DIY Chicken Feed

[saysfaa]

... tricky to calculate
...

I don't know many of the strengths/weaknesses of this so am not taking a position on using it. At least until I think about it.

If I read it right and did the math right, the mix makes 44 cups. Then take 2 cups of that 44 cup mix to which is added 1 cup of spent grains, 1 cup of layering pellets, and 2 heaping tablespoons of fish meal, sometimes also 2 spoons of kelp and 2 heaping spoons of freeze dried pumpkin or zucchini, 1/2 cup of alfalfa pellets. Add a handful of BFSL as a treat sometimes.

Google says a heaping tablespoon is usually 3x as much as a level tablespoon. There are 16 tablespoons per cup

So:
1 part kelp (sometimes)
1 part freeze dried squash (sometimes)

1 part fishmeal
4 parts alfalfa pellets
8 parts layer pellets
8 parts spent grains
16 parts mix (2 cups)

The mix is 22 cups when translated to the standard way of doing "parts"
5 parts oats
5 parts split peas
4 parts wheat
2 parts barley
2 parts boss
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flaxseed

My math fails me for the rest of the way of converting the whole thing.

I think, since I want to have no fractions of parts, I need to multiply where needed to get all whole numbers. Then I simplify the fractions if I can and still get whole numbers.

So...
11 parts fishmeal
44 parts alfalfa pellets
88 parts layer pellets
88 parts spent grains
5 parts oats
5 parts split peas
4 parts wheat
2 parts barley
2 parts BOSS
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flaxseed

Put into standard form:
88 parts layer pellets
88 parts spent grains
44 parts alfalfa pellets
11 parts fishmeal
5 parts oats
5 parts split peas
4 parts wheat
2 parts barley
2 parts BOSS
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flaxseed

Plus sometimes
11 parts kelp
11 parts freeze-dried pumpkin or zucchini

and unknown amount of dried mealworms correction: BSFL

That is for the winter feed.
Summer is different.

 

[saysfaa]

At a minimum, it should have salt. Preferably mineral salt. The kelp is probably there for that purpose but does not provide enough.

 

[MichaelDJ]

I don't know many of the strengths/weaknesses of this so am not taking a position on using it. At least until I think about it.

If I read it right and did the math right, the mix makes 44 cups. Then take 2 cups of that 44 cup mix to which is added 1 cup of spent grains, 1 cup of layering pellets, and 2 heaping tablespoons of fish meal, sometimes also 2 spoons of kelp and 2 heaping spoons of freeze dried pumpkin or zucchini, 1/2 cup of alfalfa pellets. Add a handful of BFSL as a treat sometimes.

Google says a heaping tablespoon is usually 3x as much as a level tablespoon. There are 16 tablespoons per cup

So:
1 part kelp (sometimes)
1 part freeze dried squash (sometimes)

1 part fishmeal
4 parts alfalfa pellets
8 parts layer pellets
8 parts spent grains
16 parts mix (2 cups)

The mix is 22 cups when translated to the standard way of doing "parts"
5 parts oats
5 parts split peas
4 parts wheat
2 parts barley
2 parts boss
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flaxseed

My math fails me for the rest of the way of converting the whole thing.

I think, since I want to have no fractions of parts, I need to multiply where needed to get all whole numbers. Then I simplify the fractions if I can and still get whole numbers.

So...
11 parts fishmeal
44 parts alfalfa pellets
88 parts layer pellets
88 parts spent grains
5 parts oats
5 parts split peas
4 parts wheat
2 parts barley
2 parts BOSS
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flaxseed

Put into standard form:
88 parts layer pellets
88 parts spent grains
44 parts alfalfa pellets
11 parts fishmeal
5 parts oats
5 parts split peas
4 parts wheat
2 parts barley
2 parts BOSS
2 parts cracked corn
2 parts flaxseed

Plus sometimes
11 parts kelp
11 parts freeze-dried pumpkin or zucchini

and unknown amount of dried mealworms.

That is for the winter feed.
Summer is different.

No, you still don't have it right. Not mealworms, Black Fly Soldier Larvae. HUGE difference in protein. Mealworms are raised in China, often on industrial waste and sewage. The Black Fly I use are from the US - about a cup are given as a treat.

 

[saysfaa]

No, you still don't have it right. Not mealworms, Black Fly Soldier Larvae. HUGE difference in protein. Mealworms are raised in China, often on industrial waste and sewage. The Black Fly I use are from the US - about a cup are given as a treat.

