Feed Recipes

[fasbendera]

I have a meat bird bulk recipe but I want to buy my laying feed in bulk also because it has to be cheaper than the $9.00 a bag I am buying the pellets at now. Anyone out there do their own custom mix for laying hens.

 

[digitS']

I don't formulate my own feed, Fasbendera, but I appreciate what you intend to do.

I have some formulas from 1909 and 1936 here at home and, at least, a few of them still make some sense.

Here's a pdf file on feed formulas that was put together by Kansas State University but is on a NCSU website. KSU issued this information in 1983 and the recipes are based primarily on corn, sorghum, and soymeal. I don't know what ingredients are available to you but you may be able to use comparable substitutes.

Whatever the case, this bumps you inquiry up to the top again where others may see it and offer recipes

. I gotta tell you that I see some recipes (including some that have been suggested on BYC) haven't looked like they'd make the best of rations. I'm no animal nutritionist but it would be a good idea to use a formula from someone who is.

Steve

 

[links_56]

Fasbendera, I agree with you when you keep paying that much for a bag of feed it makes for a pretty expensive dozen of eggs! Anyway, I am a farmer and I make my own feed it's very simple. All you have to do is put 2 feeders in your coop and in one put cracked corn and in the other crimped or rolled oats. You should be able to get both from a local farmer or feed store. Keep in mind that a bushel of corn is approximately 2$-3$ and weighs about 56lbs so don't be tricked into buying a 50lb bag of cracked corn for 9$ because it's cheaper elsewhere. As for the quality of the eggs I have the best eggs around where I live and a ton of people come and get them from me. Hope this helps. Justin.

 

[backyardchickenfarmer]

9.00 a bag is expensive to you? over here its 15.65 for a 50 lb bag of layer pellets!

 

[fasbendera]

I was paying $5-6 two years ago and $7-8 this last year. Ethanol is no friend of mine it has only driven up prices on corn. But if you are paying that much I'll keep my fingers crossed I stay in the $9 range. I did find a recipe for chicken feed by my great grandmother on my dad's side. Chick starter and chick feed. She sold eggs so I am hoping there is a recipe in her recipe file for laying mash my dad is tracking down the holder of the recipe box. When I get them I'll post.

 

[BuckeyeDave]

We have a local feed mill with some awesome guys working in the grainery, they mix me a corn/wheat based feed with supplement and soybean meal bringing the batch up to 20% for $ 150.00 per thousand. Not a bad deal if you ask me, about ½ of the price of prebagged layer pellets.

 

[fowlmood]

At the feed store in my town it's $14 for 50# scratch grain and $14 for 50# laying mash. I do have a friend who's a corn farmer and we trade chicken & duck eggs with him for corn. That works out really nice for me.

My dumb birds don't like oats. I've tried feeding those to them and that wont eat them. I ended up feeding the oats to the horses so it worked out O.K. and didn't go to waste. Seeing a few old recipes would be interesting.

 

[digitS']

I enjoy reading thru "Feeding for Eggs," by James Dryden now and then. You can download it as a pdf file from the Oregon State University library.

It is only a 24 page booklet and was written 100 years ago, 1909. There is a feed recipe on page 18. We should understand that soybeans were not commonly grown in the United States as livestock feed during Dryden's time. He doesn't even mention soy. To increase protein, his rations use milk or meat.

Dryden was the first poultry scientist with a 300 egg/year laying hen and the first with a 1,000 egg/lifetime hen. He obviously knew how to feed them

.

Steve

 

[packinaglock]

Quote:
Good thing you don't live in South Florida, I pay $14.50 for a 25lb bag.

 

[zigzag3337]

Quote:
I bought a 50# bag of laying pellets today (Jacksonville, FL.) and it was $10.95. I do shop around and I found that locally, Tractor Supply has the best price on their scratch @ $8.99 for 50# bag