Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[LoneStarBantams]

Can kelp change feather sheen or legcolor

 

[AnimalQuackers]

I spent most of yesterday and much of this morning reading this entire thread, and others on "homemade feed recipes."

Can I please get input on the “recipe” I have come up with that I would like to offer my girls? We have 10 chickens (EE, RIR, BR, Australorp, Cochin) and 2 Muscovy ducks. We have several grain mills within an hour from our home, and it would be very easy to get this pre-mixed. I would like to feed this to all of them (the numbers behind the item are parts/%):

Corn 12/10.75%
Oats 12/10.75%
Wheat 12/10.75%
Quinoa 5/4.5%
Millet 6/5.4%
Flax 5/4.5%
Pumpkin 6/5.4%
BOSS 6/5.4%
Safflower 5/4.5%
Peas 6/5.4%
Peanuts 3/2.7%
Alfalfa meal 13/11.6%
Fish Meal 2/1.8%
Fish flakes 3/2.7%
Brewers yeast 4/3.6%
Oyster shell 8.75 parts
Nutribalancer 3 parts

That would make 100# of feed PLUS the oyster shell and Nutribalancer. If I did my math correctly, it would be 18.47% protein, including 32% grain, 25% seeds, 5% peas, and 2.7% nuts. How does that sound?

Am I missing anything, or should I adjust numbers (and if so, what?)?

As for the corn, should I feed cracked or popcorn?
As for the oats, should I feed rolled, whole, crimped…?
As for the wheat, should I feed hard, soft, a mix…?
Was thinking WHOLE flax as opposed to flax meal – OK?
Are field peas OK, or should I look for another kind?
I was thinking of feeding the grains and seeds WHOLE, as much as possible. If any of them are too big (thinking maybe pumpkin), I can grind.
If I add the Nutribalancer, do I still need additional kelp meal, and if so, at what %?
Is there anything in the above recipe that would make the mix UNSAFE to ferment?

Currently, the flock has had access to SUPERVISED free range on our ½ acre fenced yard for usually 2+ hours a day, weather permitting (we are in western Massachusetts and winter is coming!). I can also sprout the grains/seeds along with beans (adzuki, mung, etc.) during the winter, as well as grow grains and seeds for fodder.

This would be a gradual switch, as the girls have been eating fermented feed (commercial layer pellets) for several month, along with as many vegetables I can give them and scratch as “a treat.” We are also “growing” mealworms for them, but the “colony” is still in the early stages.

We just bought a 50# bag of Countryside yesterday – it’s over 2x the price of the NON-SOY-FREE pellets we have been feeding, but I just can’t stomach the idea of all that soy, so want to go soy-free. I have yet to price the “recipe” above, but I like the idea of really KNOWING what the girls are eating.

Ideally, I would like to get them on this mix (if it is suitable, or some variation), along with soaked/sprouted seeds, vegetables and free-ranging in the warmer weather and soaked/sprouted seeds, vegetables, and fodder during the winter.

I would appreciate input very, very much!

Thank you in advance! Michelle in Massachusetts

 

[Heven]

my roster too + my hen our chickens choices just match
ROSTERSANDHEN

 

[beverly evans]

Hi, We have a fancy and I guess expensive organic feed made nearby that we all give to our cks. here in Austin, but the problem with it is that the cks. quickly eat all the cracked corn out of it and leave the powdery rest of it; that amounts to more than 3/4ths of it. I won't waste it, so I sift out all the foreign bits and add an egg, some baking powder, a bit of oil and enough flour to make a pancake batter. Then I fry 'em up. They eat every bit and fight to get them.
It is a pain to have to make them all the time but it beats wasting that expensive feed. I'd like some ideas on what to grow especially for my cks. that is cheap and nutritious for them. THX to anyone who answers. beverly

 

[Beekissed]

Hi, We have a fancy and I guess expensive organic feed made nearby that we all give to our cks. here in Austin, but the problem with it is that the cks. quickly eat all the cracked corn out of it and leave the powdery rest of it; that amounts to more than 3/4ths of it. I won't waste it, so I sift out all the foreign bits and add an egg, some baking powder, a bit of oil and enough flour to make a pancake batter. Then I fry 'em up. They eat every bit and fight to get them.
It is a pain to have to make them all the time but it beats wasting that expensive feed. I'd like some ideas on what to grow especially for my cks. that is cheap and nutritious for them. THX to anyone who answers. beverly

Why not just ferment that feed so that the powdery leavings get incorporated into the total feed and you can also increase the feed absorption efficacy, adds probiotics, and reduces feed wastes, thereby cutting your feed cost nearly in half with one simple step. There are threads in the meat bird section about the fermented feed and the benefits of this method by increasing the nutritive levels of your feed.

