Is there anyone who is able to review the feed I have created-soy, wheat, corn, and dairy free due t

[susienoe]

Hi! I have been doing tons of research to feed our new flock of 4 chicks and 2 ducks. We have celiac disease in the family and several other intolerances, so I have been trying to develop a homemade feed that meets the need of the birds and our family. This is what I have come up with, and I would love feedback. Please be kind. We are doing this to help heal our family and have no desire to harm the birds.

18% Field Peas
10% Rolled Oats
10% Sunflower Seeds
10% Flax Seeds
8% Rice
8% Milo (Sorghum)
6% Alfalfa (and I would love feedback as to seeds or bales)
4% Fish Meal
3% Millet
3% Sesame Seed
3% Buckwheat
1% Kelp
1% Yeast
Probiotics
Oyster Shells
Grit

According to my calculations, this is a 17% protein feed. I have taken into account the recommended maximum for each component as listed in several agricultural feed articles and have included these components at levels way below the recommended maximum (recommended maximum 30% buckwheat due to sun sensitivity). Trying to be well rounded, give them the needed protein and amino acids, without including wheat, corn, and soy.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

It is so nice to read about someone formulating their own feed! Congratulations!

I have never had ducks- but I have read about them needing niacin I think it was??? Might want to research that if you haven't already.

Also, some add some kind of Fertrell Nutri-balancer I think it is called. I never have, because I make sure they have access to a lot of grass or greens at all times. Also kitchen scraps and fruit/veg scraps. So keep in mind that when chickens get vitamin deficiencies it isn't pretty- you can add whole foods to the diet instead of artificial vitamins (maybe you have considered this already). I even give tiny grass clippings and grit to my itty bitties, so they won't get vitamin deficiencies while on chick starter. I have no idea if what you have listed is complete vitamin-wise.

I have had trouble getting my chickens to eat split peas in large quantities. One person on BYC swears by grinding the peas.

Austrian peas- my chickens won't eat at all, nor will the songbirds or squirrels. They won't even eat the sprouts. I won't buy those again. So I like to feed split peas, since they will at least eat them in small quantities.

Flax seeds can affect the taste of eggs so I'd watch that one. My chickens don't really like them and eat them in small quantities when I buy them (I don't feed them any more).

If your rice is brown, that's good. A chicken flock fed only white rice died, according to one research study I read from years ago. When fed brown rice, they lived.

Millet is 11% protein and I give a lot of it in my feed.

Sesame seeds are $2 a lb here and I won't buy them.

Just as an aside, I have to mix my oyster shells into the feed or I get soft shells from all the hens. When I mix them in, great eggshells. Here is how much in case you need to do it:
flemingoutdoors has it: http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/croysh5lb.html
they say 1 lb per 20 lb feed

I'm going to continue in another post so the whole thing doesn't get deleted on me....

 

[susienoe]

This is great feedback! Thank you!

I did forget to mention that the flock is free range in our small backyard all day, and put up in a large 18x4 foot run at night. We plan to feed them all of the acceptable table scraps that our family of 6 provides.

I will have to look into grinding the peas. My vitamix maybe? I also considered increasing the oats and decreasing the peas, but I will try putting the increased millet into the calculations and see what that does to protein. I think the info I found said it was 9%, but I have noticed some discrepancies in the protein percentage based on suppliers and also the investigators

Thanks again, I will make a mental note to include the oyster shells in the feed!

 

[susienoe]

And I am not sure why I skipped the 4 % fish meal in my list!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

My chickens would NOT eat alfalfa meal- I ended up putting it around the fruit trees. However, they loved alfalfa hay (careful not to get impacted crop from long strings winding around inside the crop though)- they ate the leaves on the hay. It made me WAY too itchy though. Straw mites, I assume. They do sell alfalfa cubes that some people soak before giving. I have thought about trying those on occasion. So I'd cut the alfalfa hay into short segments no longer than 2-3 inches if it were me to be safe, if wanting to use it not for bedding but for food.

http://www.agriorganics.com/agriculture.php?Pid=37
salt here listed at 4% of kelp content ( I thought I had read 10% awhile back but cannot find the source) so kelp does have salt in it but you might consider adding some salt - most feeds have salt at less than 1% of feed- quite often 0.5% etc. You might research whether you wish to add some salt to your feed other than kelp.

I like to give table scraps containing salt and also mix in some org. chick starter every day, so I don't add salt (probably should though).
Here:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s20.html
http://www.mofga.org/Publications/M...r/Summer2003/Chickens/tabid/1481/Default.aspx

Your mix looks great to me! You might research growing some naked oats (hulless) and this is healthier for the chickens, as those hulls are not helpful at all and can be harmful in large quantities- no energy etc.

Growing millet is easy too!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s21.html
another nice link if needed

Also, I wanted to mention that rolled oats from the feed store still has the hulls on them. So whole oats are cheaper and if you are going to be feeding the hulls, you might as well have the cheaper bag.

I do feed our stale quick oats (we buy the large bags since we have two people in the house who eat oats a lot). So after about a year if I have any left over they go into the feed. This is twice the price of animal rolled oats.

Oh OK I am now reading that you have a small backyard- so growing oats isn't on your list of things to do probably!

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Proteins.html

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Grains.html

a couple more links

 

[Bo Garrett]

My daughter has been diagnosed with Celiac since July 2009 and she is severely sensitive, it is a major change in lifestyle going to the G-free diet! Looking at your feed ration I see two issues, buckwheat and oats, both of which either contain gluten or may contain gluten; buckwheat is a member of the wheat family and is the same as using Wheat, Rye, Barley, Smelt or any other grain from the wheat family; Oats unless certified as clean and gluten free will often contain wheat and cause the same sensitivity issues.
You may want to look at cottonseed meal, very high in protein (41% or so depening on the refining process). I let my birds gleen my field peas after we have finished harvesting them for the year and they love black eyed and purple hull peas; being in the Northwest you may not even be able to get these up there but here in the South they are in every garden. Also, unless you are planning on grinding the feed yourself the milling company will have probably ground wheat at some point in time which would also contaminate your feed source.
Living g-free is not for the faint of heart but I would certainly deal with it over some other childhood diseases, I am just thankful it is something we can manage without medications, constant Dr. visits and expensive treatments.

Blessings,


Bo

 

[Cindy in PA]

Cotton seed meal is one of the most pesticide laden feed ingredients from what I've read & too much does something to the eggs, but I don't remember what. I'd stear clear of cotton seed meal.

 

[susienoe]

This is all great info...even the back and forth on the cottonseed meal

. I will definitely research it!

I am thankful for the info on alfalfa. I have no farming experience, and I kept seeing alfalfa hey, alfalfa pellets, and alfalfa seed????? I wasn't sure about the difference!

And thanks for the info on oats. I assumed that rolled oats were hulless. I think I just want to get hulless oats

Regarding the gluten free status of oats and buckwheat....I have been back and forth on including oats as a feed ingredient. I guess my thought on contamination is that if oats are contamintaed by gluten, or other grains are milled with gluten, it is going to go through a fairly significant process (in the chicken's digestive system) before it gets to me. I considered buying GF oats for the feed, but I bet that will be very spendy. So the jury is still out on that one. If I can get by without including it in the feed I probably will!

As for the buckwheat "Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass; instead, buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb."

Again, I appreciate ALL the helpful comments!
Thanks

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Also make sure that if you buy buckwheat that it is not seed buckwheat (seeds may have been treated with poisons)- you want everything to be "feed buckwheat" or "feed oats" etc. All feed grade- not "seeds" for the farmer.

In other words, make sure that it is not treated seed, whatever you buy.