Home made Organic Chicken Feed

[MR. Cluck]

I am very interested in finding a simple recipe for making my own Organic chicken feed. I also have several acres of unused land. So I would like to be able to grow as many of the ingredients as possible myself. Any help would be appreciated. My family is looking to start our 1st flock this spring.

 

[CovenantCreek]

go to this site for recipes

 

[digitS']

Welcome to BYC

!

This subject often comes up and there are a few home-made recipes out there from somewhat, unproven sources. You can go with an old-time recipe from someone like James Dryden, a pioneer poultry scientist at what is now Oregon State University. Google that name, OSU, and the title of his little book, "Feeding for Eggs" to find a pdf file you can download. Dryden was the first person with a 300 egg/year and a 1,000 egg/lifetime production laying hen.

The body tissue of a laying hen and her eggs are mostly animal protein, obviously. She has a fairly rapid metabolism so needs fairly easily digestible food, also. One of the problems with a plant-sourced diet is balancing the proteins so the chicken can grow and be productive. Even tho' he was writing 100 years ago, Dryden had an idea what the needs were for modern laying hens but his formulas use protein from animal sources.

How you are going to provide balanced protein from your acreage is an important question. Feeding a solely plant-based diet and expecting good production would be challenging.

Steve