164kl/6g P/2% C/8% iron/1% vitC (thiamin, b6, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, selenium, vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol))
millet 106kl/3g P/0% C/5% iron (manganese)
kamut 94kl/4g P/1% C/7% iron (thiamin, manganese, phosphorus and selenium)
amaranth seeds 104kl/4g P/4% C/12% iron/2% vitC (magnesium, phosphorus, manganese)
split peas 95kl/7g P/2% C/7% iron/1% vitC (thiamin, folate, phosphorus, copper and manganese)
lentils 99kl/7g P/2% C/12% iron/2% vitC (thiamin, phosphorus, manganese and folate)
chickpeas 102kl/5g P/3% C/10% iron/2% vitC (copper, folate and manganese)
quinoa 103kl/4g P/1% C/7% iron (folate, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese)
pumpkin seeds 151kl/7g P/1% C/23% iron/1% vitC (phosphorus, zinc, potassium, copper, selenium, b12 and manganese)
flax seeds 150kl/5g P/7% C/9% iron (magnesium, phosphorus, copper, thiamin and manganese)
kelp granules 12kl/0g P/5% C/4% iron (high sodium content and trace minerals needed by poultry)
Safflower seed kernels 145kl/5g P/2% C/8% iron (thiamin, b6, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and manganese)
granite grit
------------------------------
sesame seeds 160kl/5g P/27% C/23% iron (magnesium, copper, manganese and phosphorus)
oyster shells

If you don't mind me asking, Why so many grains/seeds?
Unless you are planning on grinding this mix into a mash feed most (80% or better) of the grains/seeds are going to be picked out and left on the ground.

Also keep in mind that when mixing feed you should know the Total Digestible Nutrition (TDN), Digestible Energy (DE), Net Energy Maintenance (NEm), Net Energy Growth (NEg) and not just the Caloric intake.

Just so that you know -
(CP) is Protein/Crude Protein
(P) is Phosphorus
(Ca) is Calcium

Chris

 

[Kilsharion]

If you don't mind me asking, Why so many grains/seeds?
Unless you are planning on grinding this mix into a mash feed most (80% or better) of the grains/seeds are going to be picked out and left on the ground.

Also keep in mind that when mixing feed you should know the Total Digestible Nutrition (TDN), Digestible Energy (DE), Net Energy Maintenance (NEm), Net Energy Growth (NEg) and not just the Caloric intake.

Just so that you know -
(CP) is Protein/Crude Protein
(P) is Phosphorus
(Ca) is Calcium

Chris

Thanks for the input. And, I'm still quite a nublette, so there is much learning involved in all of this. I was intending a mash feed, though the more I'm reading, the less likely I will be to do so.

Thanks for the abbreviations. It's much appreciated.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

True enough (re: greens and calcium %s).

I have been picking this recipe apart to see what all is in it and, I'm going to have to assume that if this is solely for adult chickens, given the sesame seeds and the protien content. Is that correct?

I went through and found a replacement for the sesame seeds that would give much less in the way of calcium but more in the way of protien to change it out for a grower feed. I am figuring any missing protien in this to be supplemented by their ranging (given their vociferious and prodigious attacks on all things creepy crawly, they are most likely making up the rest out in the pasture). However, I find myself concerned that this may not be the case.

When I compare the protein % based on overall weights (grams), it comes out to ~20%. This works for starter feed, yes? A minor adjustment, later, to drop the protein levels puts you right where you need to be for grower protien %s.

Anyway, I'm hoping that's the way you figure it; because, if you have to figure it based on caloric consumption - well, let's just say the numbers get ugly fast.

Thanks so much.
Kili

PS: Info gathered and my tweak for my babies with nutritional info based on 1g (kl = calories, P = protien, % C = calcium, % vitC = vitamin C):

