Mixed feed

[R2RoW]

Looking at Craigslist, I found an ad for a mixed feed that is sold by the barrel.
Contains rolled corn, rolled barely, oat pellets, protein pellets, protein powder and wheat bran. 18-20% protein. Would this be a good primary feed for layers?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I wouldn't use it if there hasn't been an assay of nutrients and their ratios. There's no way to tell if the feed has all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats and starches in the amounts chickens are known to need.

 

[lazy gardener]

Nor would you be assured of a recent mill date. Is this a back yard farmer who is mixing his own feeds, or is it a mill???

 

[Folly's place]

x3! Without an assay and mill date, who knows?
Buying good fresh feed pays off, and large quantities that aren't used within six weeks or so just get too old and stale. Mary

 

[R2RoW]

Nor would you be assured of a recent mill date. Is this a back yard farmer who is mixing his own feeds, or is it a mill???

I would need to find out, possibly backyard farmer

 

[R2RoW]

I wouldn't use it if there hasn't been an assay of nutrients and their ratios. There's no way to tell if the feed has all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats and starches in the amounts chickens are known to need.

I will need to ask and see if it can be provided.

 

[Folly's place]

Where's the vitamin/ mineral mix? More questions, and I think I'd pass on it. Mary

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If one is just mixing together 3 grains and some protein powder, there's no way it contains the right percentages.
Here is a definitive list of the nutrients chickens need and the amounts at varying ages.
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G8352

I understand the desire to save money but if one were to mix their own and actually do an analysis of the resultant mix to certify the feed contained all those nutrients and not more or less than necessary, it would be much more expensive than buying feed by the bag because of the economies of scale. Large feed mills buy grains by the trainload while we buy by the pound. They buy fats, vitamins and minerals by the ton while we buy by the ounce. Their entire systems are automated from the time they weigh those tons of ingredients when they enter the property and every step of grinding in hammermills, automatic blending by recipe, mixing, timing the addition of fats, steaming ingredients, adding binding agents, sizing the pelletizers and amount of time the pellets spend in crumblers. And then there is the assay done on each batch.