Made my own feed

[U_Stormcrow]

Small farms and homes can make miniature versions of large containments of insects and plants for chicken feed purposes and reduce price with better nutrion.

I have 30 acres, some of it set aside as a biodiverse polyculture to help bend the cost curve on my animal keeping. In one of the most productive and forgiving climates here in the US. Zone 7b/8a, averaging about an inch of rainfall weekly (Not the most productive ground, i freely admit, too much clay in the soil). If you think that most people can set aside acres to feed their chickens, and that the clearing and maintenance of those acres is cost free, the annual taxes on that property inexpensive, you are again mistaken.

I spent half a morning this weekend underbrushing another few hundred square feet with a small farm tractor, which has an up front cost, a maintenance cost, and of course a time cost.

Can people engineer an insect farm to suppliment their chicken's diet? Sure. It might even work. But its not a diet replacement, and its not balanced. Some can't even do that. Too hot here for a black fly larvae farm, for instance. 99 yesterday, true temp, not heat index. Sunday too. Today is a cool 97, predicted. There's a commercial cricket farm up the road - maybe I could do what they are doing, if I can figure out how they are doing it. An addition to my acres of weeds - but still not a diet replacement.

Look at the system as a whole - if you are producing your own chicken diet, you are a generalist, enjoying neither the efficiencies of scale or specialization enjoyed by large producers. If you are buying and mixing end products, you are paying layers of retail markup on all your ingredients. EIther way, greater expense.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

a parting thought - if you search BYC, with the right keywords, you will find a copy of my calculator posted as a warning to others, together with a crude explanation of one of the crude formulas and what still needs fixing first.

The disagreements of those who opine on things without knowledge or understanding mean nothing to me. This isn't a democracy, your chickens don't care whether people voted on what to feed them, only that they receive adequate nutrition to their needs. Fact. The nutritional needs of chickens are probably the best studied of how to feed any animal on this planet, even us human-types. Fact.

 

[saysfaa]

... Small farms and homes can make miniature versions of large containments of insects and plants for chicken feed purposes and reduce price with better nutrion.

Here is my attempt to find a way to grow the feed for my very small flock on my 40 acres. I also have access to a two-bottom plow, disc, mower, and other such equipment for fields and the tractors to pull them and nearly every hand tool imaginable. I am not able to raise or hunt herbivores, or to consistently catch fish.

I haven't yet found a way I could do it that was either theoretically better nutritionally or theoretically less expensive (at a similar level of nutrition) than basic brand named bagged chicken feed or locally grown feed bagged by my local feed company.

I live in one of the most productive parts of the US and soil fertility is no problem for me. I also have a wide variety of soils and habitats. The northern winters here are a complication.

I'm not convinced invertebrates are better nutrition than commercial feed - at the rates they would be fed in a diet to replace commercial feed. Especially if only one or two species are used.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

FWIW, and for the benefit of those who might be unfamiliar with @saysfaa , she has made a study of century old chicken feed recipes and pre-modern feeding methods, as well as alternative preparations (i.e. fermentation) to improve bioavailability.

I consider her knowledge on such subjects to be superior to my own, and routinely reference some of her posts for resources I need in responding to questions put to me.

Neither of us purport to be experts, but I can certainly acknowledge her as significantly more learned than most on the subject.

[Edited to correctly gender from the gender-neutral 3rd person, as per the below.]

 

[saysfaa]

Thank you, U_Stormcrow. I'm "she" please.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you, U_Stormcrow. I'm "she" please.

thanks - I thought so, but I'm bad with pronouns. Did not wish to miss gender. Edited the above to correct.

 

[Perris]

You can buy the bulk of the feed in sacks of whole grains weighing about 20kg / 50lb rather than grow it, as was the norm before the 1950's or thereabouts, when commercial prepared feeds started to appear. This thread gives some of the recipes used then
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/interwar-recipes-for-chicken-feed.1605509/

This is what I do, and the flock is healthier and the feed cheaper than when I bought commercial feed. Details here and here. The results speak for themselves. E.g. this bird will be 2 next week; he was born and bred on that home made feed.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Note that the use of "meat-and-bone meal or fish meal" in those recipes. Its not only source of a substantial amount of the recipe's crude protein, but also most of the methionine - a key amino acid. It is, unfortunately, likely to be the single expensive ingredient in the mix.

Local pricing varies, of course, but in bulk, feed grade fish meal is likely running $1.60 - $2.00 per pound in 40, 50# sacks. In smaller quantity, you can expect to pay around $4/lb. You want the near 60% protein stuff, not the 40% protein fish and bone meal some sources offer. Unfortunately, that means the cost of that one ingredient is most of my budget for 100# of feed - I pay about $0.27/lb for layer feed.

Availability varies too - I can't buy either wheat bran or middlings off the shelf, while from the internet, a 50# bag of bran will cost me more than 100# of commercial feed.

Corn I can get about $0.24/lb, I understand its cheaper at rural king, but we don't have one close. Extracted Soy I can get locally at good price, still more than $0.30/lb

That's my reality. It will be different for others, depending on their proximity to corn country, wheat country, major shipping hubs, and community demand.

and none of that addresses trace minerals - commercial mills often use a premix as "insurance" against vitamin and mineral deficiencies. "Fertrell's" is popular, and can sometimes be found off the shelf or from your local Co-Op. Its about $1.0/lb, but you need very little (thankfully)

 

[Kenya Mwangi]

Here is my attempt to find a way to grow the feed for my very small flock on my 40 acres. I also have access to a two-bottom plow, disc, mower, and other such equipment for fields and the tractors to pull them and nearly every hand tool imaginable. I am not able to raise or hunt herbivores, or to consistently catch fish.

I haven't yet found a way I could do it that was either theoretically better nutritionally or theoretically less expensive (at a similar level of nutrition) than basic brand named bagged chicken feed or locally grown feed bagged by my local feed company.

I live in one of the most productive parts of the US and soil fertility is no problem for me. I also have a wide variety of soils and habitats. The northern winters here are a complication.

I'm not convinced invertebrates are better nutrition than commercial feed - at the rates they would be fed in a diet to replace commercial feed. Especially if only one or two species are used.

Hello One thing possible for you to do is to find a completely different group of people that don't rely on shelf feed in bags and ask them how they do it. They will say the opposite of the people in the link. You don't have to catch fish if you raise them. Minnows can be raised in a stock tank. If you think chickens can't eat a combination of natural foods to meet their physiological requirements for less price and instead need artificial vitamins and chemical saturated ingredients in a bag, you are only trying yourself to fit into a community of certain beliefs and not trying to feed chickens more healthy for less price. You are allowed to think differently than your friends and it is okay. When your friends laugh at you or say it is impossible, they are not your friends, they are just the scared followers. If you only use 1 or 2 species you do not get much variation in nutrients. Use more.

 

[Perris]

the use of "meat-and-bone meal or fish meal"

I use tinned sardines in oil. Better quality, widely available, and cheaper.

commercial mills often use a premix as "insurance" against vitamin and mineral deficiencies

If you use real food, it contains vitamins and minerals already. I do not need to use any premix, so no expense for that either.