Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[Seatrout00]

His mix is nothing more than a "fancy" or a high protein scratch grain and not a complete chicken feed.

If you would mix 2 pounds each corn, wheat and milo then change the soybean meal to 4 pounds instead of the 3 1/2 that he said the mix would be about 19.60% protein but it will lack in vitamins, minerals, and I would be willing to bet that the mix will come short in the caloric need of the chicken so they (the chickens) will eat much more of the mix than a well made feed.

How would you remedy the lack of vits/mins?

 

[Dead Rabbit]

What do you all think of this formula.

There no vitamins. There's no minerals. These are the difficult aspects of feeding fowl. And I seriously doubt his protein level is that high using so much low protein grains.

From my experience you can't equal, much less beat a good pellet.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

How would you remedy the lack of vits/mins?

Kitchen scraps help this alot. Of course, weather or not your kitchen scraps can support your flock depends on things like how much waste do you have (I have toddlers so high waste unfortunately) and how large your flock is.
Chickens are omnivores. If you make your own feed, this is the thing that is most important to remember. Having a good solid base feed and then giving a wide variety of foods, Apple cores, potatoe peelings, etc., can help give the nessisary vitamins. I also give mine some meat, beef usually (it just feels wrong giving them chicken)
As long as you have a good solid base, and then add a large variety of foods (sprouts are a great source too) you will have happy healthy chickens.

 

[Chris09]

How would you remedy the lack of vits/mins?

Finding and using a good poultry vitamin mineral premix would be a good choice or even better would be using a good poultry feed premix that contains around 36% proteins and the vitamins and minerals that they need. All you need to do is add some grains that you like.

 

[chickengr]

You mean winter?

I live in a warm climate. only in winter we have a lot of greens. summers are too hot, even my vegetable garden dies in summer.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I live in a warm climate. only in winter we have a lot of greens. summers are too hot, even my vegetable garden dies in summer.

I see

 

[Seatrout00]

At present - because I don't know much about chicken nutrition, and I want my girls to lay as many eggs as possible, I plan to feed a basic layer diet - can't afford organic - and I have started up the mealworm factory again - so they will get regular mealworms - in addition the girls will get kitchen scraps and will free range some in my yard and have free access to some ground oyster shell. I hope to learn more about chicken nutrition to eventually mix my own layer feed.

 

[slordaz]

keeping a good variety besides having their base feed is important and your chickens will tell you what they like and don't like so you can adjust. When we started we would give one new item at a time that wasn't listed on do not feed to chickens list, to see how they reacted. mine will beat the dogs up for their scaps if it's got vegetables especially if they have the skins on still lol, garlic, chili powder, any type of fruit. But mine free range most the time unless we are well below zero for temps. winter is the only time they do not have lacto fermented feed available also , we have enough trouble keeping the water unfroze as we are in the north.

Here's what mine will eat in order of their favorites, your chickens may have a different preference though. This is just some ideas but ours usually have a couple of different choices and they eat what they want. This has also helped train them to stay out of the garden after taking their treats away for a couple of days for getting into it they now wait for us to call them to the garden:
buttercup squash
sugar snap peas
watermelon
strawberries
lettuce
raw spinach
carrots
apples they tend to just like the peels unless I actually dehydrate them in slices
potato and skins

grains they prefer:
corn
oats
any type of seed

Table foods they prefer:
any kind of yogurt
anything that we are eating and have left overs so I make sure not to add much salt and everyone can add it to their plate
well cooked meat, hamburger sausage etc
scrambled egg
oatmeal
boiled rice
rye and pumpernickle bread in small amounts
corn tortillas

 

[Seatrout00]

keeping a good variety besides having their base feed is important and your chickens will tell you what they like and don't like so you can adjust. When we started we would give one new item at a time that wasn't listed on do not feed to chickens list, to see how they reacted. mine will beat the dogs up for their scaps if it's got vegetables especially if they have the skins on still lol, garlic, chili powder, any type of fruit. But mine free range most the time unless we are well below zero for temps. winter is the only time they do not have lacto fermented feed available also , we have enough trouble keeping the water unfroze as we are in the north.

Here's what mine will eat in order of their favorites, your chickens may have a different preference though. This is just some ideas but ours usually have a couple of different choices and they eat what they want. This has also helped train them to stay out of the garden after taking their treats away for a couple of days for getting into it they now wait for us to call them to the garden:
buttercup squash
sugar snap peas
watermelon
strawberries
lettuce
raw spinach
carrots
apples they tend to just like the peels unless I actually dehydrate them in slices
potato and skins

grains they prefer:
corn
oats
any type of seed

Table foods they prefer:
any kind of yogurt
anything that we are eating and have left overs so I make sure not to add much salt and everyone can add it to their plate
well cooked meat, hamburger sausage etc
scrambled egg
oatmeal
boiled rice
rye and pumpernickle bread in small amounts
corn tortillas

Very helpful, thank you!

 

[Seatrout00]

Has anyone seen http://beckyshomestead.com/ (Becky's Homestead) videos? Each time I watch one, she seems to contradict nutritional knowledge that I already know - does anyone here know if she's legit? It seems to be more of a gimmick-type take-your-money website.

One particular item she claims is that cracked corn is useless nutritionally and I know that isn't the case, it has some nutrition, even if its not highly bioavailable.

Ideas?