Using whole grains to avoid commercial feed?

[Wolf-Kim]

Thank elderoo. I'm not at all worried about feeding the flock animal protein. I am thinking about contacting the local fishmarket about picking up the "leftovers" for the flock. I have already talked to my local butcher and he said I am more than welcome to come pick up his scraps. He did warn that he throws all the scraps in together. So beef and pork would be mixed with poultry, I don't think it would be a problem for the chickens though. I'm sure my canine young'uns would appreciate any large beef or pork bones boiled up for them.

Then I always have my maggots, minnows, and mealworms for the chooks. I'm always playing with ideas.

I really, really appreciate that recipe. I knew when they advised to "experiment" that it would take years for me to develop one that worked well. I'll have to shop around for what other ingrediants than just those whole grains I have to my disposal.

-Kim

 

[lost]

This is my out look it probly is wrong.for the record i feed my chicks store bought everything ok .The way i see it in the old days. They didn't have all these choices and all the animals was fine. Look at the old pics.sure the feed now has good min and vits.I believe it might come to that again.

 

[Davaroo]

You're entirely welcome

One other very important point should be mentioned here. Please take note and then I'll bow out.

Mr Weeks was a devotee of green feed. You could say he was a fanatic about it. There were no vitamin blends back in his day to add to feed and truth be known, they didnt know much about vitamins yet...

SO he fed his birds green feeds 365 days a year and grew green crops specifically for them. Kale, Cabbages, Beets (both greens and root, in winter) Alfalfa, Oat grass ** - all were on the chickens menu at the Weeks ranch.

** He claimed that oats were good for chickens but not with the hull ON. They needed to be hulled, first. His words.

He didn't know much about vitamins or any of our "fancy ways", but he knew how to use what worked. For him that was green feeds.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I may have to beef up the garden a bit to throw in a bit of greens for them. I love the idea of "living" food. I read a book online, unfortunately I cannot remember who wrote it at the moment, but it talked about feeding "living" foods. Such as grains(which are living seeds) and feeding bugs. It was where I made my final decision to raise mealworms and to try out the maggot farms. I am considering expanding to include worms and crickets, but we'll see. My mealworms are pretty low work and the maggot farms require as little if not less work.

I'm pretty much re-considering my whole feeding philosophy right now. It all started when I was reading about the Onagadori and had a great discussion with a man who raises them. I made the comment that he must spend a fortune since he doesn't feed commercial feeds and he took the time and educated me on the matter. LOL

-Kim

 

[Davaroo]

Im not really a New Age kinda guy - things like maggot farms and protobiotic infusions are lost on me. Even 're-considering feeding philosphies' makes my head hurt.

I just want to keep it simple.
For me, that is the way they did it long before any of us came along with our notions.

Here is a link to Mr Weeks' book, should you care to read it:

http://www.archive.org/details/eggfarmingincali00weekrich

 

[LindaN]

Folks, this has been an interesting thread. I live in the city and do not have access to a feed mill. I'm not even sure where the closest one would be, but likely not worth the drive with the current price of gas.

I buy bags of crumbles at the local "feed and seed store," which caters mainly to hobby breeders of pigeons and such, but does stock layer crumbles and scratch. I also by crumbles at places like TSC if I happen to be out on a jaunt through the countryside and need some feed.

So, commerical feed is the primary food source for my 3 backyard hens, but I also offer them all sorts of garden and kitchen scraps, weeds, and bugs I find around the yard.

Is it just me or do any of you find that a chicken eating mainly this commercial feed is crapping most of it out? And that the droppings are especially smelly? Just from looking at their droppings, I can usually tell what they've been eating a lot of. When they've had mostly the commercial feed ('cause I haven't had many scraps to give them), it seems like their droppings look pretty much like the crumbles. When they get a diverse diet, the droppings are better looking and less smelly.

So, I can understand Kim's original question about fillers in commercial feed. While it may be fairly inexpensive, it seems like there is a LOT of waste. Why pay for stuff that gets crapped out anyway?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
LOL. It's only inexpensive for the people making the feed! Not for those of us buying it. LOL

I know the feed prices here have been in a sharp steady climb here since last year. People are driving 1-2 hours to a feedmill that makes it's own 16% layer and sells it for $9 a bag. I don't know how long that will last with the gas prices like they are though. LOL

-Kim

 

[greyfields]

Take the grain. Add seed meal to get to the desired protein %. Then mix in a mineral premix.

If you already have a loose mineral designed for your soil conditions, that is actually a feed premix. So, for people who already are running cows, sheep, pigs etc they probably have already done the soil testing and have the mineral laying around.

The hard part is getting the raw grains milled for you, then mixing it all together to uniform consistency.

 

[beanhole]

I just found out the bagged 'organic' starter that I've been buying has only corn, soybean and some vitamins and minerals. When I asked if I could get a list they replied, 'its a balanced amount'. I should have asked 7 weeks ago when I first started purchasing 25kg bags for $24. There is a list of % of protein etc on the bag but not what was in it. I imagined it had a great selection, I should never have presumed. Anyway I'm not trying to cheat out the farmer at all and I know for quality and sustainablity we need to pay the real cost of food. So I'll stop my complaining and push on. Anyone in S Ontario feed organic whole grains and where do you purchase them from. At this mill they don't offer whole nor do they have a supplier for me. My 70 meat birds are pastured everyday.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

In addition to vitamins and minerals, plant based commercial feeds also have methionine added, an amino acid that is very important to chickens. Plant proteins do not provide adequate levels, which is why it has to be added to the feed.