So reading through this thread, OP, you've identified that you will need iodized salt, and selenium salt. You will be supplying the protein need for the chickens from venison, and that Lambs Quarters is a good product to grow for your chickens. Have you identified anything else?
I remember a reference to fermenting feed to increase bioavailability of the feed, but at the cost of losing fiber. Have you identified any grains that would be beneficial to grow?
Yes.
The plan is evolving and unfinished. The current version is to use a recipe from a old (1950's) textbook as a base (as close as I can). Then fills in potential gaps by offering various other things individually. Actually, to offer most of the base as individual ingredients also.
I currently think the best way to allow for not being able to test the nutrients in any of the ingredients is to rely on this research
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/can-the-chick-balance-its-ration.1555475/
where the chicks did balance their rations nearly the same as the feed company did given the same ingredients. I've been finding more evidence, here and there, that this will work at least under certain circumstances. Also, some evidence that it needs certain circumstances to work well - I'm still working on that part, too.
Then allow a wider margin of error by offering more options. That is where the Lambs Quarters come in. Also in that category are purslane, nettles, floribunda rose hips, buckwheat, and teff. All but the teff are already growing well on my land or the adjoining land. I don't know anyone in the area who has tried teff but the descriptions of where it grows well indicate it should grow well also. The ingredients in this category are likely to change a lot as I look up the nutrient profiles of more of the plants already growing well on my land. And as I learn more about how I might harvest and store them.
My textbook has a section for "mixing-mash." This is intended to be mixed with some combination of corn, wheat, and oats. Possibly, sometimes barley or other grains - they were on different pages but makes sense overall. Basically, their "mixing-mash" is what I know as "the concentrates" portion of a ration.
One example is 800 pounds of the following to be fed with 1200 pounds of grains
Crushed wheat 4.25%
Soybean oil meal 32%
fish meal 12.5%
meat scraps 12.5%
dried whey 15%
dry alfalfa 12.5%
steamed bone meal 8.5%
salt 2.5%
a few more vitamins and minerals that I will cover by feeding the salt as trace mineral salt
There are versions with different ingredients - I'm still working on which combination is most likely to work best. I'm not planning to buy soybean oil meal but I could grow soybeans or another kind of bean and either see about pressing at least some of the oil out or adjusting something else to allow for leaving the oil in, or adjusting other things to not need much soybean oil meal.
I have books on making nut milks that also explains how to press soybeans. I've seen other books on how to press oils to make salad dressings. It isn't as far fetched as it might look. But since I've only read about it and not tried it - I'll probably look at adjusting other ways first.
I won't be mixing a ton at a time, so I'm playing with the idea of a couple of versions of the concentrates with different percentages of ingredients (especially salt) to allow for not being able to measure precisely enough. Hm, if I can't. I haven't done the math yet or experimented with actually doing it yet. It just seems like 2.5 pounds per ton would be hard to scale down enough. My scale does a gram, though, so maybe it would be doable.
And, I'm hoping my haylage experiment goes well. My books don't cover silage type feeds for chickens. So, I'll look for some newer textbooks (1960's maybe or early 1970's) that should cover something about it. Or just look up more of the research on using it for chickens. I don't know, yet, how that will fit in.
The biggest downside I can see so far to feeding this way is how many feed dishes it will take. That includes the time and hassle to fill them individually, too. Most likely, I'll start with seeing if some kind of gutter-style feeder will work. It shouldn't be too hard to add divisions to that. If it seems worth it, I probably could see what they normally eat of which things, then mix at least somethings in those proportions to simplify feeding them.
Anyway, this is as far as I've gotten so far. I haven't looked at fermenting much yet for this project. I followed the big discussions on it from five or ten years ago on this website, I think it might be worth doing but is less important than getting close without it. At least to start with.
Oh, and I checked with the local feed mill - they sell the trace mineral salt by the pound ($0.25 per pound) so I don't have to buy the 25 pound bag other places have. The feed mill has both the standard version and the selenium version for the same price.
They also sell quite a few versions of deer food plot seed mixes. Some of those could work well for my chickens also. A lot of them have radishes and chicory and clover, for example, which have been likely additions.
