Ok, just real quick, lets talk about protein for a minute. There are a few things at the most basic level that you should know if you want to tweak/create recipes. (There is a plethora of additional information you can also take in about the topic, but at the very most basic level... this stuff will help)
- Every feedstuff has it's own set nutritional profile, including a protein profile.
- All proteins are not created equal
--- Proteins are made up of amino acids, some of these are more important than others and each living creature needs a unique balance of these to meet its needs
- Every feedstuff has it's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to providing protein (amino acids), they may be heavy on one but light on another
- No source of protein is perfect
- Not all protein is digestible, only a percentage of the protein the birds consume will be used by their body - this is true of all living creatures. This is why we overshoot their needs.
- If you're trying to formulate a feed to X% crude protein, if you add a feedstuff to the recipe that is less than X% CP it will reduce the overall protein of your recipe. The more of that feedstuff you add, the more it reduces the overall CP of the recipe. By that same token if you add a feedstuff that is greater than X% it will bring the overall CP up. The more you add the more it brings the CP up.
- More, more, more is not always better, better, better. Even if more digestible protein -- even with a perfect overall profile -- is offered the birds will only utilize so much of it before it is kicked out of the body as waste and/or creates health problems for the birds. For a growth/maintenance in a mixed flock 20-22% is a good range to be in, imo. I wouldn't suggest going over 24%, there you can run into problems and because protein tends to be the expensive portion of the diet you're also wasting money.
- Common feed profiles can be found online. Oats average 11-12% Corn is generally accepted at 9% though these days it's commonly tested out lower. Soybean Meal averages in the 48% range (note: soybean meal is high in lysine, an important amino acid for muscle development) And so on and so forth.
In order to calculate your overall protein content (or the content of any one specific component of the feed) you would use the following formula:
[ (Parts of X in recipe * Percent CP in X) + (Parts of Y in recipe * Percent CP in Y) + (Parts Z in recipe * Percent CP in Z) ] / Total Number of Parts in Recipe = Overall CP
So if you had recipe:
1.5 Parts X
1 Part Y
.5 Part Z
X = 10% CP
Y = 50% CP
Z = 6% CP
The math would look like this:
[ (1.5 * 10) + (1 * 50) + (.5 * 6) ] / (1.5 + 1 + .5)
[ 15 + 50 + 3 ] / 3
68 / 3
22.67% CP
There is also a square method of coming up with a formula to meet your goal, I use the above out of habit -- how I've always done it, and I use an excel spreadsheet to play around with numbers -- but if you google Feed Ration Square, or similar, I'm sure it'll come up and you can read how to use it. And then you can decide which you like better.
Okay now to answer some questions/address some things in your post.
On the price, I can't really help you as I just don't know what the going rate for grain is in your area. I would imagine it's going to be more than I pay here where we grow a lot of this stuff year in and year out, but I don't know how much more to expect. That said, the ingredients you added do tend to be more expensive ingredients. Not to say they shouldn't or couldn't be used, but if price is a main concern, then you may decide to leave them out for that reason. Another thought on price is to downsize your flock, if you're raising them just for you not for sale I imagine you could get by on fewer birds. That's your decision of course.
On the vegetable oil, I would not add it to a bulk purchase. Even as fast as you are going to use it. Vegetable oil can go rancid quickly. It's not something I feel comfortable having premixed into feed. If it's of any consolation, while the feed is "dustier" than say pellets or crumbles I do not find the dust to be a problem worth fretting about. Our feed station is outside, feeders are hung to reduce waste, we don't have any problems.
Your goals -- visibly healthy, meaty, productive birds -- are realistic and attainable. That said, keep in mind that two of the three goals you have are tied not only to environmental factors but genetic as well. While the diet certainly affects a bird's ability to produce on both the counts of meat and eggs, some birds even with a great diet and environment will never be superb layers and/or superb meat prospects. Even fewer birds can do both really well no matter what you feed them. So assessing the ability of your flock to perform even under ideal conditions and adjusting either your ideals to their ability or the flock to your ideals via culling, selective breeding and purchasing, etc. may be in order.
With that in mind, it is of course helpful to provide a good diet in order to help all your birds meet their "personal best" performance. The recipe you used above doesn't contain a nutritional balancer, so you'll want to keep that in mind next time and try to cover that base. Also ask about the balancer they use and find out if you'll need to add calcium for your layers, many balancers are designed for meat birds and so will not contain sufficient calcium for producing hens and breeders.
Hopefully I remembered to touch on everything, sorry for the novel.
