Mixing your own feed

My local feed store has gone out of business.. It was so handy to buy sacks of grower and layer rations that were made from locally grown grains and field peas, ground on site and bagged fresh.
Since my own preference is to feed grain mixes rather than buying pellets, I'm wondering where to find information or recipes for making your own feed.
For ingredients, I have cracked wheat mixed with a bit of ground barley, and field peas for protein. also some rolled corn I would normally add for extra energy in the winter. How can I calculate the proper mix to ensure they will get correct levels of nutrition?
Also, if I give vitamin supplements once a week or so in the water, do you think that would that cover their vitamin needs?

Is there any place I could take in a sample of my feed mix to have it tested for nutrient levels?
thanks!

Kathy, if you really want to have your feed tested, you can send a sample to the SRC - Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon. I think they do most of the testing for western Canada. IMO, you don't really need to have it tested as "average" nutrient levels won't vary that much. I know there can be differences in protenin levels etc that vary as much as 3% or 5%, but just for feeding your backyard flock, I wouldn't spend the $$ to have it tested. You can look up nutrient levels of HRS wheat, feed barley etc with a quick internet search. The best advice I can give is to give as much variety in your grains as you can to get the best variety of nutrients. If you are buying grain from a feed mill, they will have the nutrient analysis on the bag, if they don't just ask for it. They will print it out.

I could go on and on, but just don't have the time. This winter, if I have time, I will dig out my text books and see what I can find to help.

http://www.lionsgrip.com/protein.html

Basic, but useful. Hope this helps your feed calculations.

When I can, I like to use both sunflower seeds and peas as my protein source as they have different balances of amino acids.

I also buy a mineral and vitamin premix from Sunworks farm near Wetaskiwin. They bring it in from somewhere in the U.S.

I also need to recommend that you not grind your feed as finely as Greenworks in your town did, it greatly reduced the quality of their feed.

Good link. I used to use soy too, but found it gave my birdies the runs. I stick with cracked peas and lentils...don't tell hubby about the lentils though...

Ya, I put a few lentils in once in an emergency. Boy was that expensive!

P.s. Kathy, if your birds have access to fresh pasture, I wouldn't be overly worried about getting your feed mix perfect straight away. Pasture might only be able to cut feed costs by about 25%, but it goes a very long way toward balancing nutrition.

KathyS
here is a great site for mixing your own feeds has the protein Percentage and all
I really like it and I am sure if a person is good at math they could cut it down or people could even go together on a couple batches
Hope it helps
http://www.lionsgrip.com/recipes.html

Thanks so much for all the quick replies! I did see that Lionsgrip site while searching originally, but since I don't plan to use any soy or fish meal I didn't think it would be that helpful to me.
Maybe I am worrying too much. I just want to give them what they need to grow well and reach their full potential. I also have some odds and ends from the grain bins, so there's a bit of canola in there too, but I understand too much will give them the runs.
The sunflower seeds are a good suggestion, I'll pick up a bag to add in there too. and yes, most of them do get access to pasture, so I'm sure that helps with vitamins and minerals at this time of year.
I think I'll go with what Bowker suggests and try to provide as much variety as possible, and just adjust things as I go.

Country Thyme, I know what you mean about the feed store. I was so thrilled at first with their big chunky feeds, but quality became inconsistent. There was such a great variety of grains and no waste at first. Then it started to slip at the end, and the last bags I bought must have been the last bits of powder and oat hulls swept off the floor.
My dad grinds his wheat and barley very coarsely for me, and the chickens do like it that way.

Edited: I didn't scroll down far enough to see the other recipes listed on there. I'll have a closer look!

I use a grower supplement that I buy from UFA to mix with my wheat & barley. They have the ratios you mix it with depending on the grain you are using printed right on the label. It is only about $17 a bag and I mix mine 2 Wheat: 1.5 barley: 1supplement. I use a layer supplement that is get from the co-op that is mixed with wheat 4:1. It's only about $12 a bag

My chickens are fed totally whole grain, and though it is a bit of work, it is worth it. I mix 6 parts rolled wheat, 1 part corn (2-3 in winter), generous 1 part oats, 1 part sunflower seeds (2 in winter), 1 part millet, 1/2 - 1 part lentils, 1/2 part split peas (some birds like those two items, some not, so to keep costs down I went to 1/2 parts), and 1/4 part flax seeds. I dropped the 1 part barley after reading comments on this board, though I never noticed it to bother them. To that I add grit and a mixture of garlic powder, tumeric, and DE at each morning's feeding. For chicks the wheat is only 4 parts, and I used cracked corn and sunflower minis, mixed about half with chick start. When I only had 8 chicks last year, I also spoilt them with the little quinoa. I would really like to get some kelp for the winter. My chickens are healthy and happy and produce great eggs. Am I crazy? Probably, especially as this year I am up to 50 chickens But it keeps my son out of trouble mixing up a big garbage bin full every week or two. For me, this is what I consider my best for my chickens. I can hardly remember life BC (Before Chickens). How this compares to pellets for cost, I have no idea. I'm curious, but not going to try it.

