Making Feed at Home

[RoosterBird]

Somwone please guide me how to make a good feed at home as it is difficult to find good feed for my chickens
I want to use
Wheat, maize, rice, corn, millet or any other grain mixture which is better
Tell me quantity ratio please

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

Where, in general, are you located?

Are you keeping your chickens in confinement or allowing them to range? What sort of pasture do you have available for them?

 

[RoosterBird]

I am located in Pakistan
Till now I am using feed for chickens, but I don't think so its good quality
I want to make some good feed with better quality
As many of the feeds are given to broiler chicken

 

[3KillerBs]

@U_Stormcrow you know a lot more about this than I do. Can you help?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Beyond my skills, no knowing what you have available, or pricing/budget. There may be a language issue, as well - here "corn" and "maize" are the same thing.

Superficially, you can't make a complete feed with any combination of the things listed. Protein levels are too low, even before considering essential amino acid profile of the protein, mineral content, and trace nutrients.

Here in the US, the generally accepted targets for adult layers is 16% protein (18-20% is prefered), 3-4% fat, fiber recommendations vary considerably, but 3-4% is again a good target. If you can offer supplimental calcium (crushed oyster shell, calcium diphosphate, dicalcium phoshate) you don't need to concern yourself with that in the feed. Our freinds across the pond make due with lower protein % (13-15%) by adding synthetic amino acids - not available for home use.

So, accepting that there is variation between crops, and sources of nutrition data vary, we can still offer a general gloss of what you have to work with there.

Wheat grains are around 12.5% protein, 2.6% fiber, 2% fat.

If you can get durum wheat, its about 16.5% protein, 3% fiber, 2% fat

Maize/Corn is 8.5-9.5% protein, 2.5% fiber, 4.5% fat

(Finger) Millet is around 9% protein, 5.5-6% fiber, 1.5% fat

(Brown) Rice is around 10.5% protein, 2.0% fiber, 2.0-2.5% fat

I understand Pakistan grows a decent amount of rape for making oil, and also barley. Rapeseed forage is high protein, 19-20%, high fiber 16% +/-, low fat 2%. Barley grains are about 12% protein, 5% fiber, 2% fat. Also something called "gram" seeds? My source indicates that's around 24% protein, 6.5% fiber, 1.5% fat. If you can get spent brewers grains, dried, that's another high protein source with most of the sugars removed.

Essentially, you are looking to balance some combination of the above, targeting the numbers I offered, an amino acid profile I've not yet offered, and a total daily caloric intake as well.

Making feed at home is hard - we can't do it here efficiently, effectively, or at reasonable cost. For you, I don't see how you get close to targets without mixing some combination of hard wheat, maize/corn, dried rapeseed forage, and black gram seeds. While I could play with the ratios, and hit theinitial targets, without kjnowing cost per pound, no way to guess if its economical - no point in continuing to make up an amino acid profile to see if it checks those boxes, too. Chances are, it would not. Likely not on trace minerals either.

 

[saysfaa]

From poultry management textbook published in 1952. The book has much, much, more information on nutrition and feeding than just these few pages. Even the whole book is NOT better than poultry feeds currently available in the US.

Partly because more is known about nutrition (notice quote from page 341, "Animal proteins. These products serve as a source of protein, minerals, vitamin B12, and at least one other still-unidentified nutrient."

Partly because chickens have changed. This book says published records of egg-laying tests "reveals the tremendous progress"... 1919 1,000 birds entered into one of the leading contests laid an average of 145.5. Same test is 1947, the average was 228.2. Today, most backyard hens will lay an egg almost every day.

And partly it is because the nutrient value of many plants had decreased due to selecting for other characteristics - like flavor, size, and production.

This is almost certainly better than the vast majority of rations you will find online. If I did not have access to chicken feed, I would choose a breed that was not a top producer and then select for the ability to forage and the ability to adjust production in response to diet. And do a lot of research.

