Does anyone feed there chickens Mash?

[Beekissed]

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The answer is in the question, so to speak. I'm not running a commercial poultry business. I'm sure the whole delivery and feeding strategy is extremely and largely different in a commercial poultry setup than it is at my house.

 

[Fred's Hens]

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That is a great article, TDM. Thanks for sharing. I especially noted this section: Advantages of Mash Feeds.

The pelletized or "crumble" style feed is actually very finely ground. I like the mash because it is actually much more coarse, in spite of it's dusty appearance. Add a touch of water and the mash we use can be seen as extremely coarse. Wet some crumbles or pellets to see just how fine the structure really is.
For a small holder, the advantages of mash can outweigh any "waste" issues, because with proper management, the waste issue itself can be overcome.

 

[Chris09]

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Most if not all the commercial poultry industries around here use a mash type feed.
They have there own mix that they mix and grind on site then feed as a mash.

Chris

 

[TDM]

Fred's Hens :

That is a great article, TDM. Thanks for sharing. I especially noted this section: Advantages of Mash Feeds.

The pelletized or "crumble" style feed is actually very finely ground. I like the mash because it is actually much more coarse, in spite of it's dusty appearance. Add a touch of water and the mash we use can be seen as extremely coarse. Wet some crumbles or pellets to see just how fine the structure really is.
For a small holder, the advantages of mash can outweigh any "waste" issues, because with proper management, the waste issue itself can be overcome.

Yes Fred, I thought the article was well written and balanced. I live half a mile from our local feed mill and am quite familiar with the hammer mill. If I could afford a pelletizer, I would. As such, I feed as much wet mash as I can during the warmer months, and am forced to use the dry mash during the freezing winter.

Now bear in mind that there are people that use very expensive organic feed. There comes a point where at $35 per hundred, a flock of several hundred laying hens could benefit from a $2,000 pelletizer. This forum isn't just read by people who own a few chickens. The small commercial farmer is here too, as well as people who are considering the commercial side.​

 

[Timbertoes]

I just recently made the switch from crumbles to local feed mill mash. I liked that it actually looked like food and had 2% more protein. What surprised me was the enthusiastic eaters the chickens have turned into. I haven't noticed a lot of waste at all. Low and behold my 8 month olds finally started to lay and a new (to me) 18 month old started laying again after being here for 3 months with no eggs. I'm sold!

 

[snipercp]

my LF have layers pellets and my bantams have mash

 

[Fred's Hens]

TDM, Chris09

A shot of corn oil or similar would accomplish the same thing as a shot of water, to "re-constitute" the mash, or bind it and glue the dust back together. I'd be very curious about doing that, as well as glueing with water, or instead of. I think Chris once mentioned a molasses or such, but that leaves me asking about the high sugar content of binding with molasses.

Yes, indeed, some holding poultry folks, and at 100 give or take birds, I'm pretty small, but my thoughts lean toward the commercial information as very helpful indeed. My flock makes a buck or two or there would be no flock, quite frankly. The price difference between pellets and mash is the very difference in our profit margins.

 

[Chris09]

Fred's Hens :

TDM, Chris09

A shot of corn oil or similar would accomplish the same thing as a shot of water, to "re-constitute" the mash, or bind it and glue the dust back together. I'd be very curious about doing that, as well as glueing with water, or instead of. I think Chris once mentioned a molasses or such, but that leaves me asking about the high sugar content of binding with molasses.

Yes, indeed, some holding poultry folks, and at 100 give or take birds, I'm pretty small, but my thoughts lean toward the commercial information as very helpful indeed. My flock makes a buck or two or there would be no flock, quite frankly. The price difference between pellets and mash is the very difference in our profit margins.

I use Molasses and now that winter is setting in I use more a Molasses and Oil blend.
The oil blend I use is a 50/50-food grade corn/soy oil and along with this I use molasses.

50/50-oil
Crude Fat, min 99%
Total Fatty Acids, min 90%
Free Fatty Acids, max 0.7%
Moisture, max 0.5%
Insoluble Impurities, max 1.0%
Unsaponefiable Matter, max 2.0%

This time of the year most if not all of the sugar that is in the molasses will be turned into energy for the birds.

Chris​

 

[TDM]

Fred's Hens :

TDM, Chris09

A shot of corn oil or similar would accomplish the same thing as a shot of water, to "re-constitute" the mash, or bind it and glue the dust back together. I'd be very curious about doing that, as well as glueing with water, or instead of. I think Chris once mentioned a molasses or such, but that leaves me asking about the high sugar content of binding with molasses.

I experimented with a gallon of molasses once, and was disappointed. Took too much to achieve the consistency I wanted. With water, I mix about three to four gallons water to every five gallon pail of mash.​

 

[Chris09]

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I experimented with a gallon of molasses once, and was disappointed. Took too much to achieve the consistency I wanted. With water, I mix about three to four gallons water to every five gallon pail of mash.

How thick was you wanting the feed?
I use 40 lbs/ little less than 4 gallons of molasses per. 500 lbs of goat feed and that is very thick even with loose Salt/Mineral in it.

A gallon of molasses should have done around 200 to 300 lbs of chicken mash depending on the texture of the mash and if your using ti just to cut the dust or wanting it clumpy.

Chris