Everything Ive read points towards oats being the better staple grain. They get more from it if cracked coarsely. Wheat and barley as well as corn are hot foods so I make my mix with 2/3 oats 1/3 wheat/barley and corn for treats. Whole corn gets cracked but rolled is fine the way it is. Barley is better ground as the hulls are sharp and can cause problems. Whole wheat is easy for them to digest. The oats I use are straight from the field, a nasty weedy field so they get everything you can imagine, and from the straw too. Still, I dont feel its a balanced ration so I add 10% by weight of 35% protein layer mash or 35% protein grower supplement from ufa. An AB gov poultry feed expert told me that since we dont have access to proper breeding rations off the shelf its a good idea to supplement with a vitamin mix in their water. This is to compensate for lack of animal proteins in our recommended feeds. Greens, they should have free access to at all times, something Im guilty of not attending as well as I should. One thing I find missing from all the menus I come across is the use of charcoal in the diet. Way back it was recommended for their overall health, is there something else that has replaced this?

Last year I made a point of cracking wheat for the growing chickens but this year was too lazy to get organized to take wheat down to the neighbour's to do it so started mixing in whole wheat with their grower pellets and they are cleaning it all right up, no dust or waste so Im not going to bother cracking wheat again.
I did wait until about 6 weeks though to start mixing in the whole wheat. I started them out with tiny gravel first mixed in their feed, now a slightly bigger rock.
I have never tried the oats, but wish I had with my Barred Rocks, they had huge appetites so I fed them as much as they wanted last year and when I butchered the rooster I couldn't believe how fat he was! Maybe the oats would have filled him up without making him so fat, maybe he would have been a better breeder then

I only feed a 16% layer ration and was worried my hens werent gettin enough protein but talking to one feed store guy he said since I feed free choice they probably get as much or even more than they need so no worries there.
I don't like to let the feed run out....

If you have the storey's guide to raising poultry they have some mixes measured in pounds of grain, so you could use that. It has one called the Palouse Prairie Ration, soy-free ration, laying hen ration, and a stadard Laying ration.

I am planning to use the Prairie ration once i get my hammermill home. Here is the recipie for it:

Corn 200 lbs
Ground field peas/lentils 300 lbs
Ground Barley 250 lbs
Ground wheat 250 lbs
Total 1000 lbs

I was going to take and add some oats in place of some of the peas and corn as it is much easier to come by around here. Just one word of caution with oats make sure to grind it or at least roll it as it can cause issues whole. I lost alot of my 4 month old chickens last year because the whole oats got caught in their crop and implanted into the wall of it, then the chicks quite eating and died.

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I like your story, Lazy farmer. Now that is how you raise good hardy survivors. No need to cull for weakness...nature will do that for you.
I do know chickens will survive and even thrive on pretty much any feed source you provide them. Years ago our broilers used to get only barley chop that was finely ground for the pigs and they would free range for anything else they could scratch up. No expensive purchased feed for them! And we used to butcher some monster broilers that were more like small turkeys!

But now my goals are a bit different.I am working with several different large breeds that SHOULD have the potential to build up some big strong body frames and reach some heavy weights. I need to know if the genetic potential is there by providing them with all the nutrition and protein their bodies need to grow as well as possible.

For the wheat to be rotten it would have to be moist. If it's moist and warm it wants to germinate. If the germination process starts then the anti-nutrient chemical beta glucans gets used up in that process. Very practical really, all the available nutrient can be taken up by the chikn and used. The mold I cringe at though, for personal use ok, but for me the risks of sharing contaminated eggs/meat is too high so I won't feed moldy grains. But I do germinate oats for them in the winter as well as peas.

Oh hey, I forget to tell you that we get our feed tested at Parkland Laboratories in Red Deer. Probably a bit easier for you to get to than Saskatchewan. They test moisture, protein and all the macronutrients plus sodium for us, and they'd probably do more if you were interested.

To all you barley folks, I don't like feeding too much barley or oats because of the hulls and I think birds with their short digestive systems benefit best from nