Questions for those that hand mix your feed

[Areyoucluckingme]

Hello -

i've got a few questions for those that hand mix your own feed.

1. Did you see a difference in egg production or chicken health when you switched to mixing your own feed?

2. Do you think it is absolutely necessary to have a nutri-balancer added if they are already getting quality ingredients?

3. Do you soak your feed or do they get the items as is? I'm worried about them not wanting to eat peas, lentils, grains,etc. in their hard form.

 

[Asya]

Sick chickens that didn't lay was the reason that we switched away from store bought feed in the first place. Our chickens definitely lay better and to a much older age now.

No, I don't think a nutri-balancer is absolutely necessary, but really, commercial feed can be deficient too, you should always watch your flock for deficiencies no matter what you feed anyhow, and address any issue when it comes up. We do add minerals (bentonite clay and kelp) to our feed though.

We exclusively feed sprouts, which is a bit different than most feed mixes.

 

[Penpal]

I soak the corn, wheat, oats, and sunflower seeds. I don't feed peas or lentils because I read mixed reviews on them, but they should be soaked or cooked.

I think another game changer is the ability to access fresh greens. Dandelion, grass, plantain, etc. They get these when the forage. When they can't forage you need to sprout some seeds for them.

 

[Areyoucluckingme]

Sick chickens that didn't lay was the reason that we switched away from store bought feed in the first place. Our chickens definitely lay better and to a much older age now.

No, I don't think a nutri-balancer is absolutely necessary, but really, commercial feed can be deficient too, you should always watch your flock for deficiencies no matter what you feed anyhow, and address any issue when it comes up. We do add minerals (bentonite clay and kelp) to our feed though.

We exclusively feed sprouts, which is a bit different than most feed mixes.

Ohhh please tell me about your process for this! I've sprouted some hard red wheat for them and they devoured it in minutes. I can't image feeding it to them as primary source of their diet simply due to the effort put in. How do you do this? Is it more cost effective? And what is it you are sprouting?

 

[Perris]

1. Did you see a difference in egg production or chicken health when you switched to mixing your own feed?

Yes. Both better.

2. Do you think it is absolutely necessary to have a nutri-balancer added if they are already getting quality ingredients?

I think a so-called nutri-balancer (these names are just marketing devices) is unnecessary, and a distraction from focusing on giving them good food in the first place. If you let them forage they will supplement their diet as needed from what's there, if it's there.

3. Do you soak your feed or do they get the items as is? I'm worried about them not wanting to eat peas, lentils, grains,etc. in their hard form.

I ferment the grains and pulses; that softens as well as causing beneficial changes to the nutritional values of the feedstuffs. And though some used to spurn them, all my flock have now come round to green/ blue/ white/ yellow peas. You may need to persevere with some foods, as parents often do with kids and vegetables.

I've sprouted some hard red wheat for them and they devoured it in minutes. I can't image feeding it to them as primary source of their diet simply due to the effort put in.

Grass is also a cereal and is also a nutritious feed for them (wheats and other grains have been selected by farmers over millennia as particularly good grasses for human consumption), so your lawn can serve as their pasture if you let it and you don't overstock. It's certainly a lot less work for you than sprouting other grains.

 

[Asya]

Ohhh please tell me about your process for this! I've sprouted some hard red wheat for them and they devoured it in minutes. I can't image feeding it to them as primary source of their diet simply due to the effort put in. How do you do this? Is it more cost effective? And what is it you are sprouting?

Yes, it is more work, but well worth it to us and I don't find it that hard really. I sprout in 5-gal buckets, one day's worth of feed in one bucket. I just soak the grain for 2-4 hours then drain, and rinse once a day, until the sprouts are as grown as a person would want to eat, no longer, typically 3-5 days. So, once a day, everyday, I start a new bucket soaking, rinse the others, and feed the oldest.

I know that most people would not consider what we feed to be sufficiently balanced, but we've been doing it for over a decade now and our chickens are doing so much better than they ever did on the commercial feed, so I know it works. When we started we just fed barley sprouts, that's it, nothing else. We had 7, 6yr old sex-links, that hadn't layed for several years, we just fed them barley sprouts, nothing else, no free ranging and it took about a year for them to start laying again. We got 4 eggs a day from them during their 7th year, and one of those hens lived to almost 13yrs. We have changed some things over time, mostly we added bentonite clay and kelp, however we moved and barley is too expensive here, so we switch to wheat instead, which I do not find to be as good, so we had to add alfalfa leaves, too.

In short, what we feed is: sprouted wheat, alfalfa leaves, bentonite clay, kelp, and we leave ground limestone out, free feed, for extra calcium. The alfalfa is just what falls from our hay bales which I gather and add.

We figured it out one time, and it costs us about half what it would cost us to feed commercial feed, so yes, it saves us a lot.

Free ranging can be very helpful, but when we started, we didn't have that option, sprouting can help make-up for that. Anyhow, there are many different right ways to feed, this is just what works for us.