I want to buy some bulk grains at the grocery store for this winter.

[yolka doodle]

They will grab screws right out of your hand too, as you try to assemble something with your screwdriver in the chicken yard!

I know, they have tried that too. They are interested in anything in your hand. They are funny little things.

 

[Marty1876]

I havn't read everyone elses posts, but I'm sure its full of wisdem. I myself feed whole grains too.

I buy scratch grains (6-50# bags at a time)
50 lb bag Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (whole)
2-50# bags of whole wheat
1-50# bag of whole oats
1-50# bag of cracked corn

When I mix up grain in my large deep garden cart, I mix at a ration of 6 parts scratch, 1 part BOSS, 2 parts wheat, 1 part oats, and 1 part corn. I feed this to chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. I also let free offer grit at all times, totally neccessary for feeding grains. I buy all grains from a feed store. Do not use seed grains that are treated. I don't sprout grain either, but I could see the advantage of doing that in winter when no grass is available.

Once its laying/breeding time, I also include layer mix mixed about 1 part layer mix to 2 parts custom whole grain mix.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gallina Sarda]

So nice that you gave all the porportions - makes the math a non- issue!
Thank you.

 

[OmeletMan]

I have been wanting to make up my own scratch grain mix. Very helpful thread!

 

[capthollis]

Great thread here for sure. Anyone try and just feed horse feed? Its about half the cost of Chicken feed. I havent tried this, but I'm thinking about it. Its a great dry mix for sure.

 

[capthollis]

I havn't read everyone elses posts, but I'm sure its full of wisdem. I myself feed whole grains too.

I buy scratch grains (6-50# bags at a time)
50 lb bag Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (whole)
2-50# bags of whole wheat
1-50# bag of whole oats
1-50# bag of cracked corn

When I mix up grain in my large deep garden cart, I mix at a ration of 6 parts scratch, 1 part BOSS, 2 parts wheat, 1 part oats, and 1 part corn. I feed this to chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. I also let free offer grit at all times, totally neccessary for feeding grains. I buy all grains from a feed store. Do not use seed grains that are treated. I don't sprout grain either, but I could see the advantage of doing that in winter when no grass is available.

Once its laying/breeding time, I also include layer mix mixed about 1 part layer mix to 2 parts custom whole grain mix.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, now thats a great mix..

 

[Susique333]

Great thread here for sure. Anyone try and just feed horse feed? Its about half the cost of Chicken feed. I havent tried this, but I'm thinking about it. Its a great dry mix for sure.

If I remember rightly, horse feed is lower in protein., I think it runs 10-16% protein. Maybe add a wee bit more protein elsewhere and it might do?

 

[ChezPoulez]

I buy dry (no molasses) COB [corn/oats/barley] and alfalfa pellets by the 50 lb bags. I mix them 3:1 in a bucket with boiling water every night to soak and then feed in the morning. I also add a Tbsp or 2 of corn oil and a Vitamin E supplement. I add sunflower and safflower too when I've got them. The girls LOVE THEM!

Sunflower hearts from a feed store are probably going to be MUCH cheaper than what you would pay at the grocery store. If you buy by the 50 lb bags you wouldn't need to go to the feed store that often. Everything stores quite nicely in garbage cans to be vermin proof.

I've heard of folks feeding broken bags of dog food sold at discount as a feed supplement, but I've never tried it because I've read that dry cat food can kill chickens because the mineral contents are toxic to birds.

Maybe someone here has used dog food and can advise on whether it is a safe option for nutritional supplement to a grain diet????

 

[Brethren49619]

Great thread here for sure. Anyone try and just feed horse feed? Its about half the cost of Chicken feed. I havent tried this, but I'm thinking about it. Its a great dry mix for sure.

I've been feeding my chickens and peas a combination treat of dry cat food (for molt), black sun flower seeds and some of my horse feed.
They love it. It has an assortment of grains and alfalfa pellets. There is never anything left on the ground.
We get it from our local co-op, mixed fresh each week.

I posted a while back that I feed my birds some of the horse feed along with sunflower seeds and some cat food ( for molt) to my birds as a treat. The horse feed nutritional tag is pictured here. I figure that with the sunflower seeds, that probably increases the protein, but I do only feed it as a treat.



What I do today with my birds is not necessarily what I do tomorrow as I learn and adapt to my birds needs. I had not thought about sprouting things for them before, and we have already pretty much lost all green vegetation here. It is a good idea that I might just try. I do have the added bonus of working at a grocery store though, and can take home all of the produce "trash" I want.

 

[bairo]

A couple years ago I researched going to whole grains as the main feed. My main goal being to leave out soy completely as I believe it is completely unnatural and detrimental to both chickens and humans (unless fermented) As matter of fact I believe leaving out soy is much more important than going with organic.....but this is a long story in itself.

What I found were recipes that included (in my opinion) too many different grains to make it quick and simple. I wanted something a little more cost effective and a little simpler to mix. After much research and many hours of calculations on protein, fat, and other nutrients; I finally settled on a five grain mix that I felt met their nutritional needs well. I implamented it for a while and they did great on it but ended up going back to a prepared feed as the grain cost started to rise and I was having difficulty finding field peas locally. I say all this because the base recipe even without the inclusion of field peas (the main protein source) still makes a great scratch mix. So here is what I came up with



cracked corn 15 lbs 9% protein
field peas 25 lbs 25% protein
crimped oats 20 lbs 14% protein
whole wheat(red hard variety) 20 lbs 14% protein
sunflower(at least half black) 20 lbs 19% protein

All ingredients should be cracked, split, crimped, or rough ground (what applies to the ingredient) This just helps their gizzard take care of it, as most domestic chickens today don't get enough grit. Most folks can not free range as much as our forefathers could. An interesting footnote...sunflower seeds that are shelled average 40% protein. Of course shelled seeds are entirely too expensive to use as feed and the protein level is actually too high. Free choice calcium and grit should always be available. It would not hurt to have at least some of the run covered in construction sand (the rough stuff with different sized grit and pebbles)