Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[kjstanton]

Wow thanks!  I have no idea what you calculated but if it's good, mis pollitos will continue to be happy and a happy me knowing I made it....question about alfalfa...do alfalfa sprout seed count?  Like you put in the window?  That's what I had on hand.

I was looking up old posts on how to make your own feed and came across your chick feed recipe. Do you by chance have a layer feed? Any help is appreciated

 

[Newchickey]

Is this a good mix? and is it calculated correctly

1 part = 50 lbs
Feed mix Part Protien Total protien
Boss 0.8 26.3 21.04 40
Oats 1.5 9.5 14.25 75
Flax 1 37 37 50
Wheat 2 12.5 25 100
corn 0.5 7 3.5 25
Barley 1 12.3 12.3 50
Peas 1 24.5 24.5 50
390 lbs total
7.8 137.59 17.63974

 

[Diannastarr]

love your feed idea, but for one ingredient, the cracked corn has no real food value, ive been investigating this & found . cracked corn Vs whole corn the sad fact is that as soon as you crack a whole grain open the nutrients begin to degrade & golly who knows how long any cracked corn has been in a warehouse , but whole grain corn can always last much longer with out degrading , we use good old fashion yellow feed corn as part of my winter scratch recipe, It has all the vitality of a whole grain along with a considerable amount of corn oil & nutritious starches that provides energy , some call it Dent corn , wile in new England its called field corn or cattle corn, we grew it on our farm in CT, & have raised chickens since the 1960' so we feed whole corn in winter it helps to keep the chickens warm & as corn goes a whole grain is better for them & cracked has no nutritional value like a whole grain & they both cost the same ,so for all theses reasons is why its been our choice for part of our winter diy scratch recipe.we have an eggs business & supply all the specialty shops in our town & must keep our girls in full production summer & winter, well so thanks & good going keep up the good work ..!!!

 

[ladyearth]

newchickey
are you going to grind it or bind it with something?Do you have other animals like goats or cows or pigs.? cause I read on this forum they do well together
will they get those much needed nutrients? Im confused Is there a good natural additive so they get what they need? I am a wondering??
other than Ferrils is there an additive we can trust?
thanks all

 

[Newchickey]

newchickey
are you going to grind it or bind it with something?Do you have other animals like goats or cows or pigs.? cause I read on this forum they do well together
 will they get those much needed nutrients? Im confused  Is there a good natural additive so they get what they need?  I am a wondering??
other than Ferrils is there an additive we can trust?
thanks all

I am fermenting with an organic small grain feed and organic crumbles, feed morning and late afternoon and they have organic pellets available all the time. I have two buckets going that gives me 4lbs of feed everyday. Two lbs turns into 4 lbs after a 48 hour soak. Each day drain the fermented liquid into a new bucket that has 2lbs of my mix premeasured and add one more pitcher of water, the girls love it.

 

[redsix]

love your feed idea, but for one ingredient, the cracked corn has no real food value, ive been investigating this & found . cracked corn Vs whole corn the sad fact is that as soon as you crack a whole grain open the nutrients begin to degrade & golly who knows how long any cracked corn has been in a warehouse , but whole grain corn can always last much longer with out degrading , we use good old fashion yellow feed corn as part of my winter scratch recipe, It has all the vitality of a whole grain along with a considerable amount of corn oil & nutritious starches that provides energy , some call it Dent corn , wile in new England its called field corn or cattle corn, we grew it on our farm in CT, & have raised chickens since the 1960' so we feed whole corn in winter it helps to keep the chickens warm & as corn goes a whole grain is better for them & cracked has no nutritional value like a whole grain & they both cost the same ,so for all theses reasons is why its been our choice for part of our winter diy scratch recipe.we have an eggs business & supply all the specialty shops in our town & must keep our girls in full production summer & winter, well so thanks & good going keep up the good work ..!!!

We buy whole corn and crack small batches of it at a time. We can buy whole corn from a local farmer for $5.00/50 lbs. I've heard that cracked corn is easier for them to digest. I don't know how much of the nutrients we loose, but it is freshly cracked. The corn is more of a snack. We feed fermented layer mash and some sprouted barley.

 

[Allore79]

Is this in cups?

 

[ladyearth]

I dont understand the whole thing. Newchickey mentions all these ingredients but then says something about small grain and I assume a commercial prepared crumbles? so which is it????
Oh and I belive its using 50 lb bags.. sure a lot of stuff. seems like it would go bad before it was used up...
Prob best to grind the mixture up ,cause the chickens otherwise ,would pick out what they wanted and leave the rest. Correct Yall ?

 

[Newchickey]

I dont understand the whole thing. Newchickey mentions all these ingredients but then says something about small grain and I assume a commercial prepared crumbles? so which is it????
 Oh and I belive its using 50 lb bags.. sure a lot of stuff.  seems like it would go bad before it was used up...
Prob best to grind the mixture up ,cause the chickens otherwise ,would pick out what they wanted and leave the rest. Correct Yall ?

I get my "small Grain" feed from a farm in Sydney Nebraska that makes organic chicken feed. They have a new one that is a special blend for another farm and I am getting it to. It's small grains like flax wheat and barley. The mix that I am using has large field peas and corn that is barely cracked, what it really is, is irregular and broken not really cracked. My girls completely clean it out within 15 minutes, they leave nothing so evidently they like it all. If I crack it will go bad much faster. My mix as is will last me just over 4 months. The grain whole is fine kept that long. Especially in cool storage I am fermenting 2:1:1 my whole grain, small grain and crumbles - to make a great mash they love, all organic. So it's not which is it, it is all of it.

 

[ladyearth]

Oh I think I understand you are using two diff grain mixes... you bought and a crumble feed? all mixed together. and like all fermented... Or is the whole grain part all put together by you??? so are there any additives? like a premix of vitamins etc.. causemost membrs on here say "balanced feed""""""""""
over and over again....
But I detest the big box store junk too much soy etc. but i hate the waste of the chickens picking out the stuff they want first...It bugs me to no end... after all the work I do. so guess will have to buy a real mill. A guy we know wont sell his old big wheel hand crank grinder one to us. WE borrowed it for a few weeks.. so nice. But he told Hubby he wanted it back.... even though he never uses it anymore and buys cracked corn now to feed the wildlife...and he has health issues.. ah well....
thanks all