Making my own feed?

[jamieneenah]

Hi;
I am raising meat birds, currently in the brooder. I started then on a commercial 24% mix. I have been switching them over to a mix i make, that is a minium of 24%. I am concerned i could be missing important nutrients from there diet. Tommrow we are making a trip to the feed mill, I have a couple grains I was told about I am going to check into. Feed mill does not have peas or fish meal type products. I have been feeding the following:
Corn
Oats
Salt
Oyster shell
Grit
Vitiamins in the water
Flax seed
Calf milk replacer
Brewrs yeast
Soy bean meal 44%

Do I need to add other vitamins or minerals, if so what?
Should I add an animal based protein, if so what do i ask for since they dont have fish.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks very much
Jamie in WI

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

You could find out what vitamin/mineral concentrate your mill uses. It might fit well in your mix. Mine uses Akey Layer 75 & I have an appropriate amount added when they grind my feed. When I'm grinding at home I keep a bag and add as needed also.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
I've been buying the corn cracked, (and the soy mix is ground) but feeding the oats whole.

Is it ok to feed the grains whole or do they need to be ground up?

Thanks
Jamie

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

My only concern is that they'll "Cherry Pick" & only eat the item they like best. Often, that's not the item they need most. Concentrate will be a meal consistency that I doubt tastes all that great, but it's very important for their health. If you free range, outside a pen, they'll pick up all sorts of goodies to balance their diet. In a pen the goodies are gone within a few days making vit/min concentrate even more important. I'm about out of corn grown here, so I'll start having the mill custom grind/mix my ration which will all be essentially the same consistency.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
Hi;
Thanks for the information. They have been pretty much finishing off everything that I put in there, all of them items I listed. However, I am not positive that every bird is eating all of it, it is possiable that the larger birds are the ones eating the whole grains and the smaller birds are focusing on the soy bean meal. The soy bean meal is very finely ground. They might be eating everything because I mix milk replacer in with it, and just from the smell of if the milk replaces, I bet that really like it.

I'm going to check into get the mill to grind up more of this into a meal for me.

Do you think it is OK for the adult hens to stick with the whole grains unground, they are seperate and it is pretty easy to see they are consuming all of the grains. (there are only 5 hens) vs over 150 chicks / meat birds.

Thanks
Jamie

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

Having a mixed flock such as yours is the reason I omit oyster shell from my mix. By doing so I have a universal poultry feed that I use for everything from chicks to layers. For layers I offer oyster shell free choice to ensure they get needed extra calcium. FWIW my formula is: 325# ground corn, 185# bean meal & 20# Akey Layer 75. If I have a bale of alfalfa I'll grind that in as well. This yields approximately a 21% ration. If I have broilers I'll simply up the bean meal to 200# thereby pushing the protein to the 24-26% range. Even bought at the mill this ration costs roughly half what bagged feed costs.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
Thanks again for the information. Is it a problem to feed oyster shell to the smaller birds / chicks?

Thanks
Jamie

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

Assuming you're feeding a balanced ration, they won't need extra calcium until they're at the point of lay. By keeping it available at all times in a seperate feeder they'll self regulate their intake to meet their need.

ETA: I'm not a poultry ration specialist. I've formulated rations for beef & dairy cattle for 30+ years and poultry for 10+. My rations work for me while keeping costs contained. I'd refer you to Lionsgrip for additional ration formulations.