Homemade chicken feed

[mrdevensmom]

Hi, I wanted to get some feedback on the feed I’m considering making for my chickens. I have 98ish Delaware chicks that are almost 3 weeks old. I would like to start making our own feed for them. My question is will the mixture I’m thinking of doing work???
Here is what I’m going to mix up
100lbs of BOSS
100lbs of hard red wheat
55lbs Fish meal
50lbs rolled oats
50lbs barley
50lbs corn
10lbs flax
Redmond Mineral Conditioner from azure standard.
“Redmond Conditioner is a mineral supplement. It allows animals to better utilize their feed intake, thus gaining more weight on the same or less feed. Many researchers are convinced that some diseased and unhealthy animals are a result of trace mineral deficiency.
Most trace minerals should be supplied by the food animals eat; however, if animal feed is grown in mineral deficient areas, the result is mineral deficient grains, alfalfa, corn silage, and grass. Trace mineral colloidal silicates are not a total cure, but it is an established fact they play a major role in animal health, condition, and prevention of disease.
Redmond Conditioner has been proven to be effective in absorbing aflatoxin and T-2 toxins. It is listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) for use in organic production.
Redmond Contitioner can be fed free choice, used as a top dressing, or mixed in a TMR. It can improve the nutrition, health, and profitability of your animals.
CONTAINS the following trace minerals: Aluminum, Antimony, Barium, Beryllium, Boron, Bromine, Cadmium, Calcium, Carbon, Cerium, Cesium, Chloride, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Dysprosium, Fluoride, Gadolinium, Gallium, Germanium, Iodine, Iron, Lanthanum, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Neodymium, Nickel, Phosphorus, Potassium, Rhenium, Rubidium, Samarium, Scandium, Silicon, Silver, Sodium, Strontium, Sulfur, Tellurium, Thallium, Thorium, Tin, Titanium, Vanadium, Ytterbium, Yttrium, Zinc, Zirconium.”
Poultry - 1.5% added to feed ration.
I also give my birds scraps from the kitchen & produce I can get for a good price in addition to their feed. Would they eat Alfalfa Pellets??

Thanks for any help you can give.

Leala

 

[Organics North]

I did not fully calculate but 21 -23% protein is what it roughly looks like. You could bump the corn or oats or add the alfalfa pellets. To drop the protein down to 20% or so. (If you want too later.)

I have heard good things about the Redmond conditioner. I use Azomite (Same thing different brand.)

Personally I have read some not so good things about barley for poultry. IMO if you can get the oats or the same or less price I would replace the barley with oats. (Just my opinion.)

You going to grind it all up? Other wise it may be hard to get them to eat the powdery ingredients. Also smaller chunks of Alfalfa pellets are more accepted by my birds at least.

ON

 

[mrdevensmom]

Thanks for the reply, would it be better to take out the corn and use split peas or should I take out the flax and use the peas?? I need to learn how to figure out the percentage of protein. I'm glad to know i'm not that far off on my food it sounds like. Another thing is the oats are from food storage they are getting stale are they okay to feed??

Thanks

Leala

 

[Organics North]

If split peas are affordable to you I would reduce the fish meal and add get some split peas in the mix. Peas are good.

I can not answer on the stale oats.. If not moldy it should be OK, but the chickens will answer the question for you...

I take back my comment on removing barley, I was thinking of buckwheat..

OK calculating protein:

So start by finding the protein value for each feed component:
BOSS= 16%
HRW= 17%
Fish meal=60%
Rolled oats=13% (whole oats are 11%)
Barley= 12%
corn=9%
Flax=34 %

(Peas = 24%)
(Alfalfa=17%)

Next you need to get your components down to parts. Divide everything down into parts (Lets say 1 part is 10 lbs your smallest ingredient)
SO:
100lbs of BOSS= 10 parts
100lbs of hard red wheat =10 parts
55lbs Fish meal = 5.5 parts
50lbs rolled oats =5 parts
50lbs barley=5 parts
50lbs corn =5 parts
10lbs flax= 1 part

Next lets get the protein and parts together:

BOSS is 16%P x 10 parts= 160
HRW is 17%P x 10 parts= 160
Fish meal is 60%P x 5.5 parts =330
Rolled oats is 13% P x 5 parts= 65
Barley is 12%P x 5 parts= 60
corn is 9%P x 5 parts = 45
Flax is 34 %P x 1 part= 34

Next we need the total parts and the total protein so we can divide to get the protein value of the feed!

So total parts is 41.5
Total protein is 854

So 854 divided by 41.5 equals.....................20.57% protein... Actually fine like that!

Next we will look at changing the ingredients a bit.. (I will be back)

ON

 

[CityChicker]

Mixing your own feed can be quite a project, but our birds tend to love it when we do. We mix some of our own and then mix it about 50%-50% with a commercial pellet or crumble to bring down the cost some. I have mostly mixed some custom feed because I wanted to add some things not in most processed feeds. We don't always use the same components. We vary it some, but include most of what you are looking at. We also do...

Vitamin Premix- in addition to the Redmond minerals
Calf-Manna- occasionally instead of the vitamin premix
Alfalfa meal- have rarely sometimes used pellets instead
Brewer's yeast- mostly for the waterfowl

We always include fish meal and very often change up the grains.

 

[featherbaby]

Where would I get Redmond mineral conditioner or Azomite? I would like to add this to my regular pellet feed. Should I mix it in or offer it free choice?

 

[mrdevensmom]

A huge THANK YOU ON!!! I have been trying to figure out how many parts I had.


featherbaby you can find Redmond Mineral Conditioner on http://www.azurestandard.com/ depending on what part of the country your in you can get it from a drop point with no charge on shipping. A 50lb bag is 10.55 you can also get some other grains from them and other good food.

 

[featherbaby]

Thank you so much!!!!!

 

[mrdevensmom]

I have bumped up the HRW to a 150 and also added 50lbs of peas. The total weight is 515 so I’m guessing we will need about 6lbs of the minerals.

I think I have the percentages right.

BOSS is 16%P x 10 parts= 160
HRW is 17%P x 15 parts= 255
Fish meal is 60%P x 5.5 parts =330
Rolled oats is 13% P x 5 parts= 65
Barley is 12%P x 5 parts= 60
corn is 9%P x 5 parts = 45
Flax is 34 %P x 1 part= 34
Peas is 24%P x 5 parts =120
Total protein 1,069
Total Parts 51.5
20.76% Protein

 

[Ariel301]

Quote:
I get my Redmond's from Azure Standard. They have a website, you can find out if they have a delivery location near you, it's a buying co-op that sells a lot of organic products. The minimum order is around $50 I think. I also buy whole grains from them to make my own flour, it's pretty easy to spend the minimum amount lol. For chickens I mix it in, I started them with a free choice dish and they would pick at it some, but mostly just scratched it all onto the ground and ruined it. For my goats, they have a free-choice bowl of it, and I also mix some into a little wet grain (wet makes it stick to the food so they can't sift it out) for my milkers to give them a little extra boost, since they are fairly elderly and don't seem to process their feed as well anymore. It certainly puts a good shine on their coats! I don't know if it is doing the chickens any good, but it surely isn't harming them.