Feeding chickens

[Livestockfarmermaury]

would this be great for feed to my chickens ?i want to Pelletize corn, coconut meal and highway grass all into one pellets.

 

[Brooks_]

It sounds like it would be deficient in protein, amino acids and vitamins/minerals. With very few exceptions, buying a commercial feed is the healthiest and cheapest way to go.

 

[Livestockfarmermaury]

It sounds like it would be deficient in protein, amino acids and vitamins/minerals. With very few exceptions, buying a commercial feed is the healthiest and cheapest way to go.

What about that mix with soyabean though

 

[Brooks_]

What about that mix with soyabean though

That would improve it. Still the vitamins and minerals to deal with and assaying each ingredient to make it a complete ration in correct ratios. Unless you have a couple hundred acres and a combine and a home lab, trying to make your own feed is futile. Borderline neglect.

 

[saysfaa]

This is only part of the answer.
[Coconut meal is also called copra meal]

Soy, corn, and most grasses are all too low in sulpher amino acids (specifically, methionine). Methionine is an essential amino acid. So your pellets might work well as part of the diet but not as all of it. I don't know what else it needs, though.

From Feedipedia:

Copra meal can be a valuable raw material in poultry diets, because of its availability at relatively low cost in some contexts.The amino-acid profile is not optimal for poultry due to a relative lack of lysine and sulphur amino-acids. The energy value of copra meal is low because of the high fibre content though it can be increased by the high content of residual oil in expeller meals.

The low feeding value in poultry is also partly due to physical properties of copra meal. The high water holding capacity and bulk tend to decrease intake, particularly in young animals

It is concluded that with adequate formulation (energy, amino acids), copra meal can be used efficiently in layer diets. In layers, it can be recommended to limit incorporation to 15%. This limit could be extended to 20% for good quality expeller copra meal. In pullet diets, it can be up to 10 to 20%.

Copra meal is a common feed ingredient, particularly for ruminants. Its crude protein content is 20-25% dry matter.

Its oil content is generally quite high (about 10% DM, in the 5-15% range, with values higher than 20% possible).

The high oil content of copra meal renders it susceptible to rancidity and the product should not be used after prolonged storage. Rancidity makes copra meal unpalatable and animals can start rejecting it even when there are no obvious signs of the rancidity.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Some good advice so far. Use commercial pellets till the time comes they are no longer available, hopefully that will never happen. Balanced diet, probably the cheapest healthy diet you could feed a chicken. Supplementing it with free range or kitchen scraps, in moderation of course, is good.