Heritage Feeds for Heritage Breeds

[ChooksChick]

I've been using my own recipe now for a long time, and I modify it here and there but keep mostly the same ingredients.

There's a pic and a little info here.

I used to put 20% UltraKibble in it for certain supplementation, but now I use the Fertrell's Organic Nutribalancer and some other things for those portions of the mix. I am very happy with the way my birds look and the quality of their eggs, feathers, waste and health.

I know if I could grow all of these ingredients, I'd be able to provide for my flock, so next year I'll be planting just for their grains. We'll see what happens!

 

[ChooksChick]

Here's an updated recipe of what I use as of today.

It's wonderful and they love it. It can be served as a wet mash if one chooses to do so in the winter to give them a warm food.

ETA: This is a 17.8% protein, 13.5% crude fat recipe. The protein is both grain and animal-based and they eat 50-70% the amount they would of traditional commercial feed, so while it may cost more, it's economical to have a better feed. The amount of waste in the coops is significantly less, and cohesive while less stinky.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
We have dairy goats,
Mostly Nubians, but also have some Toggenburgs and La Manchas.

Chris

 

[Erica]

ChooksChick, I hope you don't mind a few comments/questions on the recipe you've put up. I presume your birds don't free range? (Since you're using nutri-balancer.) I too have birds in fixed pens, but I have a much simpler recipe to yours. Bravo for all the work you've done sourcing so many feedstuffs to include.

It seems a very varied and interesting mix, though I wonder how you arrived at the inclusion amounts? For instance, can I ask, is that 5% reading for molasses correct? That seems like an extraordinary amount to me. I believe molasses can be used to speed up the passage of food through the intestines, so it may have a small laxative (therefore anti-nutrient) effect. That's just from my general reading.

I can't help feeling that 15% peas (if I read correctly) is also quite a lot. In previous diets I've kept peas to around the 7% mark because of digestibility issues. But perhaps the peas you're able to source are better than the ones I could get (dun peas, commonly fed to pigeons). I'm sure you'd know if your birds weren't handling that amount.

I'm sorry if any of this sounds critical, I don't mean it that way -- just thinking it all through in relation to my own home mix, and wondering if I've been too cautious.

cheers
Erica

 

[upthecreek]

Sounds good to me ............ where do get this feed or do you mix it ? nothing on the present day feed store market could remotely touch it



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[Jake Levi]

Tracy sprouting the grains is a good idea, right now with winter coming on here in Wa. its not practicable for me, so I am making do with alfalfa chaffe daily. I would for sure like to be able to feed them sprouted grain though.

Yakima you make good points, the meat scraps fed to our heiritage breeds 80years ago was much different from what we have available today, having just moved to Wa I have to find new sources to what was available back in Mi. It will be.

Chooks Chick thats an impressive list of ingredients, how does it price out?

 

[ChooksChick]

Hiya!

When I first started doing this, I was concerned about phytoestrogens in the legumes, but it's not a concern in 15% or less of the content when using peas, as the common pea isn't of the same issue. It's a valuable source of protein with high digestibility, and the nutritive value is much higher than most common feed ingredients. I am soooooooo down on soy and corn, and really don't want hexane residues in my feed, so it's worth the increased costs.

I use Maple, Austrian and Canadian peas as they each have different qualities and have been grown in different fields, thus having different micronutrients. I am able to get locally sourced organic about 25% of the time.

Regarding the amount of molasses, it's really a negligible ingredient and is barely enough to bind up some of the fines, and certainly isn't enough to cause flushing. It's valuable for its nutrients, particularly B vitamins.

I do range my birds, however they can't free range without getting munched or interbred, so the area they have is rife with bugs and frogs (seasonally) but not overwhelmingly so. I feel that it's better to allow their systems to pass what they don't need than to not offer enough.

This works out to around $.54 a pound right now. Not cheap.

It's consumed far slower than commercial feeds and to a great, visible difference in feather quality and overall health. Eggs stand up tall when cracked, and the chicks are incredibly healthy. I add as much in dried fruit, spices, and human-intended grains like Quinoa as I can afford, bringing those in to the mill on my own. Most of the ingredients are sourced there. The Nutribalancer is the Organic formula. I haul in pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and all kinds of stuff. I'm nuts. I'll admit it. I have to say, though, I don't mind eating the eggs...and that means a lot to me.

 

[ChooksChick]

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I have a girlfriend who eats it like trail mix when she's around....that's tooooo much for me!!

I haul what isn't handy at the feed mill in to them, but the mill makes it up for me. I have some of the items crimped, while others are whole.

 

[Jake Levi]

Pigeon raisers/racers put a very high value on adding peas to their birds diets, to some its the most important and largest part of their grain mix.

How long have you been feeding your mix? What size of a batch do you do at a time?

Yes, .54 cents a pound is high, even compared to what we have here in Wa. I am trying to get mine under 28-30 cents a pound. But thats half the problem, what we have at that price range is of unknown ingredient quality, and the proportions that any part of the mix is. Dates milled, etc. Information on the tag is woefully minimal.

We're just guessing as to what is in the bag, and its quality.

I admire your working out your mix to such a degree.

 

[ChooksChick]

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Thanks- I have a spreadsheet worked up on Excel and it figures the fat/protein for the formula, and if I change anything, it reformulates. I punch in the amount I want, it figures out how much I need of each ingredient, and I email it to the mill. They get it all weighed up, I bring in my ingredients, they crimp (break-up) the bigger stuff, then mix it all in their big auger mixer. I have it done in batches of about 400# most of the time, because I don't want to pay the $2.20/100# bagging fee, and that's about how much my bins will all hold. I go through about 200-250# a month with 100+ birds, mostly huge Orps, Marans, Chanteclers and Ameraucanas. I've been feeding this for over a year, with minor tweaks in the formulation. I really prefer to have MANY grains, as that's what will be closest to the diet achieved if they were roaming the prairies...etc. I wanted to augment with black soldier fly larvae, but I didn't do anything to really achieve that goal this year as I'd intended to, and the heat made it too difficult to store them up.

It's an important formula to me, because I KNOW the grains are whole until I have them crimped. I don't have them use crimped oats or chopped corn, because the longer it's broken up, the less it holds in nutrition. Oxidization causes nutritional loss. The molasses coats everything in the fish meal and spices, so it's sealed nicely and smells great. Rodents don't like the cayenne, turmeric and cinnamon, so those helpful spices also dissuade the pests. It scoops nicely and can be served wet or dry. If they spill it and don't pick up after themselves, it sprouts, rather than dissolving into the soil and stinking up the place with sour mash! Of course that rarely occurs, because they don't let it hit the ground.

I didn't like the idea of having the bulk of my feed be undescribed, and further, hexane-extracted soy meal. Ground feathers? No thanks. Who knows what nutrition THOSE chickens ate, and what residue is in their feathers? I just can't believe there's no consequence to that.

If I wanted to really make it cost-effective, I'd up the corn and serve tons of black soldier fly larvae. That would be the way to go. I'll work harder on that this spring, as kitchen scraps that can't be fed to poultry can be used to produce those, not to mention disgusting stuff can be used...I know a fellow who feeds his larvae roadkill, and because they exude an antimicrobial film , they are still sterile at harvest!

40% protein, 30% fat. Perfect feed supplement.