does anyone make thier own chicken feed?

[ninny]

We are going to be moving soon and then i can get back into breeding my chickens!!!!!!

but my question is does anyone make their own feed? i woud like to make my own and i have some questions about it.

1. whats the best ingredients?
2. what about dehydrated veggies?
3. cost wise is this the better way to go?

i hate corn in my birds feed so thats why im leaning more towards making my own feed. ive been doing lots of research just wondering what some options are.

also im not sure what to use for grit ?, my last birds were free range so not sure what to use. thanks a bunch

 

[panner123]

I would stick with the commerical feeds. These companies have researched the best balance diet for your chickens. By time you have all the ingredients, the cost would be many times the price for something equally as good or maybe even better for the chickens. Corn is one of the better feeds, why don't you like it. It gives the chickens a better chance agianst the cold in the winter than most other grains.

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

ninny wrote...also im not sure what to use for grit ?

You can get the appropriate size of grit at your feedstore. Ours carries chick, bantam, standard, and peacock sizes.​

 

[devora]

Quote:
Why's that?

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

I researched mixing my own feed. By the time I priced the ingredients, it was much cheaper to go with a commercial feed.

Every recipe I found, corn was the main ingredient. I never found one without it.

The recipe's called for (In order of amounts, highest first):
corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, dried milk, alfalfa, meat meal, fish meal, a pre-packaged mineral mixture, oyster shells and salt.

The amounts & some ingredients varied for chicks, breeders and layers. Corn was the largest quantity in all of them.

Jean

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

We feed our chickens mainly rice with some commercial feed mixed in with it. I will also add some DE. I just found some rice hulls at a cost of $9.00 for 50 pounds that might be high? My wife will steam vegetables, they especially like the large zucchini. They also like fresh fruits and vegetables along with their grass and bugs. They also like fish and shrimp heads and tails when we eat them. I like to watch them eat steamed rice on a cold morning with the steam still coming off it they just gobble it down.

 

[DoctorGoose]

Hm....I'd really like to think about feeding my show birds a home-made feed--simply because my white girls get really brassy feathers with all that corn....I'll have to research this--Dawg, gee, that's a lot of work every morning for your girls! What lucky chickens!

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
Normally we steam the rice the night before and have it ready for the next day. Occasionally we will steam some on the weekends during the colder weather and give it to them warm, which will still create some steam. Yes they seem to love it.

 

[ninny]

Quote:
Why's that?

one corn is hard to digest plus my white birds never look their brightest on it. we played around and found some feed (i don't remember what its called its been a whille) that didn't have any and wow! worth every penny. im going to grow all my own stuff and use that plus they will not be on grain in the warmer months due to being outside and eating lots of worms ill be growing for them. so they will not be needing it. ill post what we come up with and probably run some tests with controlled groups and stuff. i may make a website to let others know but i can't get started on anything untill next spring.

i have heard that if they eat garlic its keeps the bugs and mites away? anyone know if that really works?

 

[devora]

I'm interested to know what commercial feed you found wo/ corn. Maybe I'll switch. Mine seem fine (I'm new so don't have much to compare to) but I would like to treat them well. I feed organic layer and it's mostly corn and soy.

Grains (oats, wheat, milo, etc) get thrown out as scratch.

Do post again when you figure it out. (And find the name of the commercial non-corn grain!

)

thx