Making my own feed recipe

[Christina1319]

Planning on getting chickens in the spring, I am trying to come up with my own feed for them. I am going to have black oil sunflower seeds, wheat berries and peas I'm planning on sprouting and fermenting as much as I can and growing mealworms. I am looking into growing duckweed as well instead of buying kelp and using grit and oyster shells. My question is how much of each do I use to make a complete chicken feed. I'm going to be growing the peas and sunflower seeds as well as the mealworms and duckweed and I am hoping to make a feed out of what I'm growing that will be nutritious to them but I don't want to give him too much of one thing and not enough of another so if anybody knows about how much of what to have in or if I need to add anything else then I would be appreciative. I'm going to be getting my chickens in the spring or working on building The Coop now and planting as much as we can to dry out we're going to be also growing kale for them but that's going to be a winter plant so we're going to dehydrate that too. I'm brand new to Backyard raising chickens so any advice is helpful.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Bags of fresh feed from the feed store will be less expensive and totally balanced nutritionally, and so much easier to deal with, especially as a new chicken owner. There is a lot of information on making balanced feed for poultry, at the universities, and through feed companies. Some people here can assist you, with varying degrees of expertise. I had classes in college, which convinced me to buy the feed, and not attempt home made. If I had thousands (or maybe even hundreds) of birds, I might reconsider, but not as a small flock owner. Mary

 

[Christina1319]

I know I'll be using chick starter for sure, and I am planning on having feed on hand as well I'm just hoping to be able to move over to more of it coming out of my own garden rather than store-bought. I am planning on using mostly things that I grow because I'm going to be growing them anyway and I like the idea of knowing where my food comes from including the eggs and the feed that my chickens eat. I'm sure it will take me awhile to actually get to the point that I am making my own chicken feed I've read numerous articles of people making their own, but I know that it is an unrealistic thought to be starting out with chickens and making my own chicken feed I just want to be moving in that direction on a good start. I will be using store-bought chicken feed to begin with o because I don't want it to be overwhelming and I want to make sure we're successful and not lose any chickens along the way. Thank you so much for your fast response and especially if you're taking classes on it I'm sure you're more experienced that with it than I am. I'm just hoping to get a good idea of what I have and what I need.