whole corn (in winter this is increased to 3 or 4 parts) 102kl/3g P/0% C (nothing special)
soft white wheat 95kl/3g P/1% C/8% iron (phosphorus and manganese)
hard red winter wheat 92kl/4g P/1% C/5% iron (manganese and selenium)
hemp seeds (shelled) 162kl/10g P/0% C/15% iron (zinc and magnesium)
hulled barley 99kl/3g P/1% C (thiamin, selenium and manganese)
oat groats 108kl/5g P/1% C/7% iron (nothing special)
sunflower seeds (in winter this is increased to 2 parts) 164kl/6g P/2% C/8% iron/1% vitC (thiamin, b6, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, selenium, vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol))
millet 106kl/3g P/0% C/5% iron (manganese)
kamut 94kl/4g P/1% C/7% iron (thiamin, manganese, phosphorus and selenium)
amaranth seeds 104kl/4g P/4% C/12% iron/2% vitC (magnesium, phosphorus, manganese)
split peas 95kl/7g P/2% C/7% iron/1% vitC (thiamin, folate, phosphorus, copper and manganese)
lentils 99kl/7g P/2% C/12% iron/2% vitC (thiamin, phosphorus, manganese and folate)
chickpeas 102kl/5g P/3% C/10% iron/2% vitC (copper, folate and manganese)
quinoa 103kl/4g P/1% C/7% iron (folate, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese)
pumpkin seeds 151kl/7g P/1% C/23% iron/1% vitC (phosphorus, zinc, potassium, copper, selenium, b12 and manganese)
flax seeds 150kl/5g P/7% C/9% iron (magnesium, phosphorus, copper, thiamin and manganese)
kelp granules 12kl/0g P/5% C/4% iron (high sodium content and trace minerals needed by poultry)
Safflower seed kernels 145kl/5g P/2% C/8% iron (thiamin, b6, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and manganese)
granite grit
------------------------------
sesame seeds 160kl/5g P/27% C/23% iron (magnesium, copper, manganese and phosphorus)
oyster shells

Your mix looks delicious!

I have fed a lot of these things to my chickens and can tell you just a few things that I have found to be true for me:

My chickens didn't really like the taste of flax seeds but would eat them in small quantities. I read somewhere not to go over 4% anyway as they make the eggs taste fishy if you give too many. Elsewhere I saw 10%. They act like they aren't really food (same with alfalfa meal BTW but they LOVED alfalfa hay leaves).

The pumpkin seeds were eaten but only by the adults (too large for chicks) and only in small quantities. Eventually I gave up as they ended up getting recycled daily into the next batch and they ate them only when they were forced to clean up their feed every few days. I figured it was too much trouble if they don't really like them all that well.

Try to source everything through a feed store if possible.

Also split peas are great for them- lentils have more tannins and I'd limit them more unless you are cooking them/sprouting them. They don't like great quantities of split peas but will eat them if given a small amount in the mix.
The whole corn I'd try to buy cracked if possible to help them out a bit. They will be able to eat the whole corn but it does make it easier for the birds to have a few things already cracked in the mix.

Here is what I currently feed (I do vary it, leaving out some items and rotating things around but always strive for around 15% protein):

1/3 organic chick starter (roasted soy and corn only with added vitamins are the ingred.)
rolled barley
organic cracked corn
rolled oats
millet
soft wheat (tried hard wheat but it is only 14% protein or so and not worth the extra cost)
black oil sun. seeds
split peas mixed in sometimes
kitchen scraps
range in grassy pens for vitamins- green grass year round

Your chicks will have a very hard time with all those wheat berries and thus I recommend giving them a chick starter unless you can grind some roasted soybeans and include those with some other ground feed AND green grass or alfalfa hay leaves for vitamins.

Chickens can get vitamin deficiencies very easily with devastating effects. So they need greens if you are making your own feed (and yes there are vitamin premixes like Fertrell you can buy but I don't as I like the fresh greens better). But chicks are tricky and so I just feed organic chick starter to them until they are around 8 weeks old. Then I start introducing some of the smaller grains and seeds and they end up on the 1/3 chick starter mix when they are able to handle the 15% or so protein.
Austrian peas I tried but they don't like them much and thus I am mixing them in - in stealth mode - until they finish them off right now.

The most bang for the buck is the rolled barley. They like it and it is so cheap. Rolled oats are much cheaper than groats for humans and it does contain the hull kind of hanging off the oat but soooo cheap.

Ask your feed store what they can special order for you! I buy my split peas from the grocery store bulk bins at less than 50 cents a pound, but everything else I can buy from the feed store. Kelp meal I have given up on too, as I give them woodstove ashes for trace minerals.

Additionally, I have to mix oyster shells into the feed, as if I include them on the side only, the eggshells become too soft. I also mix in some grit on occasion, and other times throw the sharp granite grit on the ground. They need grit to digest the whole grains, but the grit will stay in the gizzard for as long as a year I have recently found. If you are free ranging they can find grit in the soil they say.

