Sodium Bentonite Clay in homemade chicken feed

[countrygoddess]

I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge of how Sodium Bentonite clay works best when used as a binder. I know it is used to bind pellets, but what if it is put in homemade chicken feed? Will it help bind the premix and grains/seeds together so the chickens will eat the premix? I suppose some amount of moisture would have to be added.

Premix being left behind has been the bane of my existence. Yes, I have soaked my feed. Yes, I have ground it all in a food processor after it has all been soaked overnight. Yes, I have tried adding lard. All that wasn't too difficult when I had 12 chickens. I now have 55 and soaking buckets now cover my kitchen counters. My wonderful 2 year old KitchenAid food processor is being aged before its time and I already have to buy it a new blade. When I can afford it, I want to order a feed grinder from Premier One Supplies, but I have a feeling that won't completely take care of premix being left uneaten. If anyone has any experience with this and can tell me what cured this problem for them, I'd love to hear from you!!!

 

[cookfamilyfarm]

Hi country. I'm not going to pretend I use binder , I don't. But, I can relate to chickens not finishing their feed. I have experimented with all different types of scratch, and I always have some ingredient that one type of chicken ( be it leghorns or the Rir's or someother breed) won't finish. They only thing that works for me is Purina flock raiser, Layena, or chick starter. ( No, I don't work for Purina) I can get them to finish those. I have a waste problem also when it comes to scratch.

 

[countrygoddess]

Thanks, CookFamilyFarm. I mix my own feed to avoid soy. Layena and those others contain it so I guess I'll just keep experimenting. And in the meantime maybe someone else will have some information on the Bentonite clay.

 

[siletz]

Is your premix a powder or pellets? I'm not sure this will help, but I powder the vitamin pellets I get . I use dried field peas in my mix that I have soaked overnight. Then, when mixing my food I throw the powder on top of the wet field peas so it sticks to the peas. So, they don't have the option of leaving it behind. I still use soy in my mix, but would love to replace it. What do you use instead?

 

[Cindy in PA]

I use a no soy mash & the chickens like to leave the powder which is aragonite, vitamins, alfalfa meal, fishmeal & flax seed meal, but I have found if you are slow to fill up the feeder, they will eventually eat most of it. They leave it in their feeder, but when I give them some in their bowl outside, they eat most of it everyday!

 

[Lisa Harmon]

Is your premix a powder or pellets? I'm not sure this will help, but I powder the vitamin pellets I get . I use dried field peas in my mix that I have soaked overnight. Then, when mixing my food I throw the powder on top of the wet field peas so it sticks to the peas. So, they don't have the option of leaving it behind. I still use soy in my mix, but would love to replace it. What do you use instead?

this is a great idea! I was reading since I'm interested in using bentonite clay, but I've been trying to get kelp to stick, so this helps (with a slightly different problem than the thread is for). I could soak some of my homemade feed and stick the kelp to it, and clay if I chose to use it later!

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Sodium Bentonite is used as a TOXIN binder in livestock feeds, it has little binding effect when making pellets.

 

[countrygoddess]

Sodium Bentonite is used as a TOXIN binder in livestock feeds, it has little binding effect when making pellets.

The description of Sodium Bentonite on the several distributors' websites specifically says that it is for binding pellets.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

In some cases it is used in an attempt to bind pellets, but that needs the high heat, pressure, and moisture of a pellet chamber to accomplish. In the feeds I design sodium bentonite is used as a toxin binder, not a pellet binder. There are much better products and strategies that increase Pellet Durability.

 

[centrarchid]

In some cases it is used in an attempt to bind pellets, but that needs the high heat, pressure, and moisture of a pellet chamber to accomplish. In the feeds I design sodium bentonite is used as a toxin binder, not a pellet binder. There are much better products and strategies that increase Pellet Durability.

I have used bentonite clay as well as st
arch, carboxy-methyl cellulose and gelatin as binders in pellets I made. Only the starch which is gelatinized during pelleting process requires pressure and heat (the moisture converted to steam decreases the pellet density impacting texture and density). For my applications the carboxy-methyl cellulose requires water and pressure but not apprecialble amounts of heat. Gelatin when used at levels needed to provide significant amounts of protein requires only water to facilitate binding but works better if heat added with smaller amounts is something like jello desired. Bentonite when included in large amounts like 50% of diet makes for something that looks and feels like play doe while lower levels it can help the fines (finer particles which can include vitamins and minerals) stick to bigger parts. At lower levels in diet the bentonite can still make for a turd that does not fall apart as easy. Carboxy-methyl cellulose also can make for a better turd but it is expensive relative to the clay.