Interesting new feed idea.... how does this sound for meaties?

[warmfuzzies]

We have a lot of pig farms locally, and there is a mill here that makes pig feed.

They said they dont have a formula for chickens, but they have a formula that WORKS for chickens. It is only $10 a bag, cheaper if you pay when you buy it.

BUT it has only 18-20% protein, and it is pretty high in fat. So, I am thinking it would be a bad idea for meaties right? My only though was, is there something we could get to add to it, to balance it out, and raise the protein and lower the fat?

 

[Schultz]

I don't know about the pig feed but something we have been doing to cut our feed bill is go to one of the local breweries here and collect their used mash. We got about 500 pounds for free and that wasn't all of it. We had to let it dry a little since it was still damp but the girls loved it and it had a good protein content, around 20%. We use it with their normal feed because it doesn't have everything they need. Anyway, it was just a thought

 

[kenman]

I feed a 15-16% protein feed and my meaties do fine. I think that if you have an 18-20% feed, it will be great. When I was growing up, we ground our own pig feed and my mom would use it to feed out 100-150 chickens per year with it. However, she always started hers with chick starter. She would switch over to the ground feed at about 2-3 weeks.

 

[warmfuzzies]

I thought they needed 22-24%??

 

[kenman]

I guess different people do it differently. I go with the less protein because of the price. A bag of 21% game bird feed is $15 for 40 pounds while the 15-16% is $13.70 per hundred. However, if you were having your own ground at the mill, you could get a higher protein for a more reasonable price. The nice thing about the mill is you decide what goes in your feed.

 

[warmfuzzies]

Do you not have trouble with their legs?

 

[chicks4kids]

I started at 24% for my cornish X and had to go to 20% due to leg problems. However, other people swear by 24%. I think every situation is different.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
I used Poulin Grain Chick Starter for my first set of Cornish Crosses. It is 20% protein. They were walking around fine at 8 1/2 weeks and were big and meaty.

 

[miss_jayne]

first off when one says 'meaties' it depends what kind of meaties. cornish x, red bro's, colored range, dixie rainbows, etc, etc, (yes, there are even more than that)

i use 24% for a few weeks and then drop it to 18% even on CX's. the legs do fine. i do not feed my cx's 24/7.

try it and see. you can always increase or change.