 

[Kilsharion]

Your mix looks delicious!

I have fed a lot of these things to my chickens and can tell you just a few things that I have found to be true for me:

My chickens didn't really like the taste of flax seeds but would eat them in small quantities. I read somewhere not to go over 4% anyway as they make the eggs taste fishy if you give too many. Elsewhere I saw 10%. They act like they aren't really food (same with alfalfa meal BTW but they LOVED alfalfa hay leaves).

The pumpkin seeds were eaten but only by the adults (too large for chicks) and only in small quantities. Eventually I gave up as they ended up getting recycled daily into the next batch and they ate them only when they were forced to clean up their feed every few days. I figured it was too much trouble if they don't really like them all that well.

Try to source everything through a feed store if possible.

Also split peas are great for them- lentils have more tannins and I'd limit them more unless you are cooking them/sprouting them. They don't like great quantities of split peas but will eat them if given a small amount in the mix.
The whole corn I'd try to buy cracked if possible to help them out a bit. They will be able to eat the whole corn but it does make it easier for the birds to have a few things already cracked in the mix.

Here is what I currently feed (I do vary it, leaving out some items and rotating things around but always strive for around 15% protein):

1/3 organic chick starter (roasted soy and corn only with added vitamins are the ingred.)
rolled barley
organic cracked corn
rolled oats
millet
soft wheat (tried hard wheat but it is only 14% protein or so and not worth the extra cost)
black oil sun. seeds
split peas mixed in sometimes
kitchen scraps
range in grassy pens for vitamins- green grass year round

Your chicks will have a very hard time with all those wheat berries and thus I recommend giving them a chick starter unless you can grind some roasted soybeans and include those with some other ground feed AND green grass or alfalfa hay leaves for vitamins.

Chickens can get vitamin deficiencies very easily with devastating effects. So they need greens if you are making your own feed (and yes there are vitamin premixes like Fertrell you can buy but I don't as I like the fresh greens better). But chicks are tricky and so I just feed organic chick starter to them until they are around 8 weeks old. Then I start introducing some of the smaller grains and seeds and they end up on the 1/3 chick starter mix when they are able to handle the 15% or so protein.
Austrian peas I tried but they don't like them much and thus I am mixing them in - in stealth mode - until they finish them off right now.

Thanks - I didn't post the parts per, here, so it's hard to tell how much of what is where, isn't it? The flax is only a half of a third of a part in the mix...so, not much. Same goes for most of the seeds, actually. It's a pretty varied mix, and I was thinking cracked corn - glad to see you say that.

I saw that the black oil SS were recommended; but, the gals aren't powerful enough, yet, to give them a go. I sat down with a handful of each bit of things I was interested in trying out to see which ones caught their attention, and which did not. They were pretty clear that they loved legumes. Boy did they. I was breaking up peanuts and some of the bits and pieces fell to the ground...it was on! Those girls...**shakes head** you'd have thought it was mana from heaven.

I figured they would have many of the same types of issues that recovering reptiles have - the calcium to protein balance is crucial. I know I keep bringing up reptiles - but, it's only because I worked with reptile rescue for a while and I am seeing some correlations. Not because I think they are the same or have the same requirements.

The vitamin deficiency doesn't surprise me. I've heard that romaine lettuce is actually a decent treat as well? I'm used to using greens as treats and never really considered romaine. I'd prefer to stick with things like collard greens, or as was mentioned earlier spinach and mustard greens - they are cheap, easy to grow and plentiful.

You mention kitchen scraps - like what? I know they loved my Jicama; but, I hadn't really considered much more in the way of scraps. To me, that's always been a worm or hog thing. Are there scraps to absolutely avoid? I'd figure anything poisonous to us would be bad for them; but, what about the stuff we tolerate and enjoy? Like - tomatoes? Or - citrus? I know citrus is absolutely to be avoided with reptiles because of the leeching properties it has where calcium is concerned. Is it the same for chickens?

I like the alfalfa hay idea - plenty of that around here. I also found that my local farm store carries an organic chick starter crumble mix that is well priced and looks to have a lot of the ingredients we are talking about. What about clover? There are a few people around here who have their pastures sown with clover to attract the deer - I'd assume all those nutrients would be grand for the chicks as well.

