Is it possible to give flock to many earth worms?

[NinjaGamer2022]

I'll come back to this tonight.

The quick answer is: You CAN NOT economically compete with the economies of scale enjoyed by commercial producers by making your own feed at home. Even if you had a good recipe (start with Justin Rhodes') because you can't assay your own ingredients, you can't know the final nutritional values, you can only guess based on published averages which may (but probably won't) approximate your inputs.

Earthworms, after addressing the moisture content, are high protein (and good AA balance) but high fat. Same with crickets. Both have decent amounts of calcium. I'll see if I can find the most recent earthworm discussion and link it later.

Absent the ability to farm at scale and store, its unlikely you can produce even a single ingredient of your mix, much less have the land and climate to produce all of the ingredients (or all the vegetable ingredients) in a complete feed recipe. Most of us don't have land suited for growing corn and wheat and soy, plus a few other things, to try and build a complete feed - and even then, you are going to want some of Fertrell's Nutribalancer, and likely some of their Fish Meal too.

What you can do, if you are fortunate enough to have a chunk of land and good climate, is "bend the curve" on feed costs, as I do with my acres of weeds. But its not a quick solution. I'm two years in, and still experimenting to find what works and what doesn't. I invest about $100-$150 a year into it - which is one month of feed for me.

You can also accept that your birds can survive, but not thrive, on a less than optimal diet - but your ability to get eggs and meat from them - and their ability to withstand environmental pressures (disease, mostly) will all suffer.

I understead some ingredeints I will not be able to produce. Me and my family live on ~10 acres of land (not all field, about 5 acres of field). I hope that if I have bins of breeding insects, grow what I can, sprout what I can, move their chicken tractor 2x a day at least, and buy bulk we will be able to feed our birds. Thank you very much for your info @U_Stormcrow

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Most recent Earthworm discussion. You can go back up a few posts in that thread to see what I was responding to.

You can also look to find feed outside a tractor Supply, Rural King, or the like.
You don't say where you are, but I just bought 500# of feed today for $138.

50# or rabbit feed, $14.30
200# of layer feed @ 12.55/bag
100# of game bird @ $16.10/bag
150# of goat pellets @ $12.45/bag
When I started, two years ago, layer was about $9.60/bag, the game bird just under $12...

I get a very good price at my local feed store, cheaper than I can get from the local mill - but I'm near poultry country.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I understead some ingredeints I will not be able to produce. Me and my family live on ~10 acres of land (not all field, about 5 acres of field). I hope that if I have bins of breeding insects, grow what I can, sprout what I can, move their chicken tractor 2x a day at least, and buy bulk we will be able to feed our birds. Thank you very much for your info @U_Stormcrow

I have about 80 birds (or bird equivalents - ducks eat a lot) most of the time, three rabbits, five goats (see my sig, below) - we are currently using about five of my thirty acres to help feed them - no plow, no tractor, just me, them, and hand tools. During the late spring, early summer, it cuts my feed bill about 35%. In winter, maybe 10%.

 

[NinjaGamer2022]

Most recent Earthworm discussion. You can go back up a few posts in that thread to see what I was responding to.

You can also look to find feed outside a tractor Supply, Rural King, or the like.
You don't say where you are, but I just bought 500# of feed today for $138.

50# or rabbit feed, $14.30
200# of layer feed @ 12.55/bag
100# of game bird @ $16.10/bag
150# of goat pellets @ $12.45/bag
When I started, two years ago, layer was about $9.60/bag, the game bird just under $12...

I get a very good price at my local feed store, cheaper than I can get from the local mill - but I'm near poultry country.

I live in Ohio. For 50lb of chick feed is $18, or at least was. A few days ago we went and they had none, only 10lb bags for $9. We had to get 50lb of all flock starter for $23. And 50lb of Gamebird starter is $21. We also got some of the last bags again and it's greatly concerning me. Thank you so much for your valuable info.

 

[NinjaGamer2022]

I have about 80 birds (or bird equivalents - ducks eat a lot) most of the time, three rabbits, five goats (see my sig, below) - we are currently using about five of my thirty acres to help feed them - no plow, no tractor, just me, them, and hand tools. During the late spring, early summer, it cuts my feed bill about 35%. In winter, maybe 10%.

We have around 100 total birds, 4 pet rabbits, cats, and dogs (and axolotls, but they cost very little, I dig up worms for them).

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

We have around 100 total birds, 4 pet rabbits, cats, and dogs (and axolotls, but they cost very little, I dig up worms for them).

you have axoltols?!