The Great Big Homemade Chicken Feed Recipe Sharing Thread

[HeritageGoose13]

This is my own personal Scratch Mix recipe. I wanted something that when fed, wouldn't drasticly lower my birds protein intake when given their evening scratch. I also wanted something that wasn't going to be powdery so the birds would clean it all up. (most commercial scratch mixes I tried always had a bunch of powder from the cracked corn they used in it and the girls tend to waist that).
I use parts rather than lbs because I don't mix it in large quantities.

18 parts Whole Oats
2 1/2 parts Whole Corn
1 1/2 parts Sunflower Seeds
1 part Wheat
1 part Field Peas
This works out to be about 12% protein which is ok for summer because my birds pasture area is seeded with white clover whiich runs about 25% protein to even it out some.

During the winter months when they can't have the fresh clover I change the recipe to:

18 parts Whole Oats
2 1/12 parts Whole Corn
2 1/2 parts Field peas
1 1/2 parts Sunflower Seeds
1 part Wheat

This boosts the protein level to just over 16% for the winter months.

During the winter, is this all you feed or do they eat other things too?

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

No,, as I stated this is my scratch mix recipe. My birds year round get fed a mash (either layer or grower depending on stage of bird) that is made from locally grown grains that are ground and mixed in our local feed mill without soy. A portion of this is fermented,, (i don't feed solely fermented or dry) and also fed year round.
During the winter my birds also get some dried clover from the pasture, but I don't yet have the means to cut and dry enough for all winter (i have have to cut it and rake it up by hand). They also get fed fodder that I grow from my scratch mix. Is also starting up my own meal worm farm for treats.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I see, thanks for sharing! I know some people (mostly real old folks) use the term "scratch" for regular poultry food so I thought I would ask and be sure!

 

[HeritageGoose13]

More feed recipes:

This is another one with the price built into it. If you follow the link, it says the price is actually higher than normal because the blogger purchases in small amounts. This recipe is meant to be organic and gmo-free. It is "about 17% protein", according to the author of the article.

Quote:
Anyone from Minnesota?

Quote:

Corn: 50
Oats: 12
Barley: 12
Wheat Bran: 10
Wheat Middlings: 5
Corn Meal: 25
Meat Scrap: 8
Clover: 10

Note: There are 2 versions of this mix. To see it and other recipes:
Source: http://www.birdfarm.bravepages.com/breederx.html

--
A Southern recipe:

Quote: Corn: 50
Wheat: 25
Corn Meal: 28
Middlings: 02
Hominy: 10
Meat Scrap: 7
Clover: 10

Source: http://www.birdfarm.bravepages.com/breederx.html

Here is a chick starter recipe that is corn-free, gluten-free, and soy-free. It was developed by and for a person with allergies. The person also feeds a modified version to adult birds, check out the link.

Quote:
Some of these were a pain to type up as they needed to be re-worded and copy-paste doesn't work on all sites. I think it is good to have copies of these recipes in different places, since several times I followed a link for a recipe only to get a blank page, or worse, a bunch of advertisements and possibly computer viruses as well. Websites don't last forever. Old blogs are deleted and other websites are sold to new owners. If there is a recipe you like write it down and keep an extra copy.

There are many more feed recipes at the birdfarm website above but they're mostly the same and geared towards commercial growers, so I didn't bother transferring them all here. If there is any there you like though, feel free to type it out here.

I hope this was helpful to some of you. It took a ridiculous amount of time to get typed up! I try to find recipes that are simple and different from each other. Now we have recipes without corn, soy and gluten- are there any other allergens or ingredients someone is looking to avoid in a chicken feed? Let me know what you are looking for and I will try to find it. I think I will look for some gluten-free and oat-free recipes next since I know oats can be an allergen.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

More recipes, broilers, starters, and growers, some soy-free and some not. Note, sometimes they are soy-free without having "soy-free" in the title so read each recipe carefully.

If you're wondering what the difference between the Cornish Cross and Freedom Ranger Rations are, its protein content. 17.5% for the CX, and 15% for Freedom Rangers. Check out the links for all the following recipes if you are interested in protein content.

Quote: Faba/Pea blend- 45 lbs
Corn- 32 lbs
Oats- 10 lbs
Flax meal- 10 lbs
Calcium carbonate #16 - 1 lb
Poultry Pro Plus mineral supplement– 1.5 lbs
Kelp- 0.5 lbs
TOTAL= 100 lbs
Source: http://www.whistlepighollow.com/2015/01/27/homemade-broiler-feed-recipes/

Quote: Corn- 3 parts
Faba beans- 1 part
Hard red wheat – 2 parts
Barley- 2 parts
Kelp- 1/4th part
Poultry Pro Mineral 1/10th part
Source: http://www.whistlepighollow.com/2015/01/27/homemade-broiler-feed-recipes/

The following feed recipes come from the same source so their names will be similar. These ones have massive amount of soybeans, so a big con to some people, but I thought I would include them anyway:

Quote: Shelled corn 1015 lbs.
Roasted soybeans 625 lbs.
Oats 100 lbs.
Alfalfa meal 100 lbs.
60% fish meal 75 lbs.
Aragonite (calcium) 25 lbs.
Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60 lbs.
Total: 2000 lbs.

