Homemade Feed - What are you using and percentage?

[Bladester]

Hi All:

I am new to homesteading but I have spent a good amount of time researching so I can make my own feed for my ladies. Is anyone doing the same? If so, what are your mixes with feed type, weight an/ or percentage to the total.

Feed	Calculated Protein %
50 lbs Cracked Corn
50 x 0.09	4.50
10 lbs Split Pea
10 x 0.25	2.50
20 lbs Black Oil Sunflower
20 x 0.26	5.20
10 lbs Wheat - Soft WHITE
10 x 0.12	1.2
20 lbs Soy Bean
20 x 0.465	9.3
	22.70

Cheers!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Hi All:

I am new to homesteading but I have spent a good amount of time researching so I can make my own feed for my ladies. Is anyone doing the same? If so, what are your mixes with feed type, weight an/ or percentage to the total.

Feed	Calculated Protein %
50 lbs Cracked Corn
50 x 0.09	4.50
10 lbs Split Pea
10 x 0.25	2.50
20 lbs Black Oil Sunflower
20 x 0.26	5.20
10 lbs Wheat - Soft WHITE
10 x 0.12	1.2
20 lbs Soy Bean
20 x 0.465	9.3
	22.70

Cheers!

I recommend you keep researching. Protein isn't your only concern in making a feed.

Your raw protein numbers, which are "generous" (Feedipedia.org puts your final numbers closer to 18.25%, before correcting for moisture content, which would lower it further), particularly if you are using fresh hulled soybeans

Your costs, which will vastly exceed any off the shelf commercial feed of similar ingredients (20# of shelled soybeans??? bulk package that $5/lb alone and very high moisture).

Same sources also calculate your fat content (before moisture correction) at 14.75%, The target fat % is around 3.5%. Your ingredients list is a recipe for on average shorter life and losses due to higher incidence of fatty liver hemorrhagic and a host of related maladies.

Nor have you begun to deal with vitamin and mineral needs, calcium, phosphorus, etc.

Not to dissuade you, but you have only begun to scratch the surface of what you need to know to maintain a flock's diet long term in good health. Actually, I'm dissuading you. Don't do it. Unless you are in a third world country, more than 50 miles from a decent farms store (and frankly, you will need one to source your ingredients above), or if the SHTF, then its worth continuing this discussion.

Otherwise, you are merely throwing ingredients at the wall and hoping something sticks. Its not pretty.

 

[Folly's place]

x2! I had poultry science and livestock nutrition classes in college, and learned that formulating feed is HARD! There's a really big difference between wild jungle fowl, or free ranging small game birds in Hawaii and Florida, and managing diets for domestic birds, who work much harder metabolically.
For example, wild fowl might produce as many as thirty eggs each year, while our ordinary dual purpose birds produce two hundred or many more. That's hard work!
And to grow big enough to be dinner? Also not simple.
I'm delighted to open a bag of fresh (by mill date) 20% protein balanced feed, and have oyster shell on the side for the actively laying hens.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

There is good information out there, if you check university poultry nutritionists. And commercial feed producers have their ingredients actually evaluated, another expense.
Yes, I'm trying to discourage you...
Mary

 

[TerriT]

I must admit, when I saw the title to this post, I got excited and thought hmm, maybe I’ll try that. But after reading all of this, that’s a hard no for me! Thanks for providing such good info!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I must admit, when I saw the title to this post, I got excited and thought hmm, maybe I’ll try that. But after reading all of this, that’s a hard no for me! Thanks for providing such good info!

If it interests you, and you are willing to let someone else do the hard work for you, I recommend you look into Justin Rhodes' make at home formula. It checks out well in a feed calculator, it compares favorably to off the shelf feeds, has enough "buffer" that a single below average feed ingredient won't make a disaster out of the balance, and it has the benefit of large scale use over time. (Except the fish meal - take away the fish meal, and the whole recipe falls apart - but as you learn about feeding birds, why the fish meal is THE KEY ingredient in J Rhodes' formula becomes obvious).

Can it be made at home without access to modern shipping and internet ordering? Nope.
Is it cheaper than buying off the shelf? Not for most people, in most circumstances.

So why do I recommend starting there??? Because like a home brew package that starts with pre-made malt syrup and hops pellets, its a way to get your toe wet that won't kill your flock. Once you have researched, and well understand, exactly why each ingredient in that formulation has been chosen, you can begin to research individual potential substitutions to take advantage of locally sourced ingredients which may be cheaper or more readily available.

...and knowing what I know, even though I maintain a flock of 50 - 100 birds at any given time, and its a 1 hour (round) trip to the closest feed store (I'm in a part of FL remote enough that the county building inspector asks that I send him photos from my cell phone, so he needn't visit), I don't make my own feed, nor do I attempt to grow my own feed.

oh, and whatever you do, stay away from Garden Betty and the cute Youtube teen who can't do algebra. You will see her adding percentages and proclaiming a protein content higher than any of her individual ingredients. Any idiot should understand how assinine that is, and yet she has thousands, if not tens of thousands, of devoted followers.

 

[Bladester]

Thank you all for the feedback and comments. By no means this is the final result. I came up with the feed and percentages as a start to this topic and open the discussion. Again, thanks and keep the feedback coming. I am still interested to hear if there are others who are making there own feed with what with the percentage breakdown and what other supplements they are also providing their flock. Cheers!

 

[Bladester]

I recommend you keep researching. Protein isn't your only concern in making a feed.

Your raw protein numbers, which are "generous" (Feedipedia.org puts your final numbers closer to 18.25%, before correcting for moisture content, which would lower it further), particularly if you are using fresh hulled soybeans

Your costs, which will vastly exceed any off the shelf commercial feed of similar ingredients (20# of shelled soybeans??? bulk package that $5/lb alone and very high moisture).

Same sources also calculate your fat content (before moisture correction) at 14.75%, The target fat % is around 3.5%. Your ingredients list is a recipe for on average shorter life and losses due to higher incidence of fatty liver hemorrhagic and a host of related maladies.

Nor have you begun to deal with vitamin and mineral needs, calcium, phosphorus, etc.

Not to dissuade you, but you have only begun to scratch the surface of what you need to know to maintain a flock's diet long term in good health. Actually, I'm dissuading you. Don't do it. Unless you are in a third world country, more than 50 miles from a decent farms store (and frankly, you will need one to source your ingredients above), or if the SHTF, then its worth continuing this discussion.

Otherwise, you are merely throwing ingredients at the wall and hoping something sticks. Its not pretty.

Thanks for the website and feedback. Cheers!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you all for the feedback and comments. By no means this is the final result. I came up with the feed and percentages as a start to this topic and open the discussion. Again, thanks and keep the feedback coming. I am still interested to hear if there are others who are making there own feed with what with the percentage breakdown and what other supplements they are also providing their flock. Cheers!

The Search function here on BYC will rapidly demonstrate this is a well trod trail.

Wlcome, on your chicken keeping journey!