Home made vs commercial feed

[ChickenHillFarm2021]

I would like to make my own feed for my Rhode Island Red hens. They are sooo fussy with commercial feeds. I feel I can guarantee nutritional value as well as freshness if I make it myself. I spoke to my vet who was a little concerned that the recipe I used was verified as including the nutrients hens need. I called Cornell to see if they could give me a nutrient analysis and they said no. So here is my question: how do I know if the recipe for homemade feed does indeed provide them what they need. This is the recipe I am using. Can anyone offer me some feedback on this recipe or on how to get a nutritional analysis?

Thanks so much.

 

[DobieLover]

I would like to make my own feed for my Rhode Island Red hens. They are sooo fussy with commercial feeds. I feel I can guarantee nutritional value as well as freshness if I make it myself. I spoke to my vet who was a little concerned that the recipe I used was verified as including the nutrients hens need. I called Cornell to see if they could give me a nutrient analysis and they said no. So here is my question: how do I know if the recipe for homemade feed does indeed provide them what they need. This is the recipe I am using. Can anyone offer me some feedback on this recipe or on how to get a nutritional analysis?

Thanks so much.

I would have to say, no, it's not a better diet than commercial.
I have mixed my own feed using organic grains and fermented the result. The birds LOVED it. I stopped due to personal time constraints but will be starting up again this summer.
What I dislike about the recipe you linked is that it is lacking in animal protein. Chickens are omnivores. They eat meat. I also feel that a properly balanced vitamin and mineral pack appropriate for chickens should be included in the recipe.
I use organic fish meal in my mix to bring the protein content up to 19-20% and include Fertrell's Poultry Nutribalancer to ensure the minimum vitamin and mineral requirements are met.
Also, when feeding whole grains, the birds tend to pick out what they want first and leave the rest behind. By fermenting a whole grain feed, they are much less picky and will eat all of the feed.
I have found that the easiest way to ensure they get the all important fines (fish meal and Nutribalancer) is to only ferment the grains, drain off the ferment liquid (to start the next batch), mix in the correct ratio of fish meal & nutri-blancer and enough Flock Raiser (or chick starter or All Flock) to get a good consistency and feed. I only feed what the flock will completely consume by roost time.
If I go out late in the day and everything is gone and the flock descends on me like a ravenous horde, I will put some Flock Raiser in their feed troughs.

 

[Folly's place]

Home made is much more difficult and expensive to get right! Cornell couldn't tell you over the phone what the actual analysis was for your recipe; the feed needs to be actually analyzed by the lab, each batch, to get the nutritional profile. Expensive!
The best fresh and balanced diets are good quality prepared feeds, fresh by mill date, at the feed store.
Here my best choice has been Purina's Flock Raiser, with oyster shell in a separate container. Your choice might be different, depending on what's fresh where you shop.
@DobieLover spends more time and money on that project, and feeds Flock Raiser too.
Mary

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

In my experience chickens are not the fussy ones, the owners are. Throw some commercial feed in a self feeder, stop the treats, and let them thrive.

 

[3KillerBs]

In my experience chickens are not the fussy ones, the owners are. Throw some commercial feed in a self feeder, stop the treats, and let them thrive.

Amen and Amen.

I never tolerated picky eating from my kids and I certainly wouldn't tolerate it from my livestock.

The solution is the same -- put the good food in front of them, don't give them a lot of candy and cake, and trust that a healthy animal (or child), will not starve itself.

 

[Wrooster]

I agree with the last 2 posts. Did you notice that the Garden Betty recipe says "overall, yes — this is a complete diet" because she assumes you will let your birds "forage for bugs and weeds, or give [them] mealworm treats and kitchen scraps." IMO it has too much preaching and not enough nutrition.

 

[ChickenHillFarm2021]

Such helpful posts. Thank you all.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I just have my hens from last summer, so far I always bought different commercial feed from different manufacturers, to somehow reduce the risk. Their major food is those commercial feed.

Besides, I planted some veggies and berries just for them as supplement, also in the morning I will prepare a small portion meal, most of the time mixed with apples, carrots, veggies, sometimes with boiled eggs and sometimes with animal protein (as our two cats and two dogs are raw-feed, we always have meat, small fish, organs in the deep freezer, I will pick some to boil, fine chopped by the food processors).

For the treats, I also use some dried black soldier larvae for extra protein and calcium.

*Plus, one or twice a day, they will have 30 minutes free ranging time when I work in the garden, then they can find whatever else they want to eat