Everyone, post your best homemade chicken feed recipes!

[mobius]

Desperately searching for a less expensive, healthier way to feed my little flock. I live in Northern In. I am actually surrounded by feed mills and chicken warehouses (that is what I call the local egg growers) Does anyone have a recipe for non-GMO Feed I can make??? It needs to be simple like 25lbs of this and that, not very good with percentages.h

Hi there! I would love to help...thing is there ARE a lot of alternatives. I put together a recipe myself, that when I ran the math on a spreadsheet...it was more expensive than regular feed by a factor of two. It was even more expensive than nice organic local non GMO no corn no soy feed. So I got the organic feed.

1, One way to save on food bills is to ferment the feed. Outcomes vary, but the chickens do eat less feed.

There are feed recipes (including mine) in this thread if you do a search n this thread. Again, thing is, there are additives necessary, like fish meal to bring up protein, or a vitamin/mineral mix package which just really can not be done without...otherwise chickens will likely have malnutrition

2. Along with fermenting feed, you could also do a sprouting/fodder system which reduces feed cost.

3. Table scraps or grocery store produce that the store is throwing away reduce feed costs
4. Finally, let your chickens free range...the free means what they eat is free...

All of the above ideas increase the health of your flock.

So reducing feed costs most likely includes a lot of different tweaks, not necessarily mixing feed. Costs depend on what your costs are locally...your organic barley may be more expensive than mine, but my peas may be more expensive than yours. So some research is required.

 

[Foristers]

Desperately searching for a less expensive, healthier way to feed my little flock. I live in Northern In. I am actually surrounded by feed mills and chicken warehouses (that is what I call the local egg growers) Does anyone have a recipe for non-GMO Feed I can make??? It needs to be simple like 25lbs of this and that, not very good with percentages.

There is no "one size fits all" cheap feed that will likely satisfy what you seem to be looking for. There are far too many variables to consider like: are you raising meat birds or egg layers - or dual purpose; rooster should really get a different diet than laying hens; what is the age of the chickens; climate, winter or summer, etc, etc.
But here are some ideas to consider - if you haven't already:
You can search your area Craiglist "farm & garden" page for locally grown non-GMO feed. You can do a similar search on Ebay, and other websites. I found a guy on Craigslist in my local area selling 16% feed for $9.00 for 50lbs bag. He works alot (apparently) so I have to wait on his schedule to go and get it and it could be 3-5 days sometimes.
You have other options and I have worked with many of them. Harvest from nature what you need. This requires more work but it works. In the fall I gather acorns and beechnuts, weed seeds that I know are safe for my chickens and the insects that come with them. I collect crickets that try to get in the garage, grubs that I dig up from the garden and beetles that fly here and there. In early summer you could set up a Japanese Beetle trap up in your yard (most of these cheap bag-type traps keep the bugs alive) and feed your bird the bounty from that.
Chickens like it if a certain percentage of their diet is grass and other herbs that grow wildly; if fact a friend of mine that has a bagger on his lawn mower tosses the entire contents of it in his chicken run and claims that it is gone in 24 hours - and I believe it. I need to get a bagger for my lawn mower.
You can take old logs, half rotten and falling apart, and toss them in a pen and let the chickens peck and scratch the grubs and beetles out of it. That gives them something fun to do as well and helps to accelerate the composting of said log.
Obviously everything that you find in nature will be GMO free.
Another option is to grow your own. Any available land that you do not have tied up otherwise should be planted in something that you can feed your livestock. What I do is grow non-GMO soybeans to help to regular the protein of wild-gathered foods that they are combined with. I don't know why soybeans get such a bad reputation, aside from the image that people have of mass-production farming. There are not only non-GMO soybeans available, there are also heritage soybeans available. BUT if you simple hate soybeans and feel like you have to avoid them for whatever reason, then you can grow some other type of easy-to-grow bean, crowder peas, lima beans, or even peanuts which would probably still do pretty good in northern Indiana.

