Making organic chicken feed from scratch (not available to buy where I am)

[purosaviparos]

Im south of the border and I have a small animal farm with chicken for eggs and meat, turkeys for eggs and meat and peacocks. I also have rabbits.

There's basically a narrow line of feed that one can buy for chick, growth, eggs and meat, which i'm sure are all just full of nasty chemicals and animal parts, i have been working on an organic feed for my own personal use.

I have good access to organic corn and sorgum amongst other seed and plants to make feed from. Also thanks to the internet and local readings i'm hip to what each ingredient has as far as nutrient value.

I'm just wondering if anyone can give me a good ball park of protein, fat, fiber and what ever else is necessary as far as growth, egg and meat formulations ar concerned.

Some of the natural ingredients i have constant access to are the following:

fine ground corn, fine ground sorgum, dried fine ground egg shells (calcium), dried fine ground chicken/turkey/rabbit bones, dry ground rabbit droppings (fiber),

Other seasonal harvested goods includes; dried guayaba fruit, dried banana peels, peanuts, pistachios, shredded coconut and other seeds and or nuts that have good protein values (can send specific info if there are any plant nutrition experts out there)

But just looking to make something healthy for my farm friends that can provide me with a healthy organic meal.

Any thoughs on the above mentioned information? Have dehydrator and industrial grinder. Anybody know the nutrional value of dried shredded banana peels? huevos with or without marrow?

My current mix for egg layers is the following: (I have another for meat and growth)

Corn 40% Sorgum 40% Rabbit droppings 10% Bone Egg Calcium 2% Dried guyaba fruit (vitamins and minerals?) 5% (3% ash, ive been told that this is good for eggs? thoughts?

Anything else i could/should be using?

I've heard phosphorus is good for producing eggs, a good source? thoughts?

 

[Erica]

Hi purosaviparos,
I'm not sure where you've read that 40% sorghum is a good idea, much less that rabbit poo and ground bone add much to a chicken's diet. Sorghum is a really unhelpful feed for young birds, as it can suppress growth (most likely due to tannins). It's not a great feed for older birds either, though it's usually added to commercial feeds. You've probably noticed yourself the birds avoid it if they can.

The rabbit poo will add some B vitamins, but I wouldn't think it will add much else. Far better to find yourself some organic sunflower, organic alfalfa, organic peas, organic wheat, to add to the corn, and then think about something to bring the protein levels up still further, especially adding some important amino acids like methoinine (I use milk plus soy meal, but I personally wouldn't use soy meal outside Australia as it's most likely GM). Meat meal is an option but hard to find organically. You may need to get seriously into breeding worms and other bugs for the birds. Yeast is great for B vitamins (though not usually B-12) if you can get it; otherwise soured milk is brilliant and does supply B-12 so is absolutely terrific as a supplement (and incidentally also a coccidiostat).

Lastly, I'm not sure where you heard phosphorus is good for eggshells. Eggshells are almost entirely made of calcium carbonate, and since phosphorus competes with calcium for absorption, too much phosphorus can lead to soft shelled eggs (which is why bone is a bad idea if it's fed in high quantities, as its phosphorus-calcium ratio is completely wrong for laying birds).

I feel you need to do quite a lot more research. Sorry to be blunt. What you want to do I think is absolutely terrific, but really the best way to start out doing something like this is to follow a recipe, and see if you can source its ingredients as close to organically as possible.

best of luck, hope this helps,
Erica