Homemade Chicken & Duck feed?

[Hope Hughes]

So we are trying to determine if homemade feed would be cheaper/better for our birds.
Has anyone ever made their own chicken or duck food?

If anyone has any luck with it please post would love to learn.
If you have recipes or advice I am open to all aspects of it!

Our birds free range all day but still go through feed, not a horrible amount but enough to want us to try to budget it a better way.

So do you make your own homemade feed??
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[ChickenCanoe]

I doubt it will be cheaper.

http://www.metzerfarms.com/FeedConversion.cfm?affiliate=undef&CustID=21569503

http://www.metzerfarms.com/NutritionalRequirements.cfm?affiliate=undef&CustID=21569503

 

[Hope Hughes]

Thanks I will check the sites out. ​

 

[MaxwellHouse]

I do not make my own but I am going to try. Let us know if you come up with some good recipes. I know lots of people on here state it is awful to give them cracked and whole corn but that is MUCH better the left over distillers corn which is in every commercial feed. Also, why can't someone use better products that are not full of fillers. My ducks will not eat Nutrena and every time I get a bag it is full of mold and bugs. (called Nutrena several times and they gave me probably 100 dollars in store credit but I threw it away as not a safe product here). The ONLY one that will eat is Dumor. Purina turns into concrete and smells like a big multivitamin which I do not blame them for not wanting to nibble on a big vitamin. I live in South Florida so unless the feed is in a plastic lined bag then it will be wet and hence full of mold and bugs.

I do not see why I cannot find a way to feed them and supplement the vitamins and other nutrients in the water. Before I never used commercial feed and never had angel wing. Now 50% of flock has angel wing which I am correcting. Before I feed cooked chicken, red worms, meal worms, cooked eggs, corn, wheat, and oats. Now, with the commercial food I am really worried what they are actually eating. Went with the commercial food as this flock is not able to free range due to predators.

 

[Folly's place]

I don't do ducks, but I do know about chickens.
It's expensive and more difficult to make a balanced diet for them at home!
Do you check the mill date on each bag of feed before you buy? It needs to be within a month, or less, and obviously not have any issues with torn bags or dampness. At the store, it's their problem, not yours.
Fresh properly stored feed will not have mold or bugs!!!
For home made, check university sites for nutritional information, and see if it still looks like something you are interested in doing.
Mary

 

[Hope Hughes]

I do not make my own but I am going to try. Let us know if you come up with some good recipes. I know lots of people on here state it is awful to give them cracked and whole corn but that is MUCH better the left over distillers corn which is in every commercial feed. Also, why can't someone use better products that are not full of fillers. My ducks will not eat Nutrena and every time I get a bag it is full of mold and bugs. (called Nutrena several times and they gave me probably 100 dollars in store credit but I threw it away as not a safe product here). The ONLY one that will eat is Dumor. Purina turns into concrete and smells like a big multivitamin which I do not blame them for not wanting to nibble on a big vitamin. I live in South Florida so unless the feed is in a plastic lined bag then it will be wet and hence full of mold and bugs.

I do not see why I cannot find a way to feed them and supplement the vitamins and other nutrients in the water. Before I never used commercial feed and never had angel wing. Now 50% of flock has angel wing which I am correcting. Before I feed cooked chicken, red worms, meal worms, cooked eggs, corn, wheat, and oats. Now, with the commercial food I am really worried what they are actually eating. Went with the commercial food as this flock is not able to free range due to predators.

I love Dumor better then anything I have tried yet! They do great on it, even the drakes. I give the ducklings the 20% Dumor and they do great. No angel wings here yet*knocks on wood*( I'm sorry you have to deal with it.)

We looked into making our own food a little further and it's just too pricey to do it the best way .

We tried something recently and it has worked great. For the chickens and the ducks we will do 2 cups of layer, 2 cups of oats and 2 cups of cracked corn mixed and our food lasted so so so much longer and they loved it! We want to see if there is other things to mix in that are good for both and make it go even further and is still very good for them.
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[MaxwellHouse]

I love Dumor better then anything I have tried yet! They do great on it, even the drakes. I give the ducklings the 20% Dumor and they do great. No angel wings here yet*knocks on wood*( I'm sorry you have to deal with it.)

We looked into making our own food a little further and it's just too pricey to do it the best way .

We tried something recently and it has worked great. For the chickens and the ducks we will do 2 cups of layer, 2 cups of oats and 2 cups of cracked corn mixed and our food lasted so so so much longer and they loved it! We want to see if there is other things to mix in that are good for both and make it go even further and is still very good for them.
​

Sounds great. I will that a try as when I put out oats separately they will not eat it.

 

[MaxwellHouse]

I don't do ducks, but I do know about chickens.
It's expensive and more difficult to make a balanced diet for them at home!
Do you check the mill date on each bag of feed before you buy? It needs to be within a month, or less, and obviously not have any issues with torn bags or dampness. At the store, it's their problem, not yours.
Fresh properly stored feed will not have mold or bugs!!!
For home made, check university sites for nutritional information, and see if it still looks like something you are interested in doing.
Mary

Thank you for your reply as I was NOT checking the mill dates. I order online and then pick up so I think they give me the oldest. It was dated April and due to your post I checked. In store (the ones on display) were all dated June.