Help needed with mixing my own feed!!

[JustAnotherWeirdo]

I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere and the only feed available here is a single brand of layer pellets that I don't like it all, it has only 15% protein, the chickens hate it, very expensive for what you're getting and the bags easily lay at the feed store for months losing even more nutritional value. I've been mixing my own feed for a while but I know its an insanely difficult thing to get right but I've slowly been able to improve it but I need further help on making it even better. My dad is a sheep farmer outside of town who has been giving me some ingredients and I found a lovely pet shop near the city we always travel to who sell a ton of seeds and grains for decent prices where I yesterday purchased 25kg of yellow peas, canola seed and sunflower seed.

The recipe I worked out uses ingredients in the following ratios:
0.5 canola (3.8%)
0.5 red sorghum (3.8%)
2 Barley (15.4%)
1 Sunflower seeds (7.7%)
1 Soybeans (7.7%) (I roast them in the oven at 130ºC for 20 mins before mixing feed)
1 Oat Groats (7.7%)
1 Yellow peas (7.7%)
3 Whole Corn (23%)
3 Wheat (23%)

I then take this mix and ferment it for my chickens and they get the following vitamin supplement in their water once a week https://za.virbac.com/products/minerals--vitamins/standard-product and all the edible kitchen scraps they can. Any advice on how to improve the feed (increasing or decreasing the amount of one ingredient or perhaps adding another to the mix would be greatly appreciated or even directing me to good feed calculators where I can play around with things myself

 

[JustAnotherWeirdo]

I am an orpington breeder and I've noticed that they need extra protein than other chickens so the higher I can raise it the better (aiming for 18% but my current mix seems to be around 16%) and then I also have Pekins who I breed with and my mixed flock that has all kinds of chickens and ages in it.

 

[pollipazzi]

i have the same problem with finding good feed. only layer pellets seem to be available. i have been considering mixing my own feed too, but i’m new and don’t have many chickens so i wouldn’t need a lot. they free range, so they don’t eat a whole lot of feed anyway.

@Perris has this article that might be helpful to you?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/

 

[Perris]

My approach is a lot simpler, after making my own feed for quite a few years now. @pollipazzi linked to the first article, where the principles are explained, and it's detailed and illustrated. I then wrote a follow-up article a year later, which assumes familiarity with the first article, and reports on further changes made to the base mix; it is here https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wholesome-homemade-feed-2.79307/

We are now into another year with a happy, healthy, fertile mixed flock of heritage breeds (not production hens) in which 5 of 18 hens and pullets have gone broody and stopped laying for months, and the girls have still laid over 1000 eggs so far this year, and even an 8 year old rare breed (Araucana) is still laying every 2-3 days, and has been since mid April, while a 6 year old has proven still fertile. And again none of the home bred chicks shows any sign of any deficiency. So I remain confident that my approach works, to provide the flock with everything they need, not just to lay eggs but to maintain their bodies in great condition well into a chicken's twilight years, males as well as females, young as well as old.

Any advice on how to improve the feed (increasing or decreasing the amount of one ingredient or perhaps adding another to the mix would be greatly appreciated

I don't do 'recipes' as such for chicken feed. To improve what you are suggesting feeding your flock, my strong advice is

• add some animal protein; meat, or fish, or insects, or dairy, and
• vary the contents, especially the animal proteins, and some of the cereals/legumes/pseudo-cereals, with the seasons at least. The more diversity you can get into their diet, the less likely they are to suffer a deficiency of anything.
• omit the synthetic vitamins and minerals; they should get everything they need from the real food you give them.

 

[JustAnotherWeirdo]

I don't do 'recipes' as such for chicken feed. To improve what you are suggesting feeding your flock, my strong advice is

• add some animal protein; meat, or fish, or insects, or dairy, and
• vary the contents, especially the animal proteins, and some of the cereals/legumes/pseudo-cereals, with the seasons at least. The more diversity you can get into their diet, the less likely they are to suffer a deficiency of anything.
• omit the synthetic vitamins and minerals; they should get everything they need from the real food you give them.

Thank you very much! Right now I have very few hens that are laying because of it becoming winter here and a lot of them still going through a bit of molting (and I suspect protein has been too low for them to keep laying now) but in the summer we easily cook 10-30 eggs a week for all the chickens when we have extra and I've been thinking of buying some chicken hearts and necks that I can get for incredibly cheap but the thing is that they're almost certainly from broilers so I'm uncertain of wether I should or not. Then there's fish meal that I also thought of getting and sprinkling over the feed when I give it to them since it won't ferment well.

I also believe that the more variety I can add to their feed the better but I have over 100 chickens so they eat a lot and these seeds and grains can be quite expensive (partially because I much rather want to buy in bulk than a few small bags) so I'm focussing on creating a "base feed" which contains everything necessary and then slowly I'll buy more and more kinds of ingredients to add to their diet to further vary and improve it if that makes any sense

 

[Perris]

I've been thinking of buying some chicken hearts and necks that I can get for incredibly cheap but the thing is that they're almost certainly from broilers so I'm uncertain of wether I should or not.

Down through the ages poultry manuals advised to use whatever meat or fish was available locally (so fresh) and relatively cheap, so you would be following long-established practise. Broilers weren't raised in 5 weeks on anonymous ingredients in those days though. It would probably be OK in moderation, and thought of as a source of complete, easily metabolizable protein.

Then there's fish meal that I also thought of getting and sprinkling over the feed when I give it to them

Real fish /heads/ skins would be better, served in a recognizable form so that those birds who want it can select it and those that don't can avoid it. I have one hen who doesn't like mealworms, I don't know why, everyone else in the flock does, but she does not. So be it. She has choices, and gets her protein elsewhere.

these seeds and grains can be quite expensive

Yes they can, and the price can fluctuate a lot with harvests etc. But no one thing is essential, so you can vary what you buy to get best value. There are lots of alternatives in every food category, both at macro level (protein, carbs, fats) and micro (vitamins and minerals). You could even start your shopping trip with the best value item that day, and build round that (which is what feed calculators do).

 

[pollipazzi]

My approach is a lot simpler, after making my own feed for quite a few years now. @pollipazzi linked to the first article, where the principles are explained, and it's detailed and illustrated. I then wrote a follow-up article a year later, which assumes familiarity with the first article, and reports on further changes made to the base mix; it is here https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wholesome-homemade-feed-2.79307/

We are now into another year with a happy, healthy, fertile mixed flock of heritage breeds (not production hens) in which 5 of 18 hens and pullets have gone broody and stopped laying for months, and the girls have still laid over 1000 eggs so far this year, and even an 8 year old rare breed (Araucana) is still laying every 2-3 days, and has been since mid April, while a 6 year old has proven still fertile. And again none of the home bred chicks shows any sign of any deficiency. So I remain confident that my approach works, to provide the flock with everything they need, not just to lay eggs but to maintain their bodies in great condition well into a chicken's twilight years, males as well as females, young as well as old.


I don't do 'recipes' as such for chicken feed. To improve what you are suggesting feeding your flock, my strong advice is

• add some animal protein; meat, or fish, or insects, or dairy, and
• vary the contents, especially the animal proteins, and some of the cereals/legumes/pseudo-cereals, with the seasons at least. The more diversity you can get into their diet, the less likely they are to suffer a deficiency of anything.
• omit the synthetic vitamins and minerals; they should get everything they need from the real food you give them.

thanks for posting that link, perris. i haven’t seen that one. and loads of info in this thread already!