Replacement for field peas

[trentoldenburg]

I'm looking into making my own chicken feed and have run into an issue. From what I've read, a mix of 30% corn, 30% wheat, 30% field peas, and 10% combo of oats, flax seed, and various spices to aid in flock health would be sufficient. However, I am having trouble finding field peas sold in my area of Michigan. I'm wondering what would be a suitable replacement for field peas? Rye is readily available in my area as well. If anyone has any input or experience on the matter, it would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[NatJ]

Roasted soybeans would probably work instead of the field peas. (Note, soybeans must be roasted or otherwise cooked, not raw.)

I don't think that actually makes a complete feed, regardless of whether it has peas or soybeans, but @U_Stormcrow knows more than I do on that subject.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Your 10% combo of flax, oats, etc has to be doing a lot of work there. More work than its capable of.

Based on average figures, and NOT accounting for water content of your ingredients (roughly 8-10% for most dried ingredients), you are sub 16% protein, good on fiber and fat, low on Methionine, Threonine, and Tryptophan. Lysine is in a good place. 10% flax seed (warning, that's expensive!) you will scrape by at 16.% protein+ and almost meet the bare minimum for Methionine, Threonine, and Tryptophan recommendations as well, after accounting for water content. That's **ASSUMING** you have a high protein corn (unlikely) and are willing to use more expensive hard or winter wheat instead of soft/spring wheat.

Field Peas are also known as "cow peas", "black eyed peas", "southern peas" and "cream peas", among others.

For reasons of anti-nutritional factors, field peas are not recommended over 15% of the total diet - your recipe calls for twice that rate of inclusion.

I do not recommend attempting to make feed at home. It is, almost without exception, more expensive, harder to source, and less complete nutritionally than available "off the shelf" commercial feed blends.

/edit and as @NatJ says, Roasted soybeans (or better, soybean meal) would be a superior substitution in almost every respect.

 

[trentoldenburg]

Your 10% combo of flax, oats, etc has to be doing a lot of work there. More work than its capable of.

Based on average figures, and NOT accounting for water content of your ingredients (roughly 8-10% for most dried ingredients), you are sub 16% protein, good on fiber and fat, low on Methionine, Threonine, and Tryptophan. Lysine is in a good place. 10% flax seed (warning, that's expensive!) you will scrape by at 16.% protein+ and almost meet the bare minimum for Methionine, Threonine, and Tryptophan recommendations as well, after accounting for water content. That's **ASSUMING** you have a high protein corn (unlikely) and are willing to use more expensive hard or winter wheat instead of soft/spring wheat.

Field Peas are also known as "cow peas", "black eyed peas", "southern peas" and "cream peas", among others.

For reasons of anti-nutritional factors, field peas are not recommended over 15% of the total diet - your recipe calls for twice that rate of inclusion.

I do not recommend attempting to make feed at home. It is, almost without exception, more expensive, harder to source, and less complete nutritionally than available "off the shelf" commercial feed blends.

/edit and as @NatJ says, Roasted soybeans (or better, soybean meal) would be a superior substitution in almost every respect.

Wow.. you really know your stuff! I really appreciate the info. Sustainably is what my main driving force is for looking for local feed sources, so it appears I will have to do more research. Also @NatJ thanks for the info on soybeans, I was unaware they had to be roasted for animal consumption.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

I do not want to be a turd in the punchbowl but I am compelled to note that, from the sources I look at anyway, "field pea" does not mean Vigna unguiculata which is generally called the cowpea. I'm looking at Johnny's Select Seeds as I type this, and they give latin name "pisum sativum".

The reason I know this is because vigna unguiculata (the black eyed pea) grows really well in my climate in the summer months, one of few crops that can handle the heat.

 

[NatJ]

I do not want to be a turd in the punchbowl but I am compelled to note that, from the sources I look at anyway, "field pea" does not mean Vigna unguiculata which is generally called the cowpea. I'm looking at Johnny's Select Seeds as I type this, and they give latin name "pisum sativum".

The reason I know this is because vigna unguiculata (the black eyed pea) grows really well in my climate in the summer months, one of few crops that can handle the heat.

Good point.

Yes, "field pea" seems to be the dry peas of pisum sativum (the species with the common, sweet-flavored green peas we grow in a garden), but grown as a field crop all the way to the dry-seed stage.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Due to anti nutrtitive properties, the seeds of essentially all legumes and the closely related pulses should be heat treated - though how much heat, and for how long varies a bit. The commercial drying process is often enough, as is commercial extruder pressing for the various "meals". Boiling and steaming are common "at home" methods of treatment. Fermenting and sprouting also produce helpful enzymes in some cases. For the extremist, you can go full on "beer" and malt your grain/seeds/etc - but the effort FAR exceeds the improvements in nutritional value. I recommend simply drinking a beer while you work.

You can also select for species with lower tannin contents (which are generally lighter in color) and also for a particular flower color in the swet pea family (but I have to look up WHICH color). Its not that I know my stuff, its that I know where to look, and know that I have to look for particular details. White flower.

 

[NatJ]

a particular flower color in the swet pea family

Please clarify "sweet pea family."

Do you mean Lathyrus odoratus, the ornamental flower? I've heard that they are toxic, but I don't know how toxic or any of the details, so it would be interesting if certain flower colors do produce seeds that could be safely used.

If you mean Pisum Sativum (common garden peas), then please be more precise in how you refer to them. The grocery store may label them "sweet peas," but anyone searching seed catalogs for "sweet peas" is likely to find the ornamental flower (toxic) instead. I know that peas (Pisum Sativum) can make flowers in several colors, and I've discovered that the plants with purple flowers make peas that taste bitter if I eat them raw, while the plants with white flower make peas that taste sweet when I eat them raw.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Please clarify "sweet pea family."

Do you mean Lathyrus odoratus, the ornamental flower? I've heard that they are toxic, but I don't know how toxic or any of the details, so it would be interesting if certain flower colors do produce seeds that could be safely used.

If you mean Pisum Sativum (common garden peas), then please be more precise in how you refer to them. The grocery store may label them "sweet peas," but anyone searching seed catalogs for "sweet peas" is likely to find the ornamental flower (toxic) instead. I know that peas (Pisum Sativum) can make flowers in several colors, and I've discovered that the plants with purple flowers make peas that taste bitter if I eat them raw, while the plants with white flower make peas that taste sweet when I eat them raw.

Correction noted. Yes, P Sativum. Sorry, it was in the article I linked, I should have been more explicit in my own post. I keep forgetting people plant things for reasons other than personal/animal consumption. P Sativum with the WHITE flowers. You are likely tasting something in the colored flowers indicative of their higher tannin levels - one of the main antinutritive concerns in peas.