Source: http://www.fertrell.com/poultryration.htm

Quote: Shelled corn 1215 lbs.
Roasted soybeans 450 lbs.
Oats 100 lbs.
Alfalfa meal 100 lbs.
60% fish meal 50 lbs.
Aragonite (calcium) 25 lbs.
Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60 lbs.
Total: 2000 lbs.

Source: http://www.fertrell.com/poultryration.htm

Quote: Shelled corn 935 lbs.
Roasted soybeans 630 lbs.
Oats 100 lbs.
Alfalfa meal 100 lbs.
Aragonite (calcium) 175 lbs.
Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60 lbs.
Total: 2000 lbs.

Source: http://www.fertrell.com/poultryration.htm

I said in the original post that I was only going to include recipes that I knew people had been using successfully for a long period of time. I am going to make an exception here, because though I don't know about these next few recipes, they were formulated by a livestock nutritionist.

Note: The following recipes come with this warning:

"Here are a few that I have formulated for others who have requested NO Soy rations for chickens. I do not stand behind the quality of these rations. They merely fill in the squares required to raise broilers. NO guarantees as to how well your chickens grow and live. If you thought getting Roasted Soybeans was difficult wait till you try and fill this list." - Jeff Mattocks

If anyone has tried these recipes, tell us how they work please!

Now, here are the three recipes from Jeff Mattocks the livestock nutritionist.

Quote:

Ingredient Amount
Corn 500
Winter Peas 525
Crab Meal 150
Sunflower Meal 400
Wheat 280
Vegetable Oil 75
Poultry NB 60
Calcium 10
Total: 2000 lbs

Source: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Soy-Alternatives.html

Quote: Ingredient Amount
Corn 600
Winter Peas 500
Sunflower Meal 350
Wheat 250
Crab Meal 100
Fish Meal 75
Vegetable Oil 50
Poultry NB 60
Calcium 15
Total: 2000 lbs
Source: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Soy-Alternatives.html

Quote:

Ingredient Amount
Corn 515
Winter Peas 600
Sunflower Meal 500
Wheat 250
Vegetable Oil 50
Poultry NB 60
Calcium 25
Total: 2000 lbs

Source: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Soy-Alternatives.html

I know there are more people on BYC who mix their own feed! What recipes are you using?

 

[Sidhe13]

I have been playing with the idea of making up my own poultry feed. After some investigation into different ingredients and their nutritional value I have come up with a recipe with 17.8% protein. Free feed grits and calcium will be provided and I will also look at adding some high-grade mineral salts to the mix. I am working on a free range garden area in the new enclosure and run we are building in the next couple months.

Any comments or input are more than welcome! The kg/g is based on a standard Australian 20kg bag (roughly 44lb).

Alfalfa Pellets: 10% 2kg
Brewer's Yeast: 1.5% 300g
Corn: 30% 6kg
Flax Seeds: 4% 800g
Kelp Meal: 0.5% 100g
Lentils: 6% 1.2kg
Mealworms: 10% 2kg
Oats: 8% 1.6kg
Wheat: 30% 6kg

The crude fat is sitting at 7% which I understand is rather high. Most of that number comes from the mealworms and the flaxseeds. The flaxseeds provide Omega-3 oils but I am questioning whether they are necessary. They are beginning to seem like more trouble than they are worth.
If I remove the flaxseed and replace the extra 4% with lentils, I end up with 5.5% fat and 17.7% protein.

 

[tobystevensonjr]

Not to offend anyone, but you all are trying to reinvent the wheel. If you can, the best thing to feed chickens are the locally grown grains. I am lucky and can go to the elevator, where local farmers sell their crops, they can make me any combination of feed. Most elevators have formulas for feed. I use all local grains for my feed. I just may be lucky to live in Illinois where this is possible.

 

[Torch404]

Not to offend anyone, but you all are trying to reinvent the wheel. If you can, the best thing to feed chickens are the locally grown grains. I am lucky and can go to the elevator, where local farmers sell their crops, they can make me any combination of feed. Most elevators have formulas for feed. I use all local grains for my feed. I just may be lucky to live in Illinois where this is possible.

And you would use one of these recipes to decide what to have the grain mill mix up right?

 

[tobystevensonjr]

I have my own
21% protein 100 lbs mix
30 lbs corn
12 lbs wheat
12 lbs oats
12 lbs Milo
30 lbs soy meal
1/2 lb salt
1 1/2 lbs calcium
2 lbs bone meal

 

[HeritageGoose13]

The crude fat is sitting at 7% which I understand is rather high. Most of that number comes from the mealworms and the flaxseeds. The flaxseeds provide Omega-3 oils but I am questioning whether they are necessary. They are beginning to seem like more trouble than they are worth.

Could you explain what this "trouble" is? Do they spoil, do the chickens not eat them, or something else? Are you worried about the fat level?

I have my own
21% protein 100 lbs mix
30 lbs corn
12 lbs wheat
12 lbs oats
12 lbs Milo
30 lbs soy meal
1/2 lb salt
1 1/2 lbs calcium
2 lbs bone meal

Thanks for sharing. Is this a layer feed?