Growing your chicken feed

[mattevans03]

My chicks are about 8 weeks old and I am still feeding chick starter, I have a decent sized garden that we use for our own food and a plot next to it that is going unused except when the cows graze it

. I am interested in growing as much of their food as I can, I planted a forage blend from Peaceful Valley Organics in their run with millet, clovers, rye and some flax that will hopefully be really thick before I turn them out on it to free range and I plan on dividing the run up so I can rotate them through it while the next portion has time to grow.

So my question I guess is what do you grow for the layer mix? I saw a gentleman on YouTube that grew sorghum, Japanese millet, corn and sunflower but I understood that to be more of a scratch? I am just trying to be more self sufficient. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Grains.html
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Proteins.html
http://www.lionsgrip.com/protein.html

For my layers I aim for a protein level of about 15% with mixed seeds and grains, added to 1/3 organic chick starter (soy and corn), with added oyster shell and grit. I use lbs instead of parts when doing a calculation.

Oyster shell should be 1 lb per 20 lb per flemingoutdoors:
http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/croysh5lb.html

If I don't mix it in I get weak eggshells.

Any soybeans must be roasted.

I have found they gain weight better and lay better with soybeans.

Also check out:
university of manitoba feeding peas to poultry (google it) - for some reason my computer is not connecting- maybe their site is down at the moment
I feed split peas- they cannot stand Austrian Peas (at least my flock doesn't like them, the songbirds don't like them, the squirrels don't like them....)