mixing my own feed

[Lotsapaints]

You can get some soft alfalfa hay and feed it to them they don't eat the stems cheaper than meal or pellets mine don't free range either due to preds. I've just started mixing my own feed also and I'm watching my birds bloom eating my mix I sprout wheat, oats and boss so far mine love split peas too I can get flax so I add that still buy a local lay mix but it has little soybean in it and it's freshly ground every month or so and I don't use near as much. Soon I'll have grass but from May to Nov I have none.....My eggs have gotten larger and I get lots of them I just set some eggs and from 7, 5 were good @ day 10 only 1 didn't do anything....for pullets pretty good. I don't think I'm saving money but my birds look great and no longer act hungry all the time.....

 

[chartssss34]

hi there thanks everyone for the replies..

i dont grow my own sunflowers..how ever the region i am in is famous for its sunflowers and the fields were covered up in them as far as the eye can see..therefore i can store now and use it in the winter...soya and peas are almost impossible to source..and alfa alfa is tricky as well..

i have great access to sunflower,wheat ,oat and corn..

the reason i dont want to use the ready mix anymore is the fact that almost all the feeds i can find is for the use of commercial farms and i have my concerns for the chemicals that they might be using..

for predatorary reasons i can let the chickens run in the 15 acre of land but all the breeds have their own sand run seperate from each other..

i will be able to give them grass cuttings but trick in winter...

therefore if someone can help me with a ration using wheat oat corn and sunflower its greatly appreciated..

once again thanks a million for all the posters and their insights

 

[chartssss34]

another idea...

i can grow wheat grass in my closed barn for the winter and feed them to my flock..

is that a good idea? how much of it? weekly?

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Quote:
Have bought alfalfa meal or pellets for years to use in my garden but my source has dried up and I must find another feed store. I had to special order the alfalfa meal in the past so I went to pellets.

Will have to see if any of the feed stores here have pumpkin seeds (would like to see if it does help prevent worms) or split peas. I planned to grow a lot of cowpeas this year but we had no rain and my water bill was out of sight! Have been feeding fresh blackeyed peas from the garden...they love these...you can lose fingers feeding these!

. What do you use to grind them? DH has been checking Goodwill, etc. for coffee grinders.

Have feed BOSS for months and the girls love it. I mix in their feed instead of using as scratch because there was a lot of waste.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

Quote:
Have bought alfalfa meal or pellets for years to use in my garden but my source has dried up and I must find another feed store. I had to special order the alfalfa meal in the past so I went to pellets.

Will have to see if any of the feed stores here have pumpkin seeds (would like to see if it does help prevent worms) or split peas. I planned to grow a lot of cowpeas this year but we had no rain and my water bill was out of sight! Have been feeding fresh blackeyed peas from the garden...they love these...you can lose fingers feeding these!

. What do you use to grind them? DH has been checking Goodwill, etc. for coffee grinders.

Have feed BOSS for months and the girls love it. I mix in their feed instead of using as scratch because there was a lot of waste.

I was talking about DE diatomaceous earth preventing worms, not pumpkin seeds. I have a Kitchen Aid attachment that works well for grinding.​

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Wheat, oat, corn, sunflower. Would those be the only ingredients?

 

[chartssss34]

sunflower seeds wheat oat and corn are the easiest to source for me

since they have river bed sand in their runs i presume they take thier grit from it...

DE i can source easily... and pumkin seeds...

 

[chartssss34]

2 parts whole corn (in winter this is increased to 3 or 4 parts)

3 parts soft white wheat

3 parts hard red winter wheat

1 part hulled barley

1 part oat groats

1 part sunflower seeds (in winter this is increased to 2 parts)

1 part millet

1 part kamut

1 part amaranth seeds

1 part split peas

1 part lentils

1 part quinoa

1 part sesame seeds

1/2 part flax seeds

1/2 part kelp granules

this formula is ok for me however i need to replace kamut and quinoa with something else...any recommendations>?

 

[chartssss34]

and cant find amaranth seeds...so need to replace that in the ration

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
Is this the greener pasture recipe? or the lionsgrip one?

What is the %protein?

Kamut: is a ancient relative of wheat. Replace it with hard red wheat. IMO replace the soft white wheat with hard red too! (Higher protein!)

Quinoa: is beautiful nutritionally speaking I wished I could feed it. I would say replace it with more peas or cooked beans.

Amaranth: is high in lysine. Corn has lysine but lower protein. Replace with organic corn to avoid GMO's if that is important to you.

Use wheat, sunflower, oats and corn as your base add other things to get ingredients to boost protein back up to at least 17%. Things like cooked beans, peas, peas more peas. Organic soybean again if GMO is an issue for you, if you have other issues with soy, then use fish meal, to get your protein back up...

Add as many different grains and seeds as you can if you are not going to supplement minerals. Dont forget the kelp, free choice oyster shell and making sure your sand is quality enough to act as grit. (Our sand is sugar sand and way way to small to be grit.)

ON