Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[Athaid]

no corn at all? when I put different things together my chickens choose and eat corn first.

how do you clean seaweed? I don't use it because I am afraid it is too salty.

You Soak it in fresh water for ten minutes I've eaten seaweed straight out of the sea, it's very good for you, and good for other animals too.

As for the corn, I would just rather use sonething localy produced. Corn isn't grown where I live. But if It's all I can get I guess I could use it.

 

[chickengr]

You Soak it in fresh water for ten minutes

I've eaten seaweed straight out of the sea, it's very good for you, and good for other animals too.

As for the corn, I would just rather use sonething localy produced. Corn isn't grown where I live. But if It's all I can get I guess I could use it.

thank you.

I have just spoken to my neighbor and she told me people on the islands don't feed their chickens except kitchen scraps, etc. they just let them roam and look for food. that would mean they can live without corn. I don't know if this lady is telling the truth.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Corn is a great fattener, but it has little nutritional value. I give mine some, increasing it in the winter, but they would do just fine without corn

 

[Athaid]

Corn is a great fattener, but it has little nutritional value. I give mine some, increasing it in the winter, but they would do just fine without corn

Thanks

thank you.

I have just spoken to my neighbor and she told me people on the islands don't feed their chickens except kitchen scraps, etc. they just let them roam and look for food. that would mean they can live without corn. I don't know if this lady is telling the truth.

I'm moving to an island too, our house will be right on the coast. So we will have unlimited grit, shells and seaweed. But we're fencing them in because I'm worried they'll fall in the sea or something, I'm not sure if hens would avoid rockpools. I think I'll try without corn, thanks for your help

 

[ShanandGem]

I made a thread about the homemade feed we were thinking of making, I've been browsing the forums as well but I can't seem to find the info I need. Our feed would consist of;

Barley mash (left over from the local distillery) which is 20% protein and 60% fiber.
Table scraps (bread, pasta, fruit, vegetables, milk, cereals etc..)
Dried seaweed (from the beach, cleaned first, and given in small amounts.)
Anything they find foraging in their run, which is about one acre.
Plus grit from the beach, and crushed sea shells, crab shells etc.. In a separate dish.

We don't want to use a commercial feed as we would like to know exactly what our hens are eating, and want to avoid GMO and soy. Can anyone recommend any seeds or grains which we could add to make this a more complete diet

Pumpkin seeds are great vitamin and mineral sources, and lentils are a good source of lysine. I would supplement your birds with vitamin A & D.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Yes, I grow pumpkins mostly for the birds over winter. Pumpkins are great they last forever.

 

[chickengr]

Corn is a great fattener, but it has little nutritional value. I give mine some, increasing it in the winter, but they would do just fine without corn

70% of commercial feed is corn (at least where I live) corn has nutritional value but it is not enough. if chickens free range or even free roam in the run they find worms, bugs, greens, etc. as I live in hot climate I grow some vegetables for chickens too. their run looks like desert. but we have too many flies and mosquitoes and chickens eat them, I love them for that, lol.

 

[MeepBeep]

Corn is a great fattener, but it has little nutritional value. I give mine some, increasing it in the winter, but they would do just fine without corn

70% of commercial feed is corn (at least where I live) corn has nutritional value but it is not enough. if chickens free range or even free roam in the run they find worms, bugs, greens, etc. as I live in hot climate I grow some vegetables for chickens too. their run looks like desert. but we have too many flies and mosquitoes and chickens eat them, I love them for that, lol.

Yes, corn actually does have a pretty decent nutritional value profile, especially for the price thus it's wide use as a feed base... But it's far from a balanced diet for a chicken on it's own, they have further nutritional needs that are simply not met by corn, or for that matter by any single grain...

This article is about corn feeding cows, but there are some very informative charts in the first few pages comparing corn to other grains, and at the end of they day it holds it's own nutritionally even if the not best of the best, especially on a cost factor...

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/beef/as1238.pdf

 

[chickengr]

Thanks

I'm moving to an island too, our house will be right on the coast. So we will have unlimited grit, shells and seaweed. But we're fencing them in because I'm worried they'll fall in the sea or something, I'm not sure if hens would avoid rockpools. I think I'll try without corn, thanks for your help

chickens are crazy, fence them. I have a little one that jumped in a dish full of water. she has been hatched by a muscovie duck and wanted to see what her mom was doing in that dish, lol.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Corn is a great fattener, but it has little nutritional value. I give mine some, increasing it in the winter, but they would do just fine without corn

70% of commercial feed is corn (at least where I live) corn has nutritional value but it is not enough. if chickens free range or even free roam in the run they find worms, bugs, greens, etc. as I live in hot climate I grow some vegetables for chickens too. their run looks like desert. but we have too many flies and mosquitoes and chickens eat them, I love them for that, lol.

Yes, corn actually does have a pretty decent nutritional value profile, especially for the price thus it's wide use as a feed base... But it's far from a balanced diet for a chicken on it's own, they have further nutritional needs that are simply not met by corn, or for that matter by any single grain...

This article is about corn feeding cows, but there are some very informative charts in the first few pages comparing corn to other grains, and at the end of they day it holds it's own nutritionally even if the not best of the best, especially on a cost factor...

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/beef/as1238.pdf

I am biased, we are pure grassfed with our cattle. Corn is used commerciallyrics, but the biggest reason is it is cheap. The original question was can a chicken survive without corn, yes they can.