Thinking about new food from feed mill

[midwestchickenwrangler]

I found a feed mill that has GMO free feed. I have tried ground feed in the past and the chickens appeared to waste a lot of it. How do other people feed ground food like this so there is less waste?

 

[FarmalI]

Short answer, you dont, Chickens are always going to leave something behind, even if you throw out a handful of corn they still leave a little behind. It is best to just feed them in a feeder, or accept that they will waste some.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I feed "mash" or ground feed from the mill. First, a dish feeder, like those rubber bowls works well. I take a 2 quart scoop of mash in a feed bucket and dampen it with warm water. Stir and leave sit for 5 minutes. The mash becomes like oatmeal or porridge and I stir bit more before feeding. There is very little waste if you don't over feed more than they can eat in a reasonable period of time. The mash becomes more like crumbles in appearance. If there is left over gravy, or juice from the crock pot or similar? 'Tis a grand thing for the birds.

The quality of the fresh ground feed is motivation for me. The price is 40% less than pre-bagged, trucked in feed. Another motivation.

So fussing a bit with making the mash is not bother for me, as I am retired. It is what fanciers fed their birds for decades before pelletizers were invented. May not be everyone's cup of tea.

 

[Fosmorefarm]

We use the rubber bowls or a feeder in a double bowl system. I put the feeder in a rubber bowl that is a slightly larger diameter than the feeder and empty the feed they scratched out back into the feeder as necessary. Or use a rubber bowl that leaves about two inches between the two bowls all the way around, the feed that they scratch out is poured back into the center bowl. I had no idea how much feed I was losing until I did this. I am using about 50% less feed than I used to. Good luck