Making your own feed

[Aunt Angus]

I am very interested in this. I would love to make my own feed. Are there any "calculators" out there? I vaguely recall a post on here where a BYCer made such a calculator, but I'll be darned if I can find it now.

ETA: I am a total novice, and I will read voraciously any research, articles, or conventional wisdom about this topic.

 

[springvalley123]

I second the importance of knowing the amount of each of the vitamins and minerals, and even the amino acid balance. Someone mentioned something called nutribalance?? I looked into it a while back, and it's just too hard for me to source even the correct macro nutrients, let alone the vitamin pack. But then I'm in a rural area and have a small flock.

 

[Mosey2003]

I second the importance of knowing the amount of each of the vitamins and minerals, and even the amino acid balance. Someone mentioned something called nutribalance?? I looked into it a while back, and it's just too hard for me to source even the correct macro nutrients, let alone the vitamin pack. But then I'm in a rural area and have a small flock.

If you have any feed companies in your area, often they will sell what is called a "premix," - that's meant to be added to other grain (typically corn) and it will make up the protein and vit/min balance. It's usually soy-based. You could call around and see if anyone local sells a poultry premix. Another option is Fertrell products, if you can find a local retailer. If not, you can order online either directly from them (I think, might be wrong) or one of the organic suppliers sells their products. I looked into all this extensively and decided that grain in my area was just too expensive to justify it, and the Fertrell premix only comes in a 50lb bag, and I simply cannot feed that much that fast before the vitamins start losing potency.

 

[archeryrob]

Yes, the stuff like Fertell calls out .03# of Nutribalancer per pound of feed. So my mix idea of 200# costs $9 and when you add Nutribalancer is become $15 and this is only 16% feed. That makes homemade layer feed almost as expensive as meat bird pellets. The chicken minerals are crazy expensive.

Nutribalancer is $40 for 10# and I can by cattle, sheep and general mineral for Between $15 - $25 for 50#. IMO, they are doing this because people raising their own chickens will pay premium where normal farmers will buy general mineral. Its kind of like the horse people with the 1200# babies. There is no reason this mineral mix should be this expensive. I'll figure this out sooner or later, but I'n not paying premium to mix my own feed.

 

[BarnGems]

Do any of mix your chicken feed?

Just saw a video on it and it got my curiosity up!

I went to my local feed mill. They have a great mix of whole grains with all the add ins and balancer, I pay 24$ for a hundred pounds in Eastern Ky. It's miles and MILES above what I can get in a commercial mix. Local is relative when you live as far out of town as I do.

 

[Shadrach]

If your chickens free range the feed you supply may or may not be critical to their health. A lot will depend on the forage area available and the quality and diversity of what they can forage.
If your chickens are contained, then feed becomes very important. There is rather more to providing a balanced diet than any of the above videos suggest.
You need to know what are the essential amino acids for optimum health. This information can be found on the net. Then you need to know what will provide those amino acids and work out the correct percentages for the type of fowl you keep.
Chickens are omnivores, much like humans and the same problems that apply to eating a vegan diet if you are human apply to chickens.
Humans have got around the complexity of mixing the correct components in order to get the essential amino acids in their correct proportions by eating meat and fish and later by making dairy produce.
I would not even consider making my own feed without a lot of research and most certainly not on the advice of some random person on the internet who apparently doesn't have much of an idea about the science involved in feed manufacturing.
If you insists on making your own feed and can't be bothered to research it properly then my advice is feed them fish and meat mixed in with whatever random ingredients you come up with.
For contained fowl you will save yourself a lot of work and promote better health in your flock by feeding a commercially produced feed with the correct ratios and adding as a supplement some fish or meat every couple of days.

 

[rjohns39]

@Aunt Angus I suspect it was me you were referring to. @archeryrob here's what I get for a nutritional analysis on your 21% layer. You're over the maximum recommended concentrations for Oats and fishmeal. Sorry for the formatting.

I'm a huge fan of Fertrell and trust them. I'm also a huge fan of Jeff Mattocks. I'm currently trying to work out the logistics of importing my feed as I can no longer get my co-op to buy the ingredients. Keep in mind that it costs the same amount of money to package a 10 pound bag as it does a 60 pound bag. I paid $90 for the sixty pound bag. Also important note, if you're buying Fetrell products you have access to their nutritionists at no charge. If you'd like me to run your others, upload your spreadsheet to google sheets and pm me the link.

Nutrient Name: Amount Units
Crude Protein 21.1% %
Crude Fat 4.8% %
Crude Fiber 5.8% %
Calcium 0.94% %
Phosphorus 0.65% %
Salt added 0.11% %
Sodium 0.07% % per KG
Energy 1,227 Kcal/LB 2698.7
Vitamin A 194 IU/LB 426.8
Vitamin D 0 IU/LB 0
Vitamin E 0 IU/LB 0
Choline 1707 IU/LB 3755
Biotin 32.6 MCG/LB 71.778
Manganese 53.6 ppm 117.9
Zinc 43.2 ppm 95.089
Copper 11.56 ppm 25.432
Selenium (added) 0.00 ppm 0
Lysine 1.17% %
Methionine 0.47% %
Methionine/Cystine 0.72% %
Arginine 1.19% %

 

[DrakeMom]

Do any of mix your chicken feed?

Just saw a video on it and it got my curiosity up!

I didn't know if this is what you're meaning by "mixing your own feed" but we get one bag layer crumbles and one back hen scratch. Then put it in the feed barrel by layering it: 1-2 scoops layer crumbles then 1-2 scoops hen scratch and repeat till both bags are empty.

 

[archeryrob]

@rjohns39 I was actually thinking about using large amounts of fish meal to replace soy for protein figuring it was closer to bugs, until you posted. So are the percents you posted maximums?

I PM'd you the link for the spreadsheet. It is a .odf for LibreOffice and should open right up in Excel.

 

[alex5chickens]

I don't know if I would listen to videos from Becky's Homestead. She feeds her chickens a lot of bread, which isn't good for their health.
Definitely try mixing your own chicken feed though.