Making my own food

[adametreus]

I have had chickens for a number of years. I have always fed them premade food and was wondering how to make my own. What should I include in it? Should I ferment my food? Thanks.

 

[Melky]

Choices for homemade feed is up to you and fermenting. I ferment and think my chickens and I both benefit from this. Fermenting can save in cost, add nutritional value, and probiotics naturally as well increase vitamins and bioavailability combined with digestibility. Homemade feeds some may worry about nutritional deficiencies and just choose to purchase a better quality feed that matches the goals of a homemade feed. I researched a homemade feed and discovered it would cost me more than purchasing a milled whole grain organic layer mash. The feed I chose had all the ingredients I was looking for in a homemade feed. You can google homemade feed recipes and get many people who will freely provide recipes for such. It requires storage of many different products in bulk to create a feed that should be nutritionally complete. It was easier for me to just store a few bags of purchased feed.

 

[nchls school]

I have had chickens for a number of years. I have always fed them premade food and was wondering how to make my own. What should I include in it? Should I ferment my food? Thanks.

We make a mixture for our flock that consists of:
five scoops cracked corn
five scoops layer mash
five scoops moistened dog food
five scoops cooked noodles
suitable dinner scrapes

All mixed together---we have chickens, turkeys, and quail.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree with Melky.
It is impossible to create a nutritionally complete feed for anywhere near the cost of a complete commercial feed.
It is the economy of scale. Feed mfgs. buy grains and legumes by the trainload. You are buying by the 50 lb. bag. They are buying vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats by the ton. You are buying by the pound if you can obtain them. They assay every run of feed to guarantee it contains all the correct ratios of all nutrients. You can't do that.
Whatever you mix, do you have the ability to assay that mix to determine if it contains all the nutrients chickens are known to need at the correct ratios?
Unless one knows the correct levels of the 35+ nutrients chickens need and what the ingredients contain, you can't do it.
If you can negotiate the following charts and find the correct mix of ingredients to meet their needs, then it is possible. But I'll guarantee it will be way more expensive.
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g8352