Combo of Whole Grains or Feed

PS. I had no idea that mealworms are only 12% proteins though, and I was thinking in terms of fresh food (alfalfa live plants), not meal. BSF larvae are 40% proteins dry weight and I assumed mealworms are too.

In the post I quoted you simply stated, "worms" not meal worms.
Meal worms average around 42-44 percent per 100g of weight.

As far as alfalfa meal or live plant go's there both very fibrous and chickens cant handle it like cattle, goats or sheep can.
 
Hmm I just didn't add the large quantity prices into my equation which kinda sucks cause I was looking for a cheap feed and I could make it myself. But these birds will have access to lots of clover and more worms (night crawlers) than you can imagine you can literally take 1 shovel load and pick out 2 dozen 3-4 inch worms for some reason they love this ground (an old deer pen now 3 or 4 years old) so that should be good.What grains would I need to put in the mix? or what could I? Wheat, Barley, Corn, Peas, Soybeans, Sunflower are a few I thought of

I could just try and supplement their feed with this mix I could feed it normal, sprouted or fermented
 
Mixed grains will not be sufficient for health. They will need a nice high protein source to go along with that...seeds can accomplish much but really I recommend buying a poultry nutrition book (Heuser's book by Norton Creek Press is good) or researching extensively on internet first.

During summer if they are digging up lots of earthworms and free ranging, it is different than being penned with nothing but grains. Roasted soy protein today has become the gold standard for poultry feed, since it provides a cheap source of protein. Clabbered (from what I read must be raw) milk, meat scraps, seeds, and the like are also good but more expensive unless you have a steady supply available in your household anyway.

Soy needs to be roasted otherwise is toxic to poultry.
Peas:
http://www.extension.org/pages/67359/feeding-field-peas-to-poultry#.VNrZYPnF_EY


Google "barley poultry sticky droppings necrotic enteritis" so don't give too much of that but they do love it.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Nutrition-Barley.html

Black oil sun. seeds, split peas, wheat, millet, corn, barley, oats (the hulls can be irritating to the crop so in moderation unless they have no hulls) etc. are good.

They will need grit and oyster shell. My chickens lay better with some soy. So I have gone to using chick crumbles (unmedicated) as the high protein source.

Protein levels:
wheat 12-14%
millet 11%
corn 7-9%
oats ? don't remember
peas 24.5%
barley ?don't remember
Black oil sun. seeds 16%

Have fun and look for Harvey Ussery's articles on internet too on mixing feed.
 
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Nope, wheat (and I believe oat) is way cheaper than chicken feed if you buy from grain mill.
 

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