Chicken Feed and Nutrition Help

[bufforpington42]

We are trying to make our own chicken feed for our laying(well not laying yet) hens. We would like 16-18% protein. I'm having trouble trying to figure out a recipe out of the ingredients I have to get the protein up that high. I've been able to get up to 14.9% figuring out different portions of each.

These are the ingredients I have:
Whole corn ~ 9% protein
Spring Wheat ~ 12% protein
Barley ~ 12% protein
Split Peas ~ around 30% protein
Black Oil sunflower seeds ~ 16% protein

This is the recipe of 14.9%:
Whole corn ~ 3 parts
Spring Wheat ~ 6 parts
Barley ~ 5 parts
Split Peas ~ 3 parts
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds ~ 4 parts

I ordered all of these from Azure Standard but my whole oats didn't come in and will have to wait 1 more month until they drive down again. Oyster shells will be given in another container when they get closer to laying.

My 3 barred rocks are about 10-11 weeks old and my 2 buff orpingtons are about 12-13 weeks old.

One other thing: the split peas are quite expensive so I would not like to use so much of those.

They eat grass and they are let out to forage about 5-10 hours a week, otherwise they are in an 8x15 fenced in area with a flower box full of grass. They get bread to eat every other day and left overs whenever we have some- 3-5 days a week.

Please Help! Thanks!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! It's very difficult to balance a homemade diet, and yours isn't even close. Is there a reason to do it at all? Commercial diets are balanced through huge amounts of research, and can't be duplicated for anywhere close to the same price per pound at home. Mary

 

[bufforpington42]

I would.....except I would rather not feed my chickens ingredients that i cannot pronounce. Same goes for the things I eat. Organic chicken feed is far to expensive. I have friends who feed their chickens wheat, oats, and barley. They do just fine. They also have 30 chickens.

 

[Nolly]

For a bird that used to forage in a jungle thousands of years ago, I wonder if commercial products aren't more about getting the most eggs compared to a healthy bird, but less eggs. Just pondering.

 

[pdirt]

Since you order from Azure, I would suggest adding "Fertrell Poultry Nutribalancer" to your next order. Yes, it is expensive, but it will fill in a lot of the nutritional gaps that your recipe has. It's a product used in many organic chicken feeds, including Scratch n Peck. A 10lbs bag of Nutribalancer will supplement 333 pounds of grains/legumes. $25

Azure doesn't sell it, but you might consider ordering from a feed store a bag of Fertrell Fish Meal. It's VERY hard to get decent nutrition from a vegetarian diet. Perhaps they will get enough from bugs they eat, but unless you live in a warm climate year round, there are no bugs to eat in winter time. The fish meal is high quality Menhaden fish (good quality fats and low/no mercury because they're small fish) and is preserved with an extract of the rosemary herb. I paid $80 (no shipping since ordered through a store) for a 50lbs bag last fall and I still have 15lbs left after feeding 23 chickens all winter. Use no more than 5% in your recipe otherwise sometimes people report getting fishy flavored eggs. I've not had that issue and am currently feeding about 7% fish meal.

The Nutribalancer and Fish meal will cost you a chunk on the outset, but will last you quite a while. They will dramatically improve the nutrition of your recipe. If you want to save some money, just use the fish meal during the cold months of your year.

I would also consider upping your overall protein content from 14.9% to 17 or 18%. When you feed them kitchen scraps (unless those scraps are meat), those scraps will dilute their overall protein. If you want them to lay eggs regularly, you should have no less than 16%.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Folly's place]

Wild jungle fowl, and domestic chickens until fairly recently, only produced 40 to60 eggs/ year. It was impressive when egg production hit 100+/year! Modern birds need optimum balanced nutrition to meet the needs of much higher egg production, and larger body size. Vitamins deteriorate over time; keeping a vitamin/mineral supplement for more than 60 days is not a good idea. Mary

 

[bufforpington42]

Thank you pdirt! I figured out a portion for almost 16%! I was super excited. Right now I'm mixing it with their commercial organic feed because I know that those grains will not be quite enough. They love it! If this feed doesn't cut it, yes I will add some vitamins and minerals. Will surely be doing fish meal this winter! Thanks!

 

[bufforpington42]

For a bird that used to forage in a jungle thousands of years ago, I wonder if commercial products aren't more about getting the most eggs compared to a healthy bird, but less eggs. Just pondering.

Nolly, I've never thought of that and would have to agree. Obviously chickens have been around for ever and they never used to need all of these specific commercial "dietary needs." I'd rather my chickens be getting whole foods with less eggs then all of these other modified ingredients with more eggs. Thanks for the input!

 

[pdirt]

For a bird that used to forage in a jungle thousands of years ago, I wonder if commercial products aren't more about getting the most eggs compared to a healthy bird, but less eggs. Just pondering.

Nolly, I've never thought of that and would have to agree. Obviously chickens have been around for ever and they never used to need all of these specific commercial "dietary needs." I'd rather my chickens be getting whole foods with less eggs then all of these other modified ingredients with more eggs. Thanks for the input!

Actually, comparing the jungle fowl (the bird most folks agree the modern chicken is descended from) to our present day chickens is not a good comparison. Iirc, the jungle fowl only laid a clutch or two of eggs a year, not like our chickens that lay 180-300+ eggs a year. The modern chickens are not natural in the sense that humans have painstakingly selectively bred them for specific traits, namely high egg producing and meaty carcasses. They require special nutrition to meet those goals. If not a commercial formulated feed, then someone who knows how to mix their own properly.

Now, I agree there are plenty of "bad feeds" out there...feeds with way too many 17-letter unpronounceable ingredients. I am also a fan of whole foods. There are feeds out there like this. Some, not all, are organic feeds. Some of the organic feeds are not much better except they hopefully have fewer pesticides in them. You just have to keep reading labels. e.

That said, I think if you reduce your BOSS and increase protein in some other manner, plus add Nutribalancer, you'll have a decent homemade feed. Store your Nutribalancer indoors in a cool, dark and dry location, with the package sealed up as tight as possible.

 

[pdirt]

One thing I have been thinking about but do not yet know the answer:

If one feeds a modern chicken a poor diet (one not designed for their genetics) and this results in fewer eggs, does this mean:

A) the chicken simply is not getting enough nutrition to produce more eggs

Or

B) the chicken's health is being compromised because their genetics are expecting/demanding superior nutrition, in addition to not being able to produce more eggs