Reducing Feed Costs and Raising Nutritional Value (Questions and Ideas)

[centrarchid]

How much land do you have? Rotational forage where you let them into an area for a while combined with planting specific forage blends could cut back on the amount of feed they will require. My summer feed bill is a half to a third of the winter bill.

Need to figure out how to harvest and store stuff for the winter.

Seasonal differences in feed bill I see are due to two factors. First is as you assume where birds get more nutrition from forage. Second is birds require more to stay warm. My birds can roughly double feed intake when it gets cold although that additional intake need not come from additional complete ration.

 

[hcinciripini]

If you want to provide a balanced diets using scratch grains, you will need to provide a variety of different food types and supplements to provide the extra vitamins, minerals, amino acids etc. to meet the birds requirements. It will also have to be mixed extremely well or each bird may get different amounts of those supplements.

This! But how do you choose the variety? I can't find much on the nutritional value of various grains/seed.

Sorry, not tables, recipes. 40% this, 20% that... I compiled a few of them and made a table. There were many more out there, but I stopped when I realized there was little rhyme or reason except for protein/carbs or preference against corn, soy (gmo), or alfalfa.

I'm just not a fan of processed foods. I don't care how fast it goes from whole grain to pellet. Do you think there'd be an aroma in the process? What would you be smelling? Why would you check the manufacture date? Could it be that the uber-processing creates a huge surface area and potential for oxidation and reduced nutritional value? I'd rather keep natures tupperware intact and keep my grains whole until I crack it open or the chicken does. I might be a hippie in that I like to mimic nature when growing/raising plants animals, but the prepper in me wants to be able to provide food if I'm ever unable to get access to those convenient pellets. I can't plant a pellet.

I was even considering sprouting the grains to activate enzymes (protein), increase digestibility, and eliminate the need for grinding. I realize that certain supplements won't be adequately provided for with my grain/seed choice and I'll have to settle for powders, and I'm fine with that.

Personally I only own one acre, but my neighbors are friendly so they've got access to 5+ more without the ability to rotate through it.

Also, I should mention that I may or may not have "modern layers", I don't really know what that means. I've got dual purpose birds, 3/5 are heritage breeds and the other 2 have family members that are.

 

[Folly's place]

Wild jungle fowl lived in SE Asia, in the jungle, and were small, and hens maybe layed 30 eggs per year. Until the 1920's or so, domestic chickens were also mostly fairly small, and layed 60 to 80 eggs per year, and roamed farms with very diverse forage opportunities. Today's birds lay 180 to 250 eggs per year, or more, and don't forage in the same environment. They need very good nutritional balance to cope with this genetically programmed production. It's just not simple to make this sort of diet at home in small batches!!! Mary

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Lots of nay-sayers here. People are really defensive about using bagged feeds.

Mixing your own is cheaper and better if you do it yourself and do it right (same with human food, it is always cheaper and better to make from scratch than to buy at the store). And yes, it can be done right.

What kind of recipe are you looking for?

Look into fodder systems. That will cut down costs tremendously.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Mother earth News had the best article on this topic, that i have found so far. http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/what-to-feed-chickens-zmaz75sozgoe.aspx

 

[Folly's place]

It's an older article, and lost me in the opening comments; hormones are NOT in any commercial feeds, and nether are antibiotics. Some 'egg factories' have feeds made with added antibiotics, but that just became illegal in California, at least. My birds free range and get bugs, worms, greens, etc, in good weather, but still eat their pellets or crumble, and some oyster shell. Mary

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

It's an older article, and lost me in the opening comments;  hormones are NOT in any commercial feeds, and nether are antibiotics.  Some 'egg factories' have feeds made with added antibiotics, but that just became illegal in California, at least.  My birds free range and get bugs, worms, greens, etc, in good weather, but still eat their pellets or crumble, and some oyster shell.  Mary

The OP asked for a breakdown of nutritional needs of a chicken, the article gave that, I doubt chicken nutrition has changed that drastically.

 

[centrarchid]

The OP asked for a breakdown of nutritional needs of a chicken, the article gave that, I doubt chicken nutrition has changed that drastically.

I took time to read document as well. The assertions made early in the document are not correct and must be pointed out as they are used to provide a foundation of reasoning based on disinformation. That could be problematic later for parties not well versed in poultry nutrition and how requirements are / have been met with commercial formulations.

 

[Trefoil]

Simply fermenting scratch increases its nutritional value. I drain my FF before feeding and add in supplements, the feed is moist so the supplements stick and don't sort out so easily. I add sunflower seeds, calf manna, and whatever I have to the scratch to ferment. My peas and guineas get free choice of gamebird crumbles and fermented feed, nearly all of them finish the FF before they try the crumbles. Most of my birds free range to some extent ,I don't know if this is why I haven't had any luck using sprouted feed. I don't believe chickens have the rumen necessary to utilize silage type feeds.

 

[lazy gardener]

Actually the uber-processed extruded pellet is the most nutritious. The grains and legumes are ground immediately before mixing the feed. Those ingredients and the vitamins, minerals and amino acids come out of the production line as pellets about an hour or two after the grain is ground. So you're getting the benefit of freshly ground grain when you buy a fresh pellet. Always check the manufacture date on the bag.

Agreed with other posters that processed pellets are cheaper than buying whole grains, at least in my area. I pay about $13.50 for pellets. $26.00 for whole grain. (Which, IMO is an incredible rip-off) And while those pellets are processed quickly, I can go to my local feed store, and find pellets that were processed 3 months ago. Again, this should not be happening, but, it's all too common. Harvey Ussery, in his book states that grains start to loose nutritional value within 2 weeks of being cracked/ground.

One thing OP can do is ferment feeds. That boosts the bioavailability of the feed, as well as promoting beneficial gut flora to further aid the bird to get the most out of her feed. You'll find that birds on FF eat less b/c they require less. My birds on FF grow faster and lay sooner than those of my neighbors and friends who's birds are the same age and came from the same source. Sprouted grains also increase nutritional availability, though... if you keep them to the fodder stage, I believe that research shows that they begin to loose nutrient.

OP plan to have compost available in the run will further cut feed costs as there will be plenty of beneficial insects/worms for the birds to forage for. Birds also benefit from the many varieties of fungus/bacteria in the compost to aid nutrition. Climate allowing, BSF larvae are an excellent option.