How to cut down on feed cost?

[QCFChicks]

Quote:
What do you have the mill put in your mixture? I am wanting to use just grain and get away from the commercial feed for the meaties I'm wanting to do later this yr.

http://www.lionsgrip.com/recipes.html

Take your pick.

Thank you buster52 exactly what I was looking for!

 

[ghulst]

Quote:
I am intrigued . . .
were these CX?
How old were they when butchered?
Was the meat & skin more "yellow"?
where are you that you get corn for .12 per pound?
is there soy in your ration?
Is it your own mix?

Yes they were CX.
12-14 weeks old.
I buy corn from a farmer freind, Corn is selling for about $7.00 a bu.($7.00 devided by 56 #= .125 cents a lb.)
Yes I use soymeal to get the protein up to 12%. My meal is 48%
Yes my own mix. I also make my own starter and layer mix.

 

[Buster52]

Right now corn is running 13.57 cents a pound at the coop where I mix my feed.

 

[Beekissed]

You can read about a cheaper and much healthier way to raise CX on this thread. I'd advise you to read it all the way through and see the end results. You might find it rather interesting after being told that you have to feed this protein or that nutrient or feed 12 on or off to achieve success. And, yes...I fed cracked corn in their feed rations and they did just fine.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=325493

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
After reading through it again, I think it would be an excellent way to raise meaties on a small scale.

Just goes to show there are many right ways to do this thing.

 

[KenK]

I fed my chickens a little rice cooked in chicken broth the other day and they were quite enthusiastic about it.

If a person happened not to like liver, gizzards, and hearts, why not freeze them in a bag until growing out the next batch and then cook them in rice? Maybe some other bits could be recycled this way depending on ones stomach for it.

Wonder what the nutritional value is of rice cooked in stock and/or offal?

 

[erinchelsea]

Quote:
That was super interesting, I read all 30 pages, thank you!

I'll have to try this next spring if I can get one of our girls to go broody at the right time.

 

[walls0stone3]

also, on the corn topic, what kind of corn, mosture content, quality ect ect ect. how were the birds kept, what was the back ground of the birds.

I'm saying some ppl have had both experences.

 

[ghulst]

Quote:
Us#2 corn with about 14% moisture . the wt. was 57# per bushel. My cornishX are kept in a pen in the barn. I get my chicks from Townlie Hatchery. www.townlinehatchery.com