Bulk seed

[aart]

We are looking into mixing our own feed using this fella’s formula on a YouTube video:

Premium whole oats 30lb

Whole corn 20lbs.

Black oil sunflower seeds 20lb

Split Peas 10lbs

Flax seed 5lbs

Add DE as well maybe a cup?

So we see that TS is where we can source the first three ingredients, but I’m wondering gbwhere Incan buy bulk split peas and bulk flax seeds.
Does anyone else mix their own feed, if so what fro you use, what amounts and where do you find your ingredients? Appreciate any help.

No premix added for vital minerals/vitamins/amino acids??

How much can you use up before it starts going stale?

 

[springvalley123]

So if all these fancy vitamins are needed, what did homesteaders and farmers feed their chickens a hundred years ago?

Yesteryear's chickens didn't produce a 2 oz egg 300 days a year, from a bird that weighed only 5 pounds. If you take a modern chicken, which has been bred to produce lots of eggs with as little food as possible, and give it yesterday's feed (tossed scraps etc), the chicken won't get the nourishment it needs. For example, calcium is an electrolyte as well as egg-shell maker. Similar for all the other nutrients, especially those in the vitamin pack and the make up of the amino acids . So, you get a malnourished bird who gets sick "trying" to produce at the rate it was bred to.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

What exactly are the politics of this? And there is no rule against politics either way.

It's a conspiracy theory. There is no actual evidence that commercial feed is causing hens not to lay eggs. It's all anecdotal. Not to mention it would be a REALLY bad business move for commercial feed producers to sabotage their own product. Why would they do that?

Mark Twain once said:
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on."

There actually is a term of use guideline regarding getting into politics here:

"We strongly discourage religious, political, and other strongly divisive topics, and reserve the right to delete them at our discretion."

 

[sdm111]

@CarlaCo asked a few straight-forward questions. It is my opinion that either we should answer the question and help; or not say anything at all. We are here to share information and support each other, not to "label" people or create divided groups.

If people gave facts and not an uneducated opinion it would be impossible to label people cause it's facts. Yet when people want someone to back up a claim it's flaming or being un nice which is against policy and gets removed. That's sad. So basically it's OK for frivolous information to run rampid here but facts are a nono. No wonder why so many first posts from people start off by saying "I've searched now I'm so confused ". Let's see how long this post takes to vanish and me get yet another love letter saying how mean I am

 

[centrarchid]

I play around with my own concoctions for chickens all the time. Generally, saving money on feedstuffs is not a concern when doing it. Additionally, my chickens, like a very large percentage of those kept by people on this site, do not represent highly productive breeds in terms of rapid growth or high egg production. They are middling at best on these measures. Additionally, more often than not, my birds are fed for purpose of maintenance and long-term health. The feeds developed for commercial production which represent most of what I can buy are too hot/nutrient dense for sustained free-choice consumption by my birds.

The minimal nutritional requirements touted for chickens are based on breeds that are high performers for relatively short period of time under environmental conditions that do not include heat or cold stress. Most people in temperature zones keeping chickens outdoors are not doing the mild conditions. Especially, when it comes to cold and energy needs of the chickens are higher, the relative amounts of protein and energy in the feed needed are likely to differ.

Additionally, the diets sold are designed to be least-cost so cheap for use when birds are under ideal conditions. That makes me uncomfortable drilling into everyone head what the backyard chickens require when information is based on production chickens under controlled conditions.

My dog has a horrible case of gas making it difficult to keep a line of thought going. She consumed a bunch of chicken feed.

 

[8shotsmorethots]

It's a conspiracy theory. There is no actual evidence that commercial feed is causing hens not to lay eggs. It's all anecdotal. Not to mention it would be a REALLY bad business move for commercial feed producers to sabotage their own product. Why would they do that?

Mark Twain once said:
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on."

There actually is a term of use guideline regarding getting into politics here:

"We strongly discourage religious, political, and other strongly divisive topics, and reserve the right to delete them at our discretion."

Again, there is no politics to this, and throwing "conspiracy theory" meaningless label people throw at around when confronted with an ugly thought they'd rather just dismiss out of hand. Land of Lakes makes much more money selling eggs right now, making record profits, than they do from selling chicken feed. Food growers, farmers, producers across the western world seem to be under coordinated attack lately. People are being forced to kill off their flocks because of bogus PCR tests for avian flu, despite the birds being healthy.

If you can't talk about something potentially very serious directly and exclusively relating to what this site is all about, because we live in a new orwellian society where thinking and discourse are considered harmful, then there's no point in even being here.

 

[BDutch]

Unproven info? No one thus far is claiming to have any proof yet, it should be allowed to share experiences, trials and even suspicions and opinions. When did the world become so afraid of open discussion and opinions?

Good grief. It does say no arguing or politics and the like. The other threads went there. Plus, they will shut down threads that are reported by other users. And they don't want unproven info being sourced here, I'm sure. My vocabulary is my vocabulary. Not a huge fan of dystopian novels. Too boring.

Here are the terms we all agreed to:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/help/terms/

If you keep a friendly tone and dont make political statements, you don’t get into trouble with the moderaters.

You can have your own opinion about keeping chickens. But eith prooven wrong answers that irritate people you get discarded. And some people get a warning who do not behave with respect to others. And get discarded too when they carry on.

I am glad for that. It makes this forum a nice place to visit. For gathering information, for blogging, support, discussions and to make jokes, !

 

[JacinLarkwell]

and based on our shared experience it seems to be linked to the brands of feed we used."

Plenty of people not using those brands also noticed a decrease. Because it's winter

 

[springvalley123]

I looked into mixing my own feed years ago. I'm in a rural area (as are many BYC'ers), but it seemed virtually impossible logistically---to source x pounds of a vitamin/mineral mix, and all the other things. You had to meet someone in a nearby area to pick up one ingredient, etc. Very difficult and not too feasible. And it would cost much more.

 

[Sammster]

https://www.palousebrand.com/

I use this company for many of their products. Lowes has food-grade buckets and gamma lids. Grains should be pre-frozen for 3 days, thawed for 3 days, frozen again for 3 days - to break bug cycles, before long-term storage. If you live in a cold-winter climate - you could take advantage of nature's freezer. Just protect your supply from scavengers, while doing it.
In your buckets - layering in a few bayleaves also helps.

Whether you feed a commercial feed or not - having a recipe like this written down, is a good idea - in case for some reason, commercial feed becomes unavailable.