Creating my own organic feed

[LilyD]

Okay so here's the plan. I read this article which has a great recipe for making your own chicken feed.

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/organic-chicken-feed-cheap.htm

I think I am ready to move out of the planning stage and into the doing stage. I already have DE because I use that in their dustbaths and nesting boxes to get rid of buggies. Checking out pricing for the other items. Since the grains I will be buying will be whole grains and organic so not covered with things so they won't grow. I will be sprouting them as well for the extra nutrition and adding the kelp and and DE to it after it's done cooking. What I like best is that there is absolutely no soy of fish meal in the recipe at all and I still have room to add more veggies and other items as well to their diet. This is the recipe from the article for those who are interested:

2 parts whole corn
3 parts soft white wheat
3 parts hard red wheat
1 part hulled barley
1 part oats
2 parts sunflower
1/2 part peanuts
1 part wheat bran
1 part split pea
1 part lentil
1 part quinoah
1 part sesame
1/2 part kelp
1/2 part DE

I have been feeding these items in small amounts as treats with their pelleted feed and veggies and they love them. I will still be supplementing with fresh veggie, fruit, meat and cheese scraps from our own meals, but I am really thinking this might work as great whole grain feed. Also in the article at the bottom they show links for broiler feed and chick starter feed that are also whole grain. I am a little worried about feeding whole grains to babies since they are so tiny but would love thoughts from others.

 

[cjhubbs]

I always thought that making one's own animal feed was interesting, thanks for posting it. I will be looking into this most especially because the price of pre mixed chicken feed is getting expensive! Thanks

 

[LilyD]

That's what originally started me looking. Then I started looking a bit more into the ingredients that are in the pelleted feed and some of them seem more harmful than beneficial. If we are trying to raise them as closely to naturally as possible whole grains would have to be the way to go in my opinion.

 

[Chicken Slave]

I have posted on this as well. I used six different online recipes, narrowed it down to ingredients from each catagory they liked the best, then mixed to a balance. I have been trying organic feeds and they are all too ground and have to be served as mash to get my hens to eat it all. The ground stuff in it is really good for them but I don't really care to mix mash every time I feed. Nor clean up the mess from it. They sure seemed to eat better on the mix I made than either of the organic feeds I have tried. You can get wonderful organic grains from Coyote Creek Feed Mill. They ship reasonably too. I just ordered in 500 lbs of grains, which will last a long while, but the price for the grain and the shipping was too good to pass up for organics. Here is my feed mix. I had hens laying on this well so I think I had a good mix going. I very well may switch back to it if they don't start eating this organic mix. Been about a week now and lots of dust left in the feeder.


6 parts wheat
4 parts rolled oats
1 part field peas
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flax seed
1 part pellets
1 part sunflower seeds
1 part alfalfa pellets
1/2 sesame seeds
1/2 part diatomaceous earth
1/2 part kelp powder
1/2 nutritional yeast

I do not know if they eat less of the bought mix because it's higher in nutritional value or they just don't like it. I do know most of the finely ground stuff is always left.

 

[LilyD]

I am on the second day feeding the organic mix that I made up. I can honestly say that they are devouring it faster than they ever did the pelleted feed. I also like that it contains no soy and no fish. I think they like the whole grains because they can pick out what they like the best and then come back to the rest later. Like the kid who wants to eat desert first before their dinner lol. All I know is that every time that I go out to give them more the dishes are completely cleaned out like they have licked it clean if that is possible for chickens to do lol.

I have one chicken who is always escaping and running off because she hates when I take her eggs and she heard me coming with the bucket today and actually raced to put herself back in the coop so she could get some. It's better than any treat I have fed them so far lol.

 

[Chicken Slave]

So one of the long term members on here was telling me that the grain diets are no longer good for the chickens because they can no longer absorb the nutrients from the grains. I asked how that came to be that a bird couldn't digest grain any longer and his argument was that he said they couldn't absorb the nutrients, no that they couldn't digest the food. On that note I decided since they were totally contradicting themselves that I shouldn't listen any longer.haha I am mixing in a ground organic feed w/ their grains so they do get the salts and minerals they need. I get one more egg a week than they say they are supposed to lay and big fat poops. I guess all is well. They still don't care for the finely ground stuff in the feed but will eat it up as a mash. They must be getting enough and then some to be so productive.

 

[Jipus5]

I just received a huge bag of whole wheat for free. They said give it to the chickens...I have my own mix of things I give them...can I add this in?
I tossed a few on the ground and they walked away from it.......

 

[LilyD]

So one of the long term members on here was telling me that the grain diets are no longer good for the chickens because they can no longer absorb the nutrients from the grains. I asked how that came to be that a bird couldn't digest grain any longer and his argument was that he said they couldn't absorb the nutrients, no that they couldn't digest the food. On that note I decided since they were totally contradicting themselves that I shouldn't listen any longer.haha I am mixing in a ground organic feed w/ their grains so they do get the salts and minerals they need. I get one more egg a week than they say they are supposed to lay and big fat poops. I guess all is well. They still don't care for the finely ground stuff in the feed but will eat it up as a mash. They must be getting enough and then some to be so productive.

Yeah when I first started asking around here about making my own chicken feed, I was asked why I want to reinvent the wheel. Why do I want to take time trying to make a balanced feed for my chickens when there are perfectly good pelleted feeds out there that have all the things your chickens need. My answer was that It does have all the vitamins and minerals but it also has other things I don't want to feed like soy and fish meal. The guy I will be going through has all organic grain products and he will custom mix any type of feed ratio that I want based on what I want to balance out what the girls are eating. The main thing I have realized is that this time of year they need more protein than in the summer since there are no bugs to eat. They also are absolutely addicted to greens in any form this time of year because they really miss them. I feed the fermented grain which is a mix of wheat, barley, oat, field pea and corn and then I add veggies, fruits and other treats on the side like meal worms or scrambled eggs. They love it.

 

[LilyD]

I just received a huge bag of whole wheat for free. They said give it to the chickens...I have my own mix of things I give them...can I add this in?
I tossed a few on the ground and they walked away from it.......

Yes you can add the grain in they will let you know if they don't like it or don't need it. I tried feeding them cooked beans and darned if they didn't pick out each and every one and I found them on the floor. Wheat my girls never turn down it's one of their favorites.

 

[BobbieC]

One question - where are you getting organic corn? Cracked corn?