When was the first "chicken feed" mass produced?

[Floppy Pheasant]

Feeding our flocks the best food is obviously highly important... what were chickens fed prior to mass produced chicken feed?? I'm assuming most flocks were primarily free range but would just free ranging constitute a well balanced diet?

 

[3riverschick]

Try here :
http://avianaquamiser.com/posts/History_of_chicken_feed/
research suggests you look for literature between 1910 and 1920. That is when poultry mashs appeared. I do not know if a commercial mash and a commercial poultry feed are the same thing.
https://books.google.com/books?id=R...v=onepage&q=commercial "poultry mash"&f=false
1913
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https://books.google.com/books?id=B...v=onepage&q=commercial "poultry mash"&f=false
1911
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https://books.google.com/books?id=d...v=onepage&q=commercial "poultry mash"&f=false
1914
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Farmer's Advocate and Home Journal - Page 1821
https://books.google.com/books?id=tHklpgd1nVAC
1918 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
ALFALFA IN MASH FARMER'S ADVOCATE: Southern California,
that hotbed of commercial poultry-keeping, is commonly
credited with first employing alfalfa meal in the poultry mash,
prepared either dry or wet. Its use quickly spread up the .
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Best,
Karen

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

What a great article!!!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

I'm interested in knowing if "homesteaders" adhere to feeding their flocks the "old ways" or,if they combine old and new?

 

[3riverschick]

following

 

[centrarchid]

I bet the Romans and possibly the Egyptians had formulations that were close to complete and massed produced. The Romans clearly had the milling capacity. Both cultures had very large scale incubator setups.

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

Centrarchid...absolutely..... what do you think Romans and Egyptians fed their flocks?? Both civilizations were highly advanced and I would be curious to know their methods.

 

[centrarchid]

Since corn / maize was not available, wheat likely was a major component. Soybeans were also not present. Fish and animal offals would have been logical sources of protein concentrates. Free-range keeping and seasonality of production would also be likely as former would be important for meeting micronutrient needs. Somewhere I read some may have routinely employed broody roosters which would have helped once chicks hatched. I doubt that a given poultry raiser would raise more than a few hundred birds and like raised other animals as well which would help provide feces for birds to glean through.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

Ever seen the show Mountain Men? Eustace comes up with a rig for chickens and pigs.... The pigs are given horse manure to root through.... Then pieces fall through to the bottom and the chickens can peck through the fine pieces that are left..... I'm sure they get some other feed of some sort as well..... But it makes me think of how things once were.....

 

[centrarchid]

We used to raise chickens with horses and hogs on separate farms. Hogs where always grained and horses would get some as part of a sweet feed or oats making for lots of grains bits in feces. Even when grain not part of picture with horses, chickens would work up feces after a few days to get insects eating it. Even hogs can be raised on hay dominated diets although growth likely much slower. Some Europeans still use a lot of hay in their hog diets.