Do you add stuff into your commercially available food?

[RollinWithTheStones]

I have a recipe I screen capped from Barefoot Mimosas, I have a pic of the recipe. I love the idea of making food for the livestock. However, I'm also hesitant to just jump in after reading so much on here. With my last flock (2008-2013) I did whatever feed was on sale at our local feed store, I mixed some scratch stuff together, then they got kitchen leftovers, access to the compost pile.

I was thinking of doing the same approach this time, but wondering if I should just keep the feeder full of the commercially available stuff and then do a scoop of the mixed stuff for a better quality.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@U_Stormcrow any thoughts on this?

 

[nuthatched]

It's much cheaper, easier for you and better for your birds to just buy a higher quality feed.

 

[Altairsky]

My easy recipe:
5 kg wheat
3 kg race pigeon proteic seed mix
0.5 kg dried peas
0.3 kg hemp or lin seeds
0.3 kg sunflower seeds
Meat or fish or cottage cheese/yogurt 3 times a week
Free range.

I leave chick starter available free choice for the whole flock. Oyster shell and gravel always available.

I've been feeding this recipe for a couple of years and so far I had no problems and no diseases.

 

[FrostRanger]

I agree with @nuthatched, it's going to be better to just buy a quality feed and save the extras as treats (no more than 10% of their diet). A complete commercial feed is already complete and trying to mix things in with it can throw the nutrition profile out of wack

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My easy recipe:
5 kg wheat
3 kg race pigeon proteic seed mix
0.5 kg dried peas
0.3 kg hemp or lin seeds
0.3 kg sunflower seeds
Meat or fish or cottage cheese/yogurt 3 times a week
Free range.

I leave chick starter available free choice for the whole flock. Oyster shell and gravel always available.

I've been feeding this recipe for a couple of years and so far I had no problems and no diseases.

Are "lin seeds" flax seeds?

And do you ferment it to blend, or do they eat it all eventually?

 

[Perris]

pigeon proteic seed mix

what seeds are in this?

 

[Perris]

I agree with @nuthatched, it's going to be better to just buy a quality feed and save the extras as treats (no more than 10% of their diet). A complete commercial feed is already complete and trying to mix things in with it can throw the nutrition profile out of wack

this 2006 PhD by K. Horsted, awarded by the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark, shows that this trope is a myth, actually

https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/10463/1/10463.pdf

 

[Altairsky]

Are "lin seeds" flax seeds?

And do you ferment it to blend, or do they eat it all eventually?

yes, I mean flax seeds or hemp seeds, or a mix of the 2, but not more than 0.3 kg of either one, the other, or both together.

what seeds are in this?

The mill doesn't have always the same blend, but they all have similar nutritional values. But it's usually
maize, wheat, pea, sorghum, green rice, fava bean, vetch. Not sure about the english name for other local seeds.
They have the 2 blends in the pics below, if you can recognize the seeds:

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Okay, thanks.