Greener Pastures Organic feed recipes

[sparkles2307]

OK, as I am reading this list of ingredients to DH, the ever-practical-to-the-point-of-no-fun farmer, (12 years my senior so we tend to be on a different page about several things!) he scoffs and says "who does that? all we ever fed the chickens when I was growing up was the same thing we fed the cows and pigs - ground corn and oats - and they were just fine. You're not buying all that crap just to feed chickens." .... So, my questions is, are all those things really necessary, or can I take that original recipe and use only, say, half of the ingredients? I dont know where to get quinoa or amaranth at a reasonable price. The grain elevators that HAD heard of those grains told me that they could get it to me by the ton and not very cheap... Can I use a base of our home grown cow feed, which really is just rough ground corn and oats, and add a few things like wheat or lentils, sunflowers, millet, and some grit and call it good? I can get everything but the lentils free on a regular basis, so if that is an acceptable mix DH would give me a lot less grief. I dont want to malnourish my birds though, so any pointers would be really appreciated!!! Thanks so much!

 

[sparkles2307]

anyone!? We have birds coming soon and I am trying to prep as much in advance as I can

Thanks!!!

 

[Sparklee]

Are you getting chicks? Which breeds? Layers? Meat birds? Will they free range after 8 weeks? If layers, how many eggs a day do you expect? Do you require that they eat organic feed?

Those are just some questions that will help folks to answer your question.

 

[greysage]

Are you a member of the organic chickens yahoo group that is affiliated with those recipes? There are a lot of people there that make their own feed and can probably better answer your questions.
Also, check out: http://www.lionsgrip.com/protein.html to learn about calculating the amount of protein in your homemade mix. You might also want to add kelp for micronutrients, etc.
But in general, the answer to your question is "yes!".

 

[sparkles2307]

Well we are getting 100 mixed breed roo chicks from Cackle to be raised for the freezer, and 25 laying hens. We wont be free ranging as we have dogs and there are several predators on our property. They will have a large run, a half-chicken moat around 2 sides of the garden. We will feed them grass clippings and the garden should draw in a lot of bug activity for them. I dont require that they be fed organic, I just dont want to have to buy feed because its not readily available without an hour drive for us. So if I can come up with something home made that we can do without crumbles from the store that would be ideal for our situation! Sheesh, living in Minnesota in the middle of farm country youd think that there would be FEED stores in every town...not so! There were more feed stores when we lived in Rural Washington state than here!

 

[mamatomany]

I followed Recipe #3 from Greener Pastures with terrible results unfortuantely. Many of my birds got crooked beaks and did not grow well at all...I had to put 6 down myself. Crooked beak can be attributed to incubation issues or inbreeding...if it was one or two of the same breed I would say "hey its your fault." but it was numerous chickens of different species. Stopped using that and bought organic from a co-op in north carolina...chickens are doing much better and growing nicely. I even put in vitamins in teh water when I was feeding #3...still defiencient I would assume vit. K.

 

[naturemom]

I use it on and off, with good results. Sometimes it gets too tedious mixing the food and then I order some from Countryside, but mostly I use whole grains, esp. in the summer. I also used the chick feed recipe last year and am using it right now for a chick and a broody hen. My girls are in a chicken tractor and spend a lot of time free-ranging.
Before I found the Greener Pastures recipe I used a simpler one that didn't need so many kinds of grains. I think I found it on the old BYC board. I'm thinking of going back to that one because it's easier and I can adapt it to whatever grains I have available. I'll have to dig it up and post it.
One word of warning, though. I'd hesitate to use a home-mixed feed for birds not on pasture unless it included a supplement (like Fertrell Nutribalancer). Our first hen was a house chicken and after about a year on homemade feed suddenly lost her ability to stand. With help from members of this board, I figured out it was probably rickets. Time in the sun and commercial feed solved the problem, and after we moved and she went outside we went back to the whole grain feed with no problems, but I couldn't believe I had over looked the vitamin d issue.

 

[sparkles2307]

Thanks for the info. Mine will be in a VERY large run, a few hundred square feet around the perimeter of the garden, so wont really be free-range. I will bear this in mind when deciding on a feed recipe!