 

[RoosterBird]

Beyond my skills, no knowing what you have available, or pricing/budget. There may be a language issue, as well - here "corn" and "maize" are the same thing.

Superficially, you can't make a complete feed with any combination of the things listed. Protein levels are too low, even before considering essential amino acid profile of the protein, mineral content, and trace nutrients.

Here in the US, the generally accepted targets for adult layers is 16% protein (18-20% is prefered), 3-4% fat, fiber recommendations vary considerably, but 3-4% is again a good target. If you can offer supplimental calcium (crushed oyster shell, calcium diphosphate, dicalcium phoshate) you don't need to concern yourself with that in the feed. Our freinds across the pond make due with lower protein % (13-15%) by adding synthetic amino acids - not available for home use.

So, accepting that there is variation between crops, and sources of nutrition data vary, we can still offer a general gloss of what you have to work with there.

Wheat grains are around 12.5% protein, 2.6% fiber, 2% fat.

If you can get durum wheat, its about 16.5% protein, 3% fiber, 2% fat

Maize/Corn is 8.5-9.5% protein, 2.5% fiber, 4.5% fat

(Finger) Millet is around 9% protein, 5.5-6% fiber, 1.5% fat

(Brown) Rice is around 10.5% protein, 2.0% fiber, 2.0-2.5% fat

I understand Pakistan grows a decent amount of rape for making oil, and also barley. Rapeseed forage is high protein, 19-20%, high fiber 16% +/-, low fat 2%. Barley grains are about 12% protein, 5% fiber, 2% fat. Also something called "gram" seeds? My source indicates that's around 24% protein, 6.5% fiber, 1.5% fat. If you can get spent brewers grains, dried, that's another high protein source with most of the sugars removed.

Essentially, you are looking to balance some combination of the above, targeting the numbers I offered, an amino acid profile I've not yet offered, and a total daily caloric intake as well.

Making feed at home is hard - we can't do it here efficiently, effectively, or at reasonable cost. For you, I don't see how you get close to targets without mixing some combination of hard wheat, maize/corn, dried rapeseed forage, and black gram seeds. While I could play with the ratios, and hit theinitial targets, without kjnowing cost per pound, no way to guess if its economical - no point in continuing to make up an amino acid profile to see if it checks those boxes, too. Chances are, it would not. Likely not on trace minerals either.

Price is around
$0.5 per kilogram of wheat
And for every other product it s about the same like 0.5-0.7 dollars

 

[RoosterBird]

From poultry management textbook published in 1952. The book has much, much, more information on nutrition and feeding. Even the whole book is NOT better than poultry feeds currently available in the US.

Partly because more is known about nutrition (notice quite from page 341, "Animal proteins. These products serve as a source of protein, minerals, vitamin B12, and at least one other still-unidentified nutrient."

Partly because chickens have changed. This book says published records ofegg-laying tests "reveals the tremendous progress"... 1919 1,000 birds entered into one of the leading contests laid an average of 145.5. Same test is 1947, the average was 228.2. Today, most backyard hens will lay an egg almost every day.

And partly it is because the nutrient value of many plants had decreased due to selecting for other characteristics - like flavor and production.

This is almost certainly better than the vast majority of rations you will find online. If I did not have access to chicken feed, I would choose a breed that was not a top producer and then select for the ability to forage and the ability to adjust production in response to diet. And do a lot of researcg.

It seems good information

 

[RoosterBird]

Okay
I have easily available
Wheat
Rice
Corn
Barley
Oats
Milltet
Peas
Beans
All are available like for 0.5-0.7 dollars per kg each
For vitamins I can use vitamin syrups?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Do you know if its hard or soft wheat variety? and do you have any seeds at all available to you? Even if I can hit protein targets (doubtful), its imposible to make a complete protein while relying on primarily grains - meaning the birds won't be able to make use of the some portion of the protein provided them - and thus the feed would still be deficient.