Ok. I acknowledge the difference. Apologies.

Among other thing, I didn't realize they were a large enough component to pay much attention to. Perhaps different definitions of the word "treat".

So, one cup... is that per day? I don't know how many birds you have so it isn't a clear picture. Are the rest (2 cups of the mix, half cup of alfalfa pellets, ect) also per day?

 

[saysfaa]

For what it is worth, not all commercially available mealworms are grown in China. One of my brothers raised them by the tens of thousands (at least) in many 4'x4' apple boxes until just a couple of years ago. In the US. They ate locally grown crops. I forgot what the main feed was (it looked like bran, if I remember right) but the "waterers" were carrots, mostly, and some potatoes. He got his starting stock from a bigger grower in a different state. I'm sure some do come from China. Maybe even most of them.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm not touching that recipe - put it in some measure of weight first.

and yes, at a glance, my gut tells me that's not great - but there are just too many unknowns there for me to have high confidence.

Curious where someone found a feed calculator that works in volume, not weight. and did you hve those spent grains assayed? Which fish meal are you using? Alfalfa pellets? Like rabbit/horse feed??? Which commercial pellet are you using???

Mostly looks like a waste of time and money to me - but not my time, not my money. Poster can value his/her own however they want.

 

[MichaelDJ]

There seems to be many "experts" on poultry nutrition but I've yet to see any real evidence of that. What I am seeing and reading is someone's personal opinion, largely based on commercial feeds and production.

Below are facts that are pretty clear to me:
1) Chickens digestive systems are not designed for the cheapest mashed up grains with a lot of additives and compressed into small pellets.
2) Many compare homemade mixes to commercial feed. Feed that is centered not on a chicken's needs, but based on maximum egg production and size in a cage so small they can barely move, and under artificial light to keep them laying instead of giving them a break from egg production they way their bodies were designed to do.
2) Others claim to have have knowledge because they have a small scale farm. Guess what, both of my parents grew up on depression era farms and I paid attention to their stories and what they told me about farm animals. Yet, unlike others here I don't claim to have any expert knowledge.
3) I responded to someone asking about my mix and I made it very clear that it is a basic mix that I add a variety of things to and it's fermented. Yet i still get comments that it's unbalanced. I made it pretty clear they get lots of bugs, worms, stuff from the garden and some table scraps. This last summer we picked up 70 pounds of wild King Salmon and the guts and roe were added to thei mix over a period of several months.

What I am doing is adding a great deal of variety to my feed consisting of nuts, vegetables, berries, animal proteins etc. Chickens are omnivores designed by nature to eat a wide variety of foods, not the compressed pelletized feeds that the vast majority on here use

 

[MichaelDJ]

I'm not touching that recipe - put it in some measure of weight first.

and yes, at a glance, my gut tells me that's not great - but there are just too many unknowns there for me to have high confidence.

Curious where someone found a feed calculator that works in volume, not weight. and did you hve those spent grains assayed? Which fish meal are you using? Alfalfa pellets? Like rabbit/horse feed??? Which commercial pellet are you using???

Mostly looks like a waste of time and money to me - but not my time, not my money. Poster can value his/her own however they want.

My wife and I used a scale and converted all the weight into cups, a very accurate scale.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My wife and I used a scale and converted all the weight into cups, a very accurate scale.

If you have those weights written down some where, I'd be happy to run it thru a feed calculator - but I will need know more about several of your ingredients. "spent grains" covers a very broad nutritional range. There are a couple of commercial fish meals out there in wide use, with substantial differences in crude protein . Which alfalfa meal, which pellets.

I'd be happy to compare it to a recipe from, say, here -

and I appreciate that you don't claim to be an expert or preparing a feed for optimum health. You are fortunate to be able to provides such a variety for your birds. Most backyard keepers can not.

 

[MichaelDJ]

If you have those weights written down some where, I'd be happy to run it thru a feed calculator - but I will need know more about several of your ingredients. "spent grains" covers a very broad nutritional range. There are a couple of commercial fish meals out there in wide use, with substantial differences in crude protein . Which alfalfa meal, which pellets.

I'd be happy to compare it to a recipe from, say, here -

and I appreciate that you don't claim to be an expert or preparing a feed for optimum health. You are fortunate to be able to provides such a variety for your birds. Most backyard keepers can not.

Thank you for your offer but before I converted everything to cups I ran my basic list through a feed calculator.

A lot, but not all of my grains comes from Azure. As far as the fish meal goes it's organic and very high in protein (don't remember the number).