Homemade Chicken Feed

[Weeg]

It is hard to find higher protein (20%+) Scratch and Peck options, but you might consider supplimenting their feed with a measured, SMALL amount of flax seed (not more than 10% by weight) - meaties can take a slightly higher fat diet, since they aren't intended to live long

I feed all of my birds the Scratch and Peck starter 20% protein, or Grower. Whatever I can source. I bet that you could feed the 20% protein to the meaties. They might grow slightly slower but it would probably be beneficial to them.
Flax seed is a good idea too.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I feed all of my birds the Scratch and Peck starter 20% protein, or Grower. Whatever I can source. I bet that you could feed the 20% protein to the meaties. They might grow slightly slower but it would probably be beneficial to them.
Flax seed is a good idea too.

Yes, their Starter is an "All Flock" design.

Unfortunately, its also about $1.60/lb.

I don't have the same feed restrictions, but offer a nutritionally similar feed to my own birds at about $0.28/lb - allowing me to feed 5# for each 1# of Scratch and Peck.

 

[Cardi B]

If the bird can eat greens, it needs grit - you don't want to see a crop full of impacted grass and no way to grind it up.

That does give you options. You can feed a higher protein feed to your meaties, to speed weight gain, and a lower protein feed to your layers, after they reach point of lay (if desired). Or you can keep them all on the same 18-20% protein all flock type feed. If you had lots of layers, and few meaties, it would probably be worth the cost savings to do seperate feeds. With mostly meaties and a dozen layers, probably not worth the hassle.

and @Weeg 's Scratch and Peck recomend isn't a bad one. They have corn-free, soy-free options, they are national in scope, stocked some places, can be ordered elsewhere, and are decent quality. Because most of their feeds are whole grain, you will want to soak them for hours to days before use, to help deter birds from picking favorites and leaving the rest for those lower in the pecking order. It is hard to find higher protein (20%+) Scratch and Peck options, but you might consider supplimenting their feed with a measured, SMALL amount of flax seed (not more than 10% by weight) - meaties can take a slightly higher fat diet, since they aren't intended to live long - the bet is that you gain more in table weight on average, and more rapid weight gain over all, than you lose to diet related morbidities. Targets for CX are 20-24% protein, with fat from 4-6.5%, as compared with 18-20%, 3.5% +/- (respectively) for the "typical" chicken.

Thanks much for the insight! Greatly appreciated!

 

[Weeg]

Yes, their Starter is an "All Flock" design.
View attachment 3041631


Unfortunately, its also about $1.60/lb.

I don't have the same feed restrictions, but offer a nutritionally similar feed to my own birds at about $0.28/lb - allowing me to feed 5# for each 1# of Scratch and Peck.

It is pricey, I don't have to many birds though, so the more expensive feed works for me. I can see how it wouldn't work for larger flocks, I just prefer an Organic/Non-GMO feed.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sunrise Farms and Kalmback both use corn. Southern Feeds has a corn free, soy free 20% feed - with peanuts (which is a concern for some), and its nutritional profile otherwise is such that I can't recommend it, even if you don't have peanut alergies. Reedy Fork farms also has corn, while their soy free, corn free blend is only 17% protein, 7% fat! and 7% fiber, plus too much calcium for broilers. New Country Organics is very similar - 17% protein, better fat (3%), but low methionine and only average lysine...

A good soy free corn free feed is a tall order.

 

[Kiki]

https://www.newcountryorganics.com/starter-feed-no-corn-40-pounds.html


Soy free/corn free
https://starmilling.com/sm-poultry-no-corn-no-soy/

 

[Kiki]

If you are familiar with Google sheets feel free to browse this:

NC/NS in the titles of the types of feed means no corn and no soy.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Sj3Bt5CUQfX1PlTEhg799sDT-qM/edit?usp=drivesdk

 

[U_Stormcrow]

https://www.newcountryorganics.com/starter-feed-no-corn-40-pounds.html


Soy free/corn free
https://starmilling.com/sm-poultry-no-corn-no-soy/

Methionine is pretty low in the first, but yes, a good choice - I didn';t look at their starter, that's on me.

Star's is a lower protein, higher fat, higher fiber - I'd try to avoid, personally. Its also a "Layer" blend, meaning higher calcium than is usually recommended for broilers, but dicalcium phosphate doesn't have the toxicity concerns of calcium carbonate in broilers, so that can probably be discounted.

 

[GigitheBackyardHerbilist]

I am thinking about creating my own chicken feed. Im not sure how sustainable it is but curious what others would think about it. First Off, I do not eat soy or corn for a lot of reasons so I don't really want to feed my animals corn or soy either. Here's my idea.

Rolled Oats
Ground Flax
Black Oil Sunflower seeds
Safflower seeds
Meal Worms or Black Soldier fly grubs

Plus all of our table scraps
thoughts?

I'd be curious about the answer to this as well.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'd be curious about the answer to this as well.

That's a list of potential ingredients, not a recipe. So no one can tell you what the final results will be. What they can tell you, and what I said on the first page, is that you can't make a nutritionally complete healthy feed from those ingredients. For reasons I explained on that page.

Making a Homebrew chicken feed is not an Endeavor to be lightly entered into. If you know what you're doing, and you are not doing it on Commercial scale, you know enough to not want to do it. If you don't know what you're doing but have specific needs or unusual circumstances, start with Justin Rhodes formula then come here for help adjusting it to your needs.