Protein? Gah!

[Eggscaping]

"I mix my own feed. My protein sources are my most expensive ingredients by a long shot. I'll not cheap out and deprive them of what they need to thrive, not just survive."
How about if you share with us 'complete-newbie-don't-even-have-the-chickens-yet' people exactly *what* you put in the feed that you mix yourself? Inquiring minds really do want to know!

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

"I mix my own feed. My protein sources are my most expensive ingredients by a long shot. I'll not cheap out and deprive them of what they need to thrive, not just survive."
How about if you share with us 'complete-newbie-don't-even-have-the-chickens-yet' people exactly *what* you put in the feed that you mix yourself? Inquiring minds really do want to know!

Yes I'm curious too.

I actually also have a house cockerel that was raised indoors and was always a very fussy eater who seemed to be eating less and less of his pellets. So I started making him his own food. Considering the grower pellets I had for him before consisted of wheat, gm soya, maize and a few added vitamins and minerals mixed in, I figured something I made had to be at least equal nutrition wise.
So I make him a mash of: 6 parts wheat (using 100% shredded wheat cereal), 3 parts Oats (again human 100% rolled Oats cereal), 1 part 100% peanuts peanut butter. Then I add a pinch of cornmeal, a pinch of flax seeds, a pinch of barley grass powder, a pinch of probiotic powder, and mix it all together with a small amount of water to soften. I also provide grit and poultry vitamins in his water. I calculated that the mix has around 17% protein. I realise that this would probably be very expensive to feed to the whole flock but for just one bird it is fine.

 

[Eggscaping]

You are a good chicken mama to do that for your fluffy baby!

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

You are a good chicken mama to do that for your fluffy baby!

Thanks! He deserves it though. Look how pretty he is:

 

[centrarchid]

Thanks! He deserves it though. Look how pretty he is:View attachment 1656072

How do hens like him look? I have a rooster with a really similar look.

His sisters look like this.

 

[DobieLover]

"I mix my own feed. My protein sources are my most expensive ingredients by a long shot. I'll not cheap out and deprive them of what they need to thrive, not just survive."
How about if you share with us 'complete-newbie-don't-even-have-the-chickens-yet' people exactly *what* you put in the feed that you mix yourself? Inquiring minds really do want to know!

Sorry I didn't answer sooner. I just stumbled upon an indirect quote of my post when catching up on this thread.
This is my current recipe for 50#:
17.5# triticale
8# whole field peas
7.5# BOSS
6# whole oats
3.5# whole flax seed
5# fish meal
2.5# Fertrell poultry nutri-balancer

There is an organic grains supplier about 1.5 hours away in the Finger Lakes region that I get most of my supplies from. I won't stock more than a 4 month supply at a time of the FM and PNB.
I store everything in an old apartment sized refrigerator that I gutted so it makes a great air tight grain bin.
The mix is kept in my pantry where I also keep the fermenting cans.
This is what it looks like before fermenting:

This is after 2 days fermenting:

After 3 days, I drain the days batch into an empty can like this:

I keep the drained off liquid:

Then add the dry mix and more cold well water and mix. I also mix the other cans at this time and add more water if they need it.

I feed in this trough I made:

It takes less than 5 minutes a day to do this.

Including gas money for the drive out and back, 50# costs me about $31.

I feed 0.18#/bird in winter which is the highest volume. It's less in the summer.

When it's so bitter cold that the feed will freeze I put out a pan of 20% chick crumbles to make sure they have food when I can't refresh the trough.
I also toss the chick crumbles as their scratch. They love it.

 

[Chickassan]

I love this! You guys actually FEED your birds.

 

[DobieLover]

I love this! You guys actually FEED your birds.

Fabio didn't get those long blond locks on Dumor, sister!!

 

[WhoDatChick]

A less frivolous answer would be to ask how you keep the chickens.
If you free range them and the forage is decent they will pick up much of the things that are missing. I feed 18% protein, 1% calcium to the free range chickens here. I feed more commercial feed in the winter months than I do in the others. I also feed them fish and meat two or three times a week. I don't feed them much meat and fish but some imo isn't a bad idea.
rebrascora points out that breed type may influence the best feeds if your chickens are contained. However, if you want your chickens to have a better chance of living a long and healthy life then looking at the variety of foodstuffs they eat when free ranging should give you an idea of what they think they need.
The feeds that are recommended are as others have mentioned the minimum requirements for maximum egg and/or meat production. When these feeds were calculated the longevity of the chicken and it's overall health were not factors that got considered.
The feeds were primarily developed for production hens which often after two years of life or when their laying slows down are then killed. While it may be true that the high production domestic breeds live shorter lives because of how they've been bred, people do have these breeds that have reached 6 or 7 years old and older.
A bit of common sense regarding diet considering what you want from your chickens will go a lot further than commercial feed recommendations.

So, should I feed my chickens an All Flock feed as it has higher protein? I am feeding them 16percent layer feed.. and they do not ever free range. Should I change to a higher protein?.. they do not have layer feed with a higher protein percentage... so what should I give them?

 

[Chickassan]

Don't I know it!

Fabio didn't get those long blond locks on Dumor, sister!!