DIY chicken feed mix in a tub - ingredients?

[Katereid43]

Hi all!
I am new to having chickens (bought a house, it had a coop/run, thought why not). Just got 2 bantams.
We don't have a lot of storage in our house so I have bought a large 20L tub from kmart to store their feed in (and I have another tub for the dog food).
I want to ideally mix up their feed in this tub so that I just have to scoop it and throw it in their coop without measuring little bit of this, little bit of that, and measuring.
I am new to this so please be nice and any help is appreciated

I was given a bag of layer pellets from the lady I got the chooks from.
I also have bran (from the human supermarket), oats (human supermarket) and a bag of chicken feed mix from the human supermarket which has some corn and other bits and pieces of seed in it (it actually looks like what you would feed a budgie or pet bird???)
Sorry for the vague descriptions.
I haven't given them grit yet as I am still learning. Do I need to as they have a 2 storey coop, bottom story is dirt/grass/plants. Approx 2m X 3m then a ramp up to the sleeping space. I don't really let them out due to the dog.
Do they still need grit due to scratching and pecking in the yard?

What ratio would you mix up of the following (or what do I leave out/add in?)
Chicken pellets, bird seed/corn mix (says chicken on the bag), bran, oats.... grit?

Thanks all!
Im sure I will have more questions so thanks in advance

Edit to add: I also throw them a bowl full of kitchen scraps each night: lettuce, zucchini, carrot, broccoli, bits of bread etc left over from dinner

 

[Perris]

hello @Katereid43 ! welcome to BYC
there is lots of advice on this in the BYC learning centre, here https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/housing-feeding-your-flock.23/

 

[DobieLover]

Welcome to BYC!
You should only feed them the complete layer feed. All else is just extras and it dilutes the protein content of the layer feed. If you want to toss out a few tablespoons of the seed mix once a day, that would be fine as long as the amount fed does not exceed 10% by weight of their total daily feed intake.
The coop and "run" you are describing sounds like one of the tiny little prefab jobbies. What plants are there will soon be long gone.
Yes, you will eventually need to supply grit. It's very inexpensive. They need stone or granite grit. It is not the same as oyster shell. Newbies frequently get these two things confused.
I would strongly recommend adding a larger, predator proof run onto your existing structure so the birds have more space.
Good luck.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The pellets should be their main diet. If you want to give them occasional treats that's fine but your feed tub really should be only pellets.

Grit is extremely cheap and doesn't spoil so always a good idea to provide some if they want it. Oyster shell (sometimes called soluble grit) provides calcium to laying hens and you can provide some on the side as well if you have laying hens.

And I agree that adding a bit more space with an extended run will make for happier chickens.

 

[Katereid43]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I've just ordered a big bag of pellets and grit and will give it a go free ranging them a bit every day and see how we go! Thanks