Homemade Organic Chicken Feed Recipe?

[lagraham123]

Hello!

I am new here and new to raising chickens!!!! We just got 10 baby chicks on Saturday that we are raising to be free range fully organically fed chickens

Do any of you make your own Organic Chicken Feed? I am looking for a cost analysis and recipe for making my own feed. We bought Green Mountain Organic Feed, it was $35 (+tax) for 50lbs. We have access to Whole Foods Market where we could buy bulk ingredients.

I would appreciate any help! Thanks so much

 

[Backyard Bob]

Have you looked on the bag? Sometimes they will say what mixture it is!

 

[GreenGables]

I will be interested in the response you get. I feed my 9 chickens organic feed and it is expensive.

 

[pbjls]

i used to have feed custom made for our broiler business. we were raising a thousand + a year and wanted a corn and soy free feed. It was so hard to find what I wanted that I now own a mill and mixer. I order enough grain (wheat, barley, and peas) to make about 20 tons at a time. we get our premix custom formulated to match the grains we use. I can adjust the rates of each ingredient to get from almost 23 % to about 15% protien. the higher rations for chicks and poults and the lower for layers and hogs. we also use some fish meal on the higher protien feeds. I hope the add camalina meal with the primix this spring and turn the premix into a crumble that I can add to the cracked grain mix.

I can make up to a thousand lbs in less than an hour so my birds always have fresh feed and we also sell to small farms and hobbiest's in our area.

 

[Kilsharion]

I considered this, myself....then I did the math.

That $35/50# bag you spend? At least double it for home made organic feed that will adequately cover your flock's nutritional needs....that is, unless you are able to buy your ingredients by the ton. If you can do that, and you can have them mix it for you - then you may wind up paying a bit less....considering the size of your flock, though, I'd be surprised if you want to be buying several tons of various feed components.

 

[Kilsharion]

i used to have feed custom made for our broiler business. we were raising a thousand + a year and wanted a corn and soy free feed. It was so hard to find what I wanted that I now own a mill and mixer. I order enough grain (wheat, barley, and peas) to make about 20 tons at a time. we get our premix custom formulated to match the grains we use. I can adjust the rates of each ingredient to get from almost 23 % to about 15% protien. the higher rations for chicks and poults and the lower for layers and hogs. we also use some fish meal on the higher protien feeds. I hope the add camalina meal with the primix this spring and turn the premix into a crumble that I can add to the cracked grain mix.

I can make up to a thousand lbs in less than an hour so my birds always have fresh feed and we also sell to small farms and hobbiest's in our area.

So - here's a question....or two....a) where are you located? (what state) and b) what would you charge to do custom blends? Currently, I'm at roughly $72/50#s with my custom blend if I purchase my own in retail bulk. I just don't have the flock size, currently, to justify ordering twenty tons of feed (roughly what I need to get my mix).

 

[pbjls]

the first answer is easy. I am in WA state. the second is much more difficult. One I am new here and do not know the rules for selling, nor did I intend the post to be an ad. second I do sell a gmo free, but not organic feed. third shipping does not make a lot of cense. fourth I can do custom feed, but the whole cost of any speciality ingredient would be on the invoice. I can tell you that my gmo free feed is much less than what you are paying and for every flock that has been changed over to my feed there is no lag time. That is to say with a feeder full of the feed they are used to next to my feed for the first time the birds walk away from there old feed and eat mine first.

 

[Kilsharion]

the first answer is easy. I am in WA state. the second is much more difficult. One I am new here and do not know the rules for selling, nor did I intend the post to be an ad. second I do sell a gmo free, but not organic feed. third shipping does not make a lot of cense. fourth I can do custom feed, but the whole cost of any speciality ingredient would be on the invoice. I can tell you that my gmo free feed is much less than what you are paying and for every flock that has been changed over to my feed there is no lag time. That is to say with a feeder full of the feed they are used to next to my feed for the first time the birds walk away from there old feed and eat mine first.

Ahh - WA a ways to far away

And, I'm not paying the $72/50#...it's what I would pay if I managed to get it all, right now - I priced everything out before I went on a buying spree...Glad I did

Currently, I use H&H and pay around $28/50# then I add in my own bits that I want and so on...About a 3:1 mix that I then ferment.

I wasn't seeing your post as an advert, and I apologize if I freaked you out a bit. **chuckles** I was just curious as to the cost and location comparison.

 

[GreenMountainEric]

Do any of you make your own Organic Chicken Feed? I am looking for a cost analysis and recipe for making my own feed. We bought Green Mountain Organic Feed, it was $35 (+tax) for 50lbs. We have access to Whole Foods Market where we could buy bulk ingredients.

I would very much like to know who charged you $35.00 for my feed!! That is way too much! Please contact, or message me, so we can get you the feed at a reasonable price.


As far as your question- If you purchased the ingredients, and mixed them yourself, it should only save you about 5 cents, per 50lbs. My cost inclusion for mixing feed is only $2.00 per ton. Grinding the ingredients is $5.00 per ton. (Basically, we grind and mix the ingredients at a cost of 17 cents per 50lb bag) The rest of the cost, is just the ingredients+operating margins.

 

[Kilsharion]

I would very much like to know who charged you $35.00 for my feed!! That is way too much! Please contact, or message me, so we can get you the feed at a reasonable price.


As far as your question- If you purchased the ingredients, and mixed them yourself, it should only save you about 5 cents, per 50lbs. My cost inclusion for mixing feed is only $2.00 per ton. Grinding the ingredients is $5.00 per ton. (Basically, we grind and mix the ingredients at a cost of 17 cents per 50lb bag) The rest of the cost, is just the ingredients+operating margins.

That's a great cost, Eric. I'm going to have to go find your information and see how it compares to H&H.