We are also in the research stage of acquiring from good sources, grains and seeds to sprout or dry feed as chicken feed. I have been soaking and sprouting different grains and seeds to see how the do and how well the chickies will like them. Currently we are half in and half out of premixed laying feed. Each time we purchase a bag of feed we find one of the ingredients ALL over the ground. So obviously they do not need or like that grain. Few weeks ago it was the pellet and currently it is the cracked corn. I think they hate GMO corn. They are kind smart about what they need to eat...but then again I just saw one of my chooks eating the edge off of a styrofoam plate....YIKES!
I know they love sprouted red hard winter wheat berries. I grow wheat grass flats for the Farm. They love sprouted BOSS, could not get the oats to sprout. Got some mixed salad seeds they love...radish, broccoli, alfalfa. But that is just a treat as we have 50+ chickens to feed.
They do freerange all day, and are locked up tight for the nights. No one in, and no one out. We make poo poo platters for them a couple times a week which consists of stuff like...cooked brown rice, barley, oatmeal, quinoa, spaghetti, yogurt, cottage cheese, dry milk powder, kefir, kombucha mother (SCOBY),bananas, tomatoes, sardines in tomato sauce, cooked fish, strawberries, apples, black walnuts raw, peanuts raw, pecans, raw, flax seeds, nutritiojnal yeast, D.E. Bentonite Clay,sunflower seeds raw, pumpkin seeds raw, sea weed in cooking water or kelp granules, garlic infused olive oil and more.....and in their waterers we add things like....ACV, raw garlic pieces, dandelion tea, alfalfa tea, calendula tea, nettle tea. We try really hard to keep them healthy.
We deworm twice a year now couple days in a row using Rooster Booster Triple Dewormer. No withholding on eggs. Wazine is aweful. 17 days witholding on eggs and we sell our eggs, So terrible for us and must be so hard on the girls. I had to call the company to find out about how to use on our laying hens as it says on the bottle not for laying hens. But that is all I could find at the time to deworm our serious roundworm issue we were having. Just after I found the Rooster Booster. Now I keep it on hand. I also use a product I get from U.K. called Soil Steriliser. It kills the roundworm eggs and larvae there fore breaking the roundworm cycle up a lot. Round worm can live for up to 15 years in the soil. Great Huh!? But this seems to do the trick. I alternate with D.E. sprinkled all over the pen, roost and nesting room dirt floors.
So my big project now is figuring out a balanced, Non GMO, no soy sprouting seed/grain mix. I would LOVE ANY SUGGESTIONS! There are lots out there and they use most of the same ingredients, but am wondering about using beans, peas/ legumes soaked or cooked as a protein source. Thank you in advance
roviding Adequate Methionine 