Besides the primary benefits, the secondary benefits of healthier chickens, less smell in the coop due to the feed being more fully digested, larger yolks, better tasting eggs, better feather quality, better laying performance make fermentation of the feed a big step towards a more fulfilling flock management experience.

And no cooking required.

 

[beverly evans]

THX Where is this thread? Meat bird section? Where? I don't have a clue about this. I do want to start breeding "superworms" to give my girls more protein.
I have a friend who feeds her cks. so much good protein from various sources that they never molt and her old chiickens continue to lay every day.

 

[Beekissed]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them

This method sort of turns ordinary feed into a super food by changing the starches and proteins to amino acids, thereby increasing the protein usability by 12%, according to the studies done on it. One article said it made the weak proteins found in the grains into something more like meat proteins. The goal with chicken feed is not more proteins, but proteins that can be utilized on a cellular level. The amino acids produced also helps increase the absorption and availability of the minerals and vitamins in the feed grains. The LABs and prebiotics in the feed improve bowel health and discourage internal parasites by creating a more acid environment in the bowels.

I've noticed quick molt recovery, better feather and scale quality, heavier and larger yolks with a more mild flavor, better feed conversion, way less feed costs(one lady calculated hers at almost half her original feed costs when feeding regular feeds), less feed waste, a sweet smelling coop and a more active flock. Others have reported correction of cross beak, vitamin deficiencies, and chronic feather loss.

 

[beverly evans]

Thanks! I'll ck out this site and learn how its done. I do give them bsfs and am trying to learn to raise superworms. I only have 10 very spoiled chickens.

 

[thailand]

Please check my recipe.

I'm experimenting with mixing my own feed and would like to check with others on here that the recipe I've put together is a good one.

My reasons for mixing my own feed are that I have 2 year old chickens that haven't laid an egg in a year and I now believe that the commercial food available here is not adequate for my LF. I have been fermenting feed for a while now (thanks Bee), and finally I am starting to get some eggs. Yaay! However, I have been told by a respected doctor here that soils in Thailand are extremely deficient and so I have decided to make my own feed instead (but with a base of commercial feed). This feed is for a mixed flock - roosters and hens. I also would like to know exactly what my chickens are eating and ensure they are getting the best I can provide.

I look forward to all advice on this mix.

12 parts layer (8.7%)
12 parts grower (8.7%)
10 parts BOSS (8.7%)
10 parts split green peas (14.5%)
10 parts oats (9.9%)
6 parts millet (8.7%)
5 parts barley (6.4%)
4 parts sesame seed (5.8%)
4 parts brewers yeast (5.8%)
2 parts safflower seed (2.9%)
3 1/2 parts flax seed (2.9%)
3 parts meat meal (2.9%)
3 parts oregano (2.9%)
2 3/4 parts garlic powder (2.2%)
2 3/4 parts wheat germ (2.2%)
2 parts kelp (2.9%)
3 1/2 teaspoons cod liver oil powder (2.2%)
3 1/2 teaspoons turmeric (0.9%)
3 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (0.9%)
3/4 part fenugreek seeds (1.1%)

If I've worked this out correctly this recipe is 19.5% protein and 5% crude fat.



Thanks

 

[Beekissed]

One thing to note...fermenting your grains increases their protein percentages up to 12%. For example, brewer's grains and distiller's grains are about as close to fermented feed percentages that I can find numbers for and here are the proteins for those.

Quote:
Distillers grains are corn and can be wheat based.
Quote:
Regular Barley grains are such:


Quote:

Here's an interesting site that gives the analysis of different feed ingredients and you've kind of got to estimate that fermenting those cereal grains may be increasing their listed protein amounts~as well as other values like calcium, fat, phosphorus, etc.~ considerably: http://www.ingredients101.com/barleyg.htm

This information and other sourced articles that have been posted in the FF threads, shows fermentation increases almost the total nutrient content of these cereal grains to such a degree that one shouldn't need to be giving any other kinds of supplements to the flock to achieve maximum nutrition.