BEST chicken feed recipe, ever.

[PrairieRidge]

We belong to a local COOP that orders a truckload of grains from Wheat Montana every 4-6 months. Their prices are quite reasonable. We've only bought the conventional wheat (bronze and gold), but have been happy with it. They also have oat groats, flax seed, and some other items I'm forgetting.

What co-op is that?

 

[bsparky3368]

where do I find these grains? Just the ones that are more unusual. I only have 6 chicks so I don't need a huge amount to start with. thanks for the recipe!

 

[idamarie]

This post tells me you are a wise woman with a good heart. I am a newbie. Hoping to get my chickens this year. Hopefully in a month. Thank you for gently correcting those with little patience. This is in reply to 4-24-12, CrownJewelDanes (Rebekah) statement.

 

[LaGeniaLoca]

Hello all!

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the purpose of each ingredient is? What role does it play in their nutritional needs? Sorry if it's been asked before.

Thanks,

Stacy

 

[Jokilyn]

Hi! Newbie here! Trying to put together a good solid recipe to feed my (soon to be) chicks/chickens. Been interested in chickens for years, but finally have a stable place to ACTUALLY get some! I'm interested in your breakdown of the recipe. I love the ideas of having them forage, but also want to ensure that they have a good option with some scratch as well. Would you mind posting some sort of ratio/proportion list to know what amounts of each thing? I'm pretty much for sure against using any soy in the feed, and if possible, would like to avoid corn as well (although, I'm not sure what to use in it's place in order to maintain proper nutrition levels.) I'm no scientist, but I can follow instructions like a boss! Any help/input from ANYONE would be immensely appreciated!

 

[Chicksincascade]

I purchased eggs from a lady and the eggs made me sick. She said she feeds them organic feed and free range also. Could it be something that she feeds them that does that. I am getting chicks, so I wont need to purchase eggs anymore. Just wondering

 

[Sparkling]

I buy my organic grains from a co-op located in Oregon. They are much cheaper than many places. The requirement for a co-op in an area for purchasing once a month (if you choose to order that month) is $55.00 per person/order to meet the full requirement of $550.00 per order. So you would either need 10 people with an order of at least $55.00 or often times people in the co-op order $300.00 or so at least, so many times you don't need 10 people to make an order. They have a HUGE selection of organic foods. The name is Azure Standard and they have a website online. Prices include shipping as far as I know unless you live in Alaska like I do, we have to pay a little extra for shipping:/ We have been extremely happy with their prices and service. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.azurestandard.com/

You may have to enter it on your search bar up above (sorry, I'm a little computer ignorant as to the names of some things) to get to it. In order to see the prices, you will need to create an account which does not obligate you to purchase anything.

Here in Oregon we don't have to pay shipping to order from Azure standard. I was thinking I could mix up my own chicken feed if I ordered the ingredients there. Starting to feel a little intimidated by the number of ingredients required though. Do they really need ALL that stuff?

 

[Sparkling]

Hi! Newbie here! Trying to put together a good solid recipe to feed my (soon to be) chicks/chickens. Been interested in chickens for years, but finally have a stable place to ACTUALLY get some! I'm interested in your breakdown of the recipe. I love the ideas of having them forage, but also want to ensure that they have a good option with some scratch as well. Would you mind posting some sort of ratio/proportion list to know what amounts of each thing? I'm pretty much for sure against using any soy in the feed, and if possible, would like to avoid corn as well (although, I'm not sure what to use in it's place in order to maintain proper nutrition levels.) I'm no scientist, but I can follow instructions like a boss! Any help/input from ANYONE would be immensely appreciated!

I'm with you. I used commercial feed when I had chickens 10-12 years ago, and my baby chicks are eating commercial feed right now because I didn't know what else to feed them and wanted to be sure they would thrive. But I really would like to avoid paying the high prices of organic feed from the feed store, and looking at buying the ingredients to make my own. But I don't want to feed them soy because it's almost 100% GMO now. And I am reluctant to feed them corn because organic corn is expensive, and everything else is GMO. But I also don't want malnourished hens. My babies are about 2 or 3 weeks old now (I think some were a week old when we bought them). So I'm researching how to mix up their layer feed for when they get bigger, which is happening really fast!

 

[Sparkling]

http://wheatmontana.com/mill.php
they have organic on their price list

I have never ordered from them though.

Also you might try azurestandard.com but there is like a $550 minimum order I think.

You can email Azure Standard and ask where a local drop point is for you. Then your orders will be combined with those of the other people at that drop point, and you don't have to order so much. You can just order $50 or whatever.

 

[FireflyNights]

I'm with you. I used commercial feed when I had chickens 10-12 years ago, and my baby chicks are eating commercial feed right now because I didn't know what else to feed them and wanted to be sure they would thrive. But I really would like to avoid paying the high prices of organic feed from the feed store, and looking at buying the ingredients to make my own. But I don't want to feed them soy because it's almost 100% GMO now. And I am reluctant to feed them corn because organic corn is expensive, and everything else is GMO. But I also don't want malnourished hens. My babies are about 2 or 3 weeks old now (I think some were a week old when we bought them). So I'm researching how to mix up their layer feed for when they get bigger, which is happening really fast!

If you live in the right climate you can grow your on GMO free seed and soy beans. I got heirloom GMO free soy seed from rareseeds.com

I don't use soy a lot since I for health reasons need to avoid it including in my eggs but I grow it for my parrots and other creatures.