Mixed grain feed

[Shawna89]

I have been doing some research on mixing my own whole grain chicken feed. Here is the recipe I came up with:
50lbs wheat
50lb cracked corn
25lb oats
20lbs sunflower seed
10lb alfalfa meal

Any thoughts? Should I add/take away any ingredients?

 

[Kikiriki]

You might need to get a vitamin supplement. If you read the ingredients on the feed bags you can see the ones they add. Those are added because they are important and tend to be missing from the unaltered grains. (lysine? I can't remember...)

The mix sounds fine otherwise. If you can grow sweet potatoes, the leaves and the potato are both edible and very nutritious, as well as growing like a weed! I plant outside the run and direct the vines into the run so the chickens have access when they want (of course I am in Central Florida, so they grow year round.) I was cleaning out a grow box and just threw some vines on the ground in another area where nothing grows...they rooted themselves instead of dying!

And you can add the leaves to salads and soups for people, too. Not flavorful, but no bad taste either, and they are good for you and free!

 

[matt44644]

http://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/files/102993.pdf

 

[pdirt]

I have been doing some research on mixing my own whole grain chicken feed. Here is the recipe I came up with:
50lbs wheat
50lb cracked corn
25lb oats
20lbs sunflower seed
10lb alfalfa meal

Any thoughts? Should I add/take away any ingredients?

What does your protein content come out to be? If those sunflower seeds are unhulled, they will add a lot of hard-to-digest fiber. Not sure what the protein content of hulled vs unhulled sunflower seeds is, but it will make a huge difference in your protein. Oats are also hard to digest, IIRC, you might want to check in on that one. Amino acid profile is also important, this is why soy is used to often. I'm not sure if a vitamin supplement will balance this or not. But adding some soy or animal protein (I used about 7% of fish meal) will help. Without complete essential amino acids, the protein can not be fully utilized and can lead to deficiencies over time.

I'd also second looking into adding a vitamin supplement. Fertrell Nutri Balancer is one such. You will also need to add some calcium, less for non-laying birds, more for layers. The amounts are listed on the Nutri Balancer product. If you want your birds to lay eggs, you need methionine or kelp, the amounts I am unclear of, but ample amounts of both in Nutri Balancer.

I am this winter supplementing my feed with some of these products, but I don't think I will do it again next winter. Mixing is not easy, both in measuring and oiling the feed so the pre-mix vitamins stick to the grains and get eaten. Bagged feed never looked so good! If you have the proper set-up, with a drum roller or something like that, it would be much easier, but mixing in a bucket is for the birds!

 

[pdirt]

http://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/files/102993.pdf

Great article on "natural" chicken nutrition, easy to read unlike some I've read before. Nice explanation of the different types of processed soy.