Feed recipe without soy?

[Godiva]

I was wondering if some of you mix your own feed but don't use soybeans. WHat do you use instead? What are your feed ratios? Looking to learn as much as I can so can get our chickens good, fresh, cheaper food. Do any of you grow your own grains? Or some of them? Tell me more! I was wondering too about adding things like cayenne pepper to keep the mice etc out? What do you do? We are interested in doing this as naturally as possible - don't want to add vitamins but think kelp, DE etc are great.

 

[Clay Mudd]

Here's one article to get you started:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Soy-Alternatives.html

 

[kizanne]

countryside does a soy free organic, they use fish instead

 

[Clay Mudd]

Here's another article showing how to use a spreadsheet to calculate your own mix ratios. I've been using it to work out my own feeds. I'm too new at this to have any results to show for it, except to say that my chooks are a lot happier to see sprouted peas and grains than they are to see pellets.

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/2/2-3/Harvey_Ussery1.html

edited to add: great article on pastured poutry nutrition:

www.sustainablepoultry.ncat.org/downloads/chnutritionhpinew.pdf

 

[Godiva]

Thanks folks, got me some reading to do I see. Great to have a place to start out from... kind of exciting. I like being able to take back the responsibility for what my chickens eat instead of trusting that the feed I am buying is what I want and of the quality that I want. I am so tired of being 'told' that I don't know enough to do things... just learn and then you do know enough huh?

 

[Clay Mudd]

Quote:
Exactly!

I wonder how people would react to being told they don't know enough about human nutrition to feed their children, and that they should "feed a balanced ration, such as Gerber Start-n-Grow".

 

[homesteadapps]

Just wanted to add another good source of protein if you are doing it yourself is alfalfa and clover -- boiled or ground -- some alfalfa leaves can be in the high 35%+ protein area. We often collect the leaves and dust leftover from the goats feeder and mix with corn, wheat, etc...



Also if you just want fresh ingredients a local mill can provide good fresh milled feed too.

Finally if you want you can use a premix concentrate, but they contain soy which you said that you do not want -- something like this is great for meat hybrids.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7514642


For calculating try our Pearson's square calculator:
https://homesteadapps.com/app/free/feedcalc/pearsonsquare.php

We show a lot of the grains at minimum and average percentages but grains like whole wheat we figure at 13.5 % even though in some instances it may be higher or lower. Our chart displays it as 12.5.

If mixing your own feeds, just remember, one of anything isn't good. Try to maintain a balance of grains because there is more to it than just protein %.


Edit to add link:

 

[Scratch and Peck]

We have built feed mill that does not use soy in any of our recipes. One of the ingredients we use as an alternative is called "Camelina Meal" which is a by-product of pressing the oil seed camelina. It is very high protein percentage and the oil contains very high omega-3 content. You can find more info on camelina and soy-free feeds on our website or the Wikipedia page. We also use field peas and fish meal for other sources of protein.

We are also huge advocates of DE for mite and pest control as well as internal parasite mitigation.