Above all it would probably help you to 1) always combine raising chickens with growing a garden - they just compliment each other, they just do. I mean, you clean out the coop and have have free fertilizer, you clean out the garden and you have free chicken feed - whether you are pulling weeds or tossing excess vegetables.
2) Find out what grows well in your area and craft you plan around that information. This includes wild-grown foods and home-grown. I mentioned acorns and beechnuts earlier - if something else grows in your area that gather the seeds of whatever it might be. Every growing plant produces a seed of some kind - everything that a chicken eats is either an insect (free) or a seed from some plant (potentially free). So make that work your advantage.
Maple trees drop "helicopters" - seeds and chickens will eat them and they are safe.
With regards to the comment that chickens eat insects and they are free - I encourage to also explore insects as a good option in chicken feed. There are several videos online about people raising mealworms and how to do it. Although most of them are raising mealworms to feed pet lizards and other exotic animals, Tractor Supply regularly stocks their shelves with bags of dried mealworms for chicken treats. They are absolutely a chicken favorite.

There are alot of other ideas on how you could get non-GMO feed for your chickens and I could go on for pages about it - I could probably write a book on how to do it - but most of the basic ideas are included above. What you have to bring is your adaptation of my ideas above, based on what grows or crawls in your "neck of the woods".

What you can count on is that anything labeled "non-GMO" is not going to be cheap - not in today's market; and anything cheap is not going to be non-GMO unless you explore the ideas above. If what I have mentioned is too much work for you, then you can either go cheap or non-GMO but not both. If you can find non-GMO for cheap - please let us all know!!!!!!!!

Good luck.

 

[chickengr]

There is no "one size fits all" cheap feed that will likely satisfy what you seem to be looking for. There are far too many variables to consider like: are you raising meat birds or egg layers - or dual purpose; rooster should really get a different diet than laying hens; what is the age of the chickens; climate, winter or summer, etc, etc.
But here are some ideas to consider - if you haven't already:
You can search your area Craiglist "farm & garden" page for locally grown non-GMO feed. You can do a similar search on Ebay, and other websites. I found a guy on Craigslist in my local area selling 16% feed for $9.00 for 50lbs bag. He works alot (apparently) so I have to wait on his schedule to go and get it and it could be 3-5 days sometimes.
You have other options and I have worked with many of them. Harvest from nature what you need. This requires more work but it works. In the fall I gather acorns and beechnuts, weed seeds that I know are safe for my chickens and the insects that come with them. I collect crickets that try to get in the garage, grubs that I dig up from the garden and beetles that fly here and there. In early summer you could set up a Japanese Beetle trap up in your yard (most of these cheap bag-type traps keep the bugs alive) and feed your bird the bounty from that.
Chickens like it if a certain percentage of their diet is grass and other herbs that grow wildly; if fact a friend of mine that has a bagger on his lawn mower tosses the entire contents of it in his chicken run and claims that it is gone in 24 hours - and I believe it. I need to get a bagger for my lawn mower.
You can take old logs, half rotten and falling apart, and toss them in a pen and let the chickens peck and scratch the grubs and beetles out of it. That gives them something fun to do as well and helps to accelerate the composting of said log.
Obviously everything that you find in nature will be GMO free.
Another option is to grow your own. Any available land that you do not have tied up otherwise should be planted in something that you can feed your livestock. What I do is grow non-GMO soybeans to help to regular the protein of wild-gathered foods that they are combined with. I don't know why soybeans get such a bad reputation, aside from the image that people have of mass-production farming. There are not only non-GMO soybeans available, there are also heritage soybeans available. BUT if you simple hate soybeans and feel like you have to avoid them for whatever reason, then you can grow some other type of easy-to-grow bean, crowder peas, lima beans, or even peanuts which would probably still do pretty good in northern Indiana.

Above all it would probably help you to 1) always combine raising chickens with growing a garden - they just compliment each other, they just do. I mean, you clean out the coop and have have free fertilizer, you clean out the garden and you have free chicken feed - whether you are pulling weeds or tossing excess vegetables.
2) Find out what grows well in your area and craft you plan around that information. This includes wild-grown foods and home-grown. I mentioned acorns and beechnuts earlier - if something else grows in your area that gather the seeds of whatever it might be. Every growing plant produces a seed of some kind - everything that a chicken eats is either an insect (free) or a seed from some plant (potentially free). So make that work your advantage.
Maple trees drop "helicopters" - seeds and chickens will eat them and they are safe.
With regards to the comment that chickens eat insects and they are free - I encourage to also explore insects as a good option in chicken feed. There are several videos online about people raising mealworms and how to do it. Although most of them are raising mealworms to feed pet lizards and other exotic animals, Tractor Supply regularly stocks their shelves with bags of dried mealworms for chicken treats. They are absolutely a chicken favorite.

There are alot of other ideas on how you could get non-GMO feed for your chickens and I could go on for pages about it - I could probably write a book on how to do it - but most of the basic ideas are included above. What you have to bring is your adaptation of my ideas above, based on what grows or crawls in your "neck of the woods".

What you can count on is that anything labeled "non-GMO" is not going to be cheap - not in today's market; and anything cheap is not going to be non-GMO unless you explore the ideas above. If what I have mentioned is too much work for you, then you can either go cheap or non-GMO but not both. If you can find non-GMO for cheap - please let us all know!!!!!!!!

Good luck.

thank you for good advises.

I think people avoid soy beans because it usually is gmo.

I agree that chickens and garden complement each other. I used to pay a lot of money for manure and I fixed dead soil with pine shavings and chicken manure from the coop. I put it straight away, without waiting for 3 months to decompose and it works great.

people that have no garden can plant tomatoes in containers. especially cherry tomatoes. they have more fruit that we can eat so chickens will benefit from it. and chickens go mad for tomatoes.

 

[Foristers]

I agree ChickenGr
Even if you only grow a few tomatoes on a patio, you can still benefit from having about 2 chickens who can eat whatever tomatoes you deem not good for humans. You can also toss them the weeds you have to pull from those containers and you will still have great fertilizer to give back to the tomato plants.

 

[chickengr]

I agree ChickenGr
Even if you only grow a few tomatoes on a patio, you can still benefit from having about 2 chickens who can eat whatever tomatoes you deem not good for humans. You can also toss them the weeds you have to pull from those containers and you will still have great fertilizer to give back to the tomato plants.

silver beets, chard or any green leafy vegetables can be planted around tomatoes for people that have no room.

 

[mg15]

Is there a recipie with amounts and trace minerals
amount ?
That I can make.
I have organic soybeans, corn, lentils, groats.
I can get the minerals that are added to the mix.
I cook the soybeans and corn and the lentils and groats. The wheat berries I ferment.
in a crock pot. If I have left over I put in the freezer.
I just need to know the amounts of minerals.
Thank you.

 

[Venumfire]

When it comes to budget and organic feed, this is the best of both worlds that I have found and use:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/132059463011 If you sprout, you triple the dry weight of the feed, and if you grow to fodder it is 6 times the dry weight making it a lower cost option to feed organic feed.​

If I go camping overnight or have baby chicks I use: http://www.ebay.com/itm/132160054643 It is a freshly ground mix of the feed above with dried herbs added.​

 

[mg15]

When it comes to budget and organic feed, this is the best of both worlds that I have found and use:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/132059463011 If you sprout, you triple the dry weight of the feed, and if you grow to fodder it is 6 times the dry weight making it a lower cost option to feed organic feed.​

If I go camping overnight or have baby chicks I use: http://www.ebay.com/itm/132160054643 It is a freshly ground mix of the feed above with dried herbs added.​

Thank you for this information. I will try it. the nutrition info on the feed is important.
mg

 

[karens506]

There's a great chapter in the Storey's chicken book about this as well.

Mudhen, I'm going to give your recipe a try. Looks good enough for us to eat. Sort of a savory granola. Well, okay, maybe not. But I bet the chickens will love it.

So, do any of you folk's birds just love tomatoes. Mind are particularly fond of the little grape tomatoes just when then get a little raisiney. You know, just when they start to wrinkle a bit. I throw 10 or 12 into the run and it turns into a chicken brawl in there. One grabs one and runs, and the others take off after her. . . then they notice there are more. Then it's like a shark feeding frenzy. I'd throw more in but I like them myself. The only thing I can compare it to is when I throw a mess of crickets in with them.

Mark

 

[karens506]

I read that tomatoes are a no no? Whats your thought
Karen