for the self sustained homesteader

[Sammi<3chickens]

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I was thinking how I could sprout outside in the summer. I just bought some whole oats and spread a lot them all over our rotated garden/chicken area "system". Its mulched and stuff. I hope that the chickens miss some of the oats and get the sprouts instead. not bankin on that, but at least I wont be wasting feed, like you would with a pellet.

 

[Sammi<3chickens]

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Is the chicken feed pellets? Of course the goats are gonna eat that stuff. Its fake, just like human processed boxed food, which is highly addicting and very unhealthy.

Is it bad for a goat to eat their grains, fruits, bugs? If its not on their natural diet, I bet they would not touch it.
And what is in the trash that your dog would love? nasty smells from food? wouldnt a wild dog or other wild animal do the same, its in their nature.

 

[Sammi<3chickens]

eudyptes- thank you for that info, very helpful!

Organics North- YES YES YES YES!!!! everything you said! We sound one in the same!

 

[callducklover20]

This is exactly why so many pet foods are going back to whole diets or "raw" foods-just think what zoos feed, they dont open a bag of Lion Chow-the lions get meat, not corn mixed with this and that and then a meat or protein source. So many peoples cats and dogs are allergic to regular feed because it forces them to eat things they normally would never eat, if you go to all the speciality stores and places like Whole Foods they all have diets that are whole or raw and so many animals no longer react to their foods. I know when I worked at a vet clinic there were many animals that the owners where "cooking" for them-cooking chicken meat adding rice, yogurt, cottage cheese etc and their animals started to no longer have allergies, ear infections, stomach illness, caused by these etc. I personally feel if you can provide each thing your birds need in natural form then they should be fine if not even healthier-I believe most of the diets available are just for our convenience so we dont have to worry about gathering all the ingredients, esp in this day and age when we run sun up to sun down and then keep going til we fall over and go to bed

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Hi, I mix my own chicken feed too. Congratulations for being brave!!!

Here are a couple of websites I found helpful, although I may not agree with all they say:

http://www.greenerpasturesfarm.com/ChickenFeedRecipe.html

http://www.lionsgrip.com/protein.html

And IMO you do need to pay attention to protein. I make sure my feed is the 17% grower recommended amount. Then I will switch to 16% layer protein by adjusting the amount of seeds etc. Look up Kim's rectangle and Pearson's square on google if you are interested.

My homemade mix includes: (and I change it around all the time)
oats
wheat berries
cracked corn
millet
peanuts
split peas
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
wheat bran
alfalfa meal (uh haven't yet opened the bag, but soon!)
diatomaceous earth
kelp meal

salt free choice (oh please don't skip this one- they do like salt)
grit free choice
soon-to-be-oyster shell free choice

I get all these from my local feed store in large bags except the peanuts, split peas, and salt.

Have fun with it!!!! It is so much fun. I have calculated my feed costs and came to the conclusion that if I don't buy kelp again (oh that bag will last for a very long time, but was so expensive), I am just $3 more per 50lb of feed than regular grower/starter crumbles.

I am avoiding the GMO soy.

 

[Organics North]

Sammi<3chickens :

I was thinking how I could sprout outside in the summer. I just bought some whole oats and spread a lot them all over our rotated garden/chicken area "system". Its mulched and stuff. I hope that the chickens miss some of the oats and get the sprouts instead. not bankin on that, but at least I wont be wasting feed, like you would with a pellet.

This should work.. I am constantly trying to get new pasture areas started to try and get some of the slower germinating and expensive clover and other grasses to get a chance, I seed some oats and wheat along with annual rye.. Chickens love sprouts like that...Also when I moved the cockerel tractor, all the grains they did not eat sprout, the flock cleans up the sprouts real fast...
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CAS.. Cool only $3 over commercial feed.... I call that a big win!!!!!! I bet in no time you will get that cost to be lower than commercial feed...

A GMO free diet YOU have control over..

ON​

 

[they'reHISchickens]

50 years ago when I was in charge of feeding chickens ( so to speak- it was on my chore list) I had to visit the granary for a bucket each of oats, wheat and soybeans ( soybeans were roasted).
Then I had to visit the corn crib and get a bucket of cob corn.
Finally I had to visit the dairy barn and get a bucket of homegrown, homeground dairy ration which consisted of cob corn, oats, soybeans, minerals, molasses to keep the dust down, and possibly orange peels or brewery malt.
Each of these buckets contents went in its own feeder and the parental units expected them all filled daily, plus the waterer!
The flock was a commercial loose-housing sexlink egglaying flock of about 50 hens. My parents were part of a local cooperative and eggs in flats were picked up regularly.
The point of all this is that 50 years ago chickens were successfully raised commercially with farm-grown feed with no exotic ingredients and no free ranging. Yes, there was child labor involved but it didn't kill me. It did sting my butt a bit if all the feed troughs were not filled

Last time we bought scratch, we didn't. I just asked for bags of whole wheat and whole oats. They love it and it's not as dusty as the cracked corn. If they want corn, they can scavenge the garden

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

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OMG,,,you are so right. Mine were the same way growing up. I feed layer pellets and all now because I have to...I work too much to let them free range and when I tried it, dogs were always killing them. I feed mostly bread and corn in the winter time anyways...and scraps, scraps, scraps.