So who feeds whole grains as opposed to processed feed?

[Organics North]

Fresh batch of feed

 

[Lacy Blues]

feed cage

I hate to tell you this but I have watched mice go right through hardware cloth and it hardly even slowed the thing down!

 

[Island Roo]

I've been incorporating more whole grains into my feeds and I try to avoid soy. I would use corn if I could find organic.
I'm still fairly new to poultry and learning so I mix in some professionally prepared feed to be on the safe side. I'm up to 70% my mix and 30% prepared poultry feed (17% grower crumble) from the co-op.

The grains are all left whole and the mix is fermented.

This is my current mix (percentage by weight):
28 - Wheat
24 - Oats
18 - Peas
10 - Red Millet
4 - Flax
4 - Alfalfa
4 - Kelp
4 - Fish Meal
1.5 - powdered limestone
0.5 Sea Salt

That gives me a 17% protein feed for everyone with oyster shell on the side.
Treats include BOSS, yogurt and garden greens plus as many bugs as you can find on pasture or in the bushes.

Suggestions for improving my mix are welcome...

 

[Organics North]

I hate to tell you this but I have watched mice go right through hardware cloth and it hardly even slowed the thing down!

Hmm,
I have mice but they have not got in the cage in 3 years.... Leave a bag out and they are right in the bag...

Must be we have really fat mice, from eating all that Wisconsin cheese...

 

[Organics North]

Nice!.... Boy that looks good!... Makes me want to get a bowl pour some milk over that and have it for breakfast...

I've been incorporating more whole grains into my feeds and I try to avoid soy. I would use corn if I could find organic.
I'm still fairly new to poultry and learning so I mix in some professionally prepared feed to be on the safe side. I'm up to 70% my mix and 30% prepared poultry feed (17% grower crumble) from the co-op.

The grains are all left whole and the mix is fermented.

This is my current mix (percentage by weight):
28 - Wheat
24 - Oats
18 - Peas
10 - Red Millet
4 - Flax
4 - Alfalfa
4 - Kelp
4 - Fish Meal
1.5 - powdered limestone
0.5 Sea Salt

That gives me a 17% protein feed for everyone with oyster shell on the side.
Treats include BOSS, yogurt and garden greens plus as many bugs as you can find on pasture or in the bushes.

Suggestions for improving my mix are welcome...

 

[Island Roo]

Here is a comparison of crumble, intact grain, and mash feed I can get.

You can click on the image for a close up view. These all look decent to me but I still prefer intact grains.

 

[Island Roo]

Nice!.... Boy that looks good!... Makes me want to get a bowl pour some milk over that and have it for breakfast...

I do a mix for breakfast without the fishmeal.

The girls showed even more interest in the blend once I started adding fish meal and millet. Not sure which ingredient has them going since I added them at the same time.

 

[Organics North]

I suspect it is the millet.. How can they resist those tasty morsels... IMO the fish meal is a necessary evil, and not what make them want more.. Know replace that fish meal with those fried wax worms people eat as snacks in Thailand... I bet the chickens would be all over that...

Me, I will skip the fish meal AND the wax worms in my bowl thank you..

Know you got me motivated to source organic millet....... My "dream" mix would include quinoa with the saponin removed... Yep a mix of seeds instead of cereal grains...

 

[Oakieridge]

We had been growing fodder for our birds but can't find any decent seed right now to grow. Tried some wheat but it is "straight run" and doesn't grow as well as the seed we had been getting. I can't get anymore Barley or Wheat from our mill until Aug., grrrrr. So we are back to fermenting grains and giving some layer pellets on the side as well. Right now I am mixing Oats, Crimped Barley, and the straight run wheat and fermenting with ACV with mother in it. They get that is a good portion of their diet (I would guess 75%) and then make the rest up with layer pellets. I also put Red Cell in their waterers twice a week. I would love to find some BOSS and Field Peas as well I need to call and see if our local mill has that. The straight run wheat is $65 for a 55gallon barrel. I have to bring my own barrels. It breaks down to like $8.50 a #50. Barley is $14 a #50 and the Oats are $13 a #50. We are doing an equal mix right now. My birds love it. They also get cat food/dog food when the kids forget to put the bowls back in the house once the pets are done with them. My birds free range for the most part. I have some breeding pens but even those get a few hours 3 days a week in a fenced yard to forage. I wish we could go 100% natural grains but so far I can't figure out how without lots of extra work I don't have time for and making it so expensive we can't afford it.

 

[syngergy]

We are first-year chicken farmers and have already made the switch to whole-grains to supplement our pasture-raised chickens. Whole grains are cleaner (they don't gum up the water) and more nutritious; cracked or ground grains begin to oxidize and lose their nutritive value. We also want to avoid any corn or soy product (unless we grow it ourselves) in order to avoid GM products. I have only begun to research what a balanced chicken diet consists of (as far as amino acids, protein percentage, etc.), but what I've read so far (and my chicken's current well-being) lead me to believe I'm on the right track.

We've started all our chicks out on medicated chick starter from our local ranching store chain; we didn't want to take chances, but with more experience we would like to start grinding our own chick feed. After about three (3) weeks, we begin to transition our chicks to steel-cut oats, some flax seed, heaps of alfalfa fines (since they're not on pasture yet; they love them) and a sprinkling of chick grit.

Our pullets and adult chickens are all on pasture in 'coopters' (a coop crossed with a tractor) and we feed them a mix of about five parts whole oats (hull on; Joel Salatin says the fiber is important to their diet), four parts black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS), and one part flax seeds, in addition to being on green pasture full-time. (Many sites say that pasture is merely supplemental feed, but the way my chickens eat their 'salad' each morning, I can't believe it's merely a 'supplement'.) They also receive a healthy portion of wheat soaked in goat milk or whey for 24-48 hours periodically (see New Research on Feeding Value of Sprouted Wheat for Poultry, Manitoba Agriculture); they go crazy for it! As our girls are just starting to lay we're beginning to offer oyster-shell free-choice, but I imagine that the milk and whey add good calcium. (I've got a neighbor who says feeding whole grains to chickens decreases egg production but I've been unable to corroborate that anywhere; thoughts?)

We get our oats from a feed store (it's a horse feed) as well as our sunflower seeds (for wild birds); our flax we buy from WINCO. We buy it bulk and spend less than $0.50lb total. (The wheat was free; we just ask people on Craigslist for their old food storage.)

In the winter, we will put our chicken coopters over the garden and let them scratch through (and fertilize) the straw. We will continue to feed them the above-mentioned mix (or whatever iteration we are currently at), as well as alfalfa and farmed mealworms. Also, instead of weeding this year, we plan to let our pigweed (amaranthus) an barley grass grow to seed, dry it, and feed it to them through the winter. (According to the University of Kentucky, Amaranth seeds are high in protein and essential amino acids, although they must be heat-treated first; the dried leaves are also high in calcium, vitamin B3, protein, and methionine (which is 'the most limiting amino acid')).

As I said before, we're just starting out. We'll be looking to further diversify our chicken's diet to be balanced, relatively organic, GMO-free and affordable (our benchmark is the standard layer's mix at our local ranching stores--not expensive 'organic' mixes) as well as making our birds the most productive and happy. I hope this is helpful, and I welcome any suggestions.