As for fresh, green grass, they are in a coop much like one of the tractors on here...the a-frame with wheels. I can't recall the name of it...**mumbles and goes to look** There it is: BG's Little Egg Factory. We call ours the Chick Chalet...but, yanno We have a run that attaches to it to give the girls another bit of ranging space. Because our acreage is 100% unfenced, I do not let them roam freely without eagle eye supervision.

I think I'll go with the suggestion you provided and keep the chicks on the feed mix like what you have listed and slowly introduce them to more variety as they age.

I appreciate all your wonderful feedback

 

[jime]

Ok I am gonna try this, my english is not that good but if there is something that you guys don't understand just ask and I will try to explain better.
I have been reading this post and I am one that uses that recipe.
Expensive not for me.This are some estimates so far not.
I spend on wheat, barley 120.00 last me 100 days (lets say 3 months)
corn, sunflower seed,oats,millet 115.00 las me 100 days (lets say 3 months)
lentils,kamut,sesame,amarath,flax seeds 165.00 make this last 6 months or more
The total will be: 98.00 a month for the grains because I change the amounts, I give them an organic mash witch is 20% protein and cost me 20.00 each bag, I make 3 bags last me 3 months so a bag a month.If I was to feed this only will be using 1 bag every 3 days.Will be incredible expensive.
I sprout the grain (some) and then add the kelp and the other grain that I don't sprout.
I do fooder as well but I have horses to so that is another bill.
I raise meal worms , dubia roaches , convict fish, mollies, red wigglers and crayfish, so they eat all this as well.Beside that they free range all the time.
They free range all day, I have 4 geese and 6 ducks, 20 chickens, so far and their plates have left over in the afternoon witch the ducks take care of in the nigth so I don't think they are going hungry.
For me this recipe works really good but I measure everything.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
You don't have to break the peanuts up for them I have found- they can beak beat them to the ground to break them up in pieces themselves. I used to take a rubber mallet to them in a ziplock bag before I discovered that.

Romaine lettuce is very good for them- all the greens. Clover is a favorite of chickens I have found. Kitchen scraps- leftovers from my kids that they won't eat off their plates, food left in the fridge too long so that it is kind of stale but not moldy. Stale bread ends, soup that I waded through bowl after bowl and now just need to be done with, and so on. I never feed anything moldy or that we wouldn't eat if desperate ourselves, but seeing as that it is stale no one wants it. I do feed very tiny amounts of citrus and any kind of fruit if it is available. We usually finish off our citrus though so it doesn't really happen, but there is the occasional wedge of orange left out overnight that is all shrunken.

Tomatoes, definitely. They get our split cherry tomatoes and I have to admit I share lots of cherries and grapes from our yard, also apples. All carrots that went limp and the tops (they will peck them and you don't have to chop the carrots).

I do sow clover for them sometimes but you must be cautious as some seed is treated. Grass seed is available (but not clover from what I have found around here) that is not treated. I keep them off it until it is growing well. Don't allow them to eat treated seeds.

Enjoy your chickens and there is a treat chart that you can find if you google "backyardchickens treat chart." For some reason the BYC search bar is ineffective now and I go out to google to do my searching.

BTW some people say no citrus and no potatoes, but I just don't follow along with that thinking.

 

[Island Roo]

No potato or tomato greens for the chickens - theres something toxic in leaves of that family of plants.

ChickensAreSweet - do you add the wood ash to your feed? How much?
I've been counting on kelp meal, alfalfa and sea salt for trace minerals.

ETA - I just did a quick search on wood ash. Seems a bit controversial as a feed source. No?

 

[Organic Farm]

Good to know! I'll have to try this!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

No potato or tomato greens for the chickens - theres something toxic in leaves of that family of plants.

ChickensAreSweet - do you add the wood ash to your feed? How much?
I've been counting on kelp meal, alfalfa and sea salt for trace minerals.

ETA - I just did a quick search on wood ash. Seems a bit controversial as a feed source. No?

I just dump the woodstove ashes in a safe place (no grass to ignite) in the yard, and the chickens just roll around in it, peck at it, eat it, and act like it's the best thing invented since mealworms. I don't actually know what is in it other than about 50% calcium. But I figure it is great stuff by the looks of their enthusiasm!

I did read that it had lots of minerals when I investigated putting it around fruit trees. So if you google it you can probably find the info. that way.