Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[thailand]

I'm using as a nutritive supplement

 

[Mandynic]

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

I know this post is a few weeks old, but I thought I'd respond to the corn question. If I were going through the trouble of making my own feed, I would want it to be organic and free of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Most of the corn that is produced in the U.S. does contain GMOs (even foods labeled as organic can still contain GMOs). Corn is often used as a cheap filler anyway, so you're not really missing much by leaving it out. Most soy crops also contain GMOs, so it's good that you're trying to avoid soy. I can't give much input on the rest of your ingredients as I'm new to chickens and am just starting to research feeds myself, but I thought I'd throw this out there. Good luck!

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Corn is NOT a filler! It is a highly digestible source of carbohydrates and therefore energy for chickens.

 

[Mandynic]

Many foods can act as a carbohydrate source for chickens - there is nothing really proprietary about corn. Corn is just the most widely used because it's produced in such large quantities and is so readily available. As I said, most corn produced in the U.S. is genetically modified and those who prefer to avoid GMOs may want to be aware of that.

 

[Beekissed]

Interesting to see alfalfa on the list of most frequent GMO crops: http://www.businesspundit.com/10-genetically-modified-foods/

 

[LindaB220]

Interesting to see alfalfa on the list of most frequent GMO crops: http://www.businesspundit.com/10-genetically-modified-foods/

Bee, I was sure that wheat was GMO. I guess I was wrong. Glad to know. I hate that about sugar beets.

 

[pdirt]

Fascinating thread, I just finished perusing all 236 posts to date, though I only followed a few of the links, as there were a lot of them. We have been using a very high quality feed called Scratch n Peck, which is mostly organic, no soy and no GMO. It's costing us about $0.83/lb. With some very rough calculations, I think I may be able to mix my own version of it for $0.50-0.60/lb. We've also been fermenting it, which so far seems to be cutting down on how much they waste by quite a bit, let alone the improved nutrition uptake.

The Scratch n Peck Grower contains triticale, peas, wheat, barley, camelina meal, fish meal, Fertrell Nutribalancer and vegetable oil. I can find most of these ingredients in 50lb bags in feed grade from Azure. I haven't yet found the camelina meal nor the Fertrell fish meal (without paying high shipping costs) but just emailed Azure to see if they can special order these things. I'm not attached to the camelina meal and I've read some conflicting info on barley for chickens (need to do more research on that). Haven't yet found feed grade organic triticale either, but azure does have an organic scratch blend of kamut, flax seed and whole sunflower seed that's about $0.55/lb, 14% protein. I just saw they have organic feed grade oats, with hulls, for a good price.

Just my thinking on this good topic so far, I'll post my recipe after we've used it for a while. I'm not attached to the various grains here, but do want organic if possible and do want some fish meal for high quality protein. They do forage quite a bit in the warmer months and I would probably reduce the fish meal percentage in summer and early fall to reduce cost even more. These are mostly layers though we are planning on raising some Dark Cornish for meat next year.

UPDATE: Just found the Harvey Ussery article on making your own feed. I had seen his name mentioned on BYC, but never saw the link to his article till just now. Excellent article and just what I've been looking for. Unfortunately, it looks like I would need a heavy duty grain mill to crack peas and/or corn. I'm posting the link here because I think it's one that couldn't be overposted!

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/1-4/harvey_ussery/

Same article in an easier to read format:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Making-Poultry-Feeds-1.html

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Fascinating thread, I just finished perusing all 236 posts to date, though I only followed a few of the links, as there were a lot of them. We have been using a very high quality feed called Scratch n Peck, which is mostly organic, no soy and no GMO. It's costing us about $0.83/lb. With some very rough calculations, I think I may be able to mix my own version of it for $0.50-0.60/lb. We've also been fermenting it, which so far seems to be cutting down on how much they waste by quite a bit, let alone the improved nutrition uptake.

The Scratch n Peck Grower contains triticale, peas, wheat, barley, camelina meal, fish meal, Fertrell Nutribalancer and vegetable oil. I can find most of these ingredients in 50lb bags in feed grade from Azure. I haven't yet found the camelina meal nor the Fertrell fish meal (without paying high shipping costs) but just emailed Azure to see if they can special order these things. I'm not attached to the camelina meal and I've read some conflicting info on barley for chickens (need to do more research on that). Haven't yet found feed grade organic triticale either, but azure does have an organic scratch blend of kamut, flax seed and whole sunflower seed that's about $0.55/lb, 14% protein. I just saw they have organic feed grade oats, with hulls, for a good price.

Just my thinking on this good topic so far, I'll post my recipe after we've used it for a while. I'm not attached to the various grains here, but do want organic if possible and do want some fish meal for high quality protein. They do forage quite a bit in the warmer months and I would probably reduce the fish meal percentage in summer and early fall to reduce cost even more. These are mostly layers though we are planning on raising some Dark Cornish for meat next year.

Azurestandard sells camelina seeds so you can grow your own if needed.
Barley is ok just not too much- I feed it too (my opinion).

 

[pdirt]

Quote:
ChickensAreSweet - Thanks for your reply and input. Yes, I might include barley. And yeah, I could grow my own camelina and maybe someday I will do so, but for right now that just sounds like too much work! Such an interesting topic and I'll be watching this one for sure now. pd

 

[Irishhenman]

I have learned recently that chickens cannot digest oats or barely because they lack enzymes in their digestive system needed to break them down, it is something to do with beta-glucagon forming gels in the gut that can't be broken down, which means the chickens need to eat more of to have enough energy. I have now adjusted my feed mix to that removing all the oats and barely and replacing them mostly with whole wheat and maize. My chickens do actually look a little bit more active energetic already and my feeders are emptieing more slowly so I am saving on feed (wheat is actually cheaper that barely and oats aswell because it is not fed to many animals and the hens don't need as much to provide them with energy)