Feed Nerds! Opinions wanted re: whole grain feed recipe

[bootsNbirds]

I'm omw to the feed store to pick up bulk seeds/grains for my first foray into making gluten-free feed for my flocks of 34 chickens and 3 muscovy ducks.

I'm going with this-

45# proso millet
27# safflower seeds
20# boss
8# flax seeds
15# crimped oats
25# split peas
10# alfalfa pellets
10# cracked corn
3# brewers yeast

Does this seem right? I have finally gotten so sick and not heard back from any feed mill I have contacted. So it's do this or sell my flock. I have 12 roos, the rest are pullets. I will futz with a chick starter mash in the spring.

That looks pretty good to me! You should get decent protein out of the split peas, alfalfa, and brewers yeast. How does that work out money-wise? Expensive?

 

[Double Kindness]

I didn't add the split peas, alfalfa or brewers yeast. They don't seem to be liking the safflower. I started a batch fermenting right away, their poops seem fine.

I now have 12 pullets and a roo with the layers, a slw that thinks she's an ayam cemani with the white bresse. 34 chickens and 3 ducks.

I spent $72 at the feed store for everything besides the boss, and crimped oats. That was for 50lb bags of each of organic non gmo cracked corn, organic non gmo safflower, and organic non gmo proso millet, 10 lbs of flax seeds. I had about 30 lbs of crimped oats and 30 lbs of boss at home already.

I'm keeping a very close eye on everyone. This morning the nausea wasn't so awful and I haven't spent most of the day occupying the bathroom. I'm so very hopeful.

Do I really need to add split peas, alfalfa and brewers yeast?

What is in calf manna? Can I add a bit of that? Can I use rabbit alfalfa pellets? Or horse alfalfa pellets?

I may have to get a mill and grind some of these seeds down more, b/c they are leaving the safflowers behind and the flax is so small....

 

[bootsNbirds]

I didn't add the split peas, alfalfa or brewers yeast. They don't seem to be liking the safflower. I started a batch fermenting right away, their poops seem fine.

I now have 12 pullets and a roo with the layers, a slw that thinks she's an ayam cemani with the white bresse. 34 chickens and 3 ducks.

I spent $72 at the feed store for everything besides the boss, and crimped oats. That was for 50lb bags of each of organic non gmo cracked corn, organic non gmo safflower, and organic non gmo proso millet, 10 lbs of flax seeds. I had about 30 lbs of crimped oats and 30 lbs of boss at home already.

I'm keeping a very close eye on everyone. This morning the nausea wasn't so awful and I haven't spent most of the day occupying the bathroom. I'm so very hopeful.

Do I really need to add split peas, alfalfa and brewers yeast?

What is in calf manna? Can I add a bit of that? Can I use rabbit alfalfa pellets? Or horse alfalfa pellets?

I may have to get a mill and grind some of these seeds down more, b/c they are leaving the safflowers behind and the flax is so small....

I'm so glad you're feeling even a tiny bit better! Here's hoping it's all uphill from here.

Definitely you need at least one of those things for protein. Chris09 explained earlier in this thread about protein vs. indigestible fiber (calories gained vs the calories burned in digesting the food). I'd try just the split peas if you want to cut down the cost. The brewers yeast and safflower are good, but expendable I think.

I use alfalfa pellets made for goats, but rabbit pellets would be even better. Though if you soak them in with your other grains, they end up as mush anyway so size doesn't matter.
Soaking will help them get more of the flax too, it gets all gummy & sticks to the other grains.

I'm not sure what's in calf manna, maybe someone else knows? But I've seen it recommended all over BYC, so it must be good stuff.

 

[bootsNbirds]

Update on the feed recipe:

My flock have been on the soaked whole grain diet for about 3 months. During that time, they've had great egg production, are healthy, and appear to be really enjoying this food. I'd call it a success!!

I did reduce the BOSS in the recipe due to cost, replace the corn with millet (miraculously cheaper in my area than corn, and smaller size which they like), and soak it all in whey when I can get it. I work in a creamery so the whey is free to me; extra protein at no cost, can't get better than that! But the chickens like it even soaked in water.

I still worry a little about the protein, as the recipe is only 16% protein without whey, so I'm working on a mealworm farm.

The biggest problem is cost. When I first calculated the price, it was ~20 bucks a bag. Then my supplier for split peas and millet just raised their price, and the fish meal and BOSS are outrageous in my area. More like $24-$25 a bag now. Looking into wholesale/bulk pricing or alternatives on those things. A few dollars a bag makes a huge difference when the flock eats a bag and a half per day! The price has gone up on my eggs accordingly, but the profit margin is tiny. I'm trying to educate customers on how important healthy feed is to the nutrition of their eggs, but i don't think they'll like another price increase.

So, I'm still learning, still improving the recipe, still working on it. But the experiment is going well!!

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Let us know how it goes! I just read through this thread quickly. So many different recipes here...

Has anyone ever found a gluten-free feed recipe without oats? If it was in this thread I apologize- as I said I just read through it very quickly. I know one gluten-free recipe but it has oats and I know some cannot tolerate that.

Bootsnbirds, do you know how much you use of each ingredient in your recipe? I am interested to know.

I'm collecting chicken feed recipes in case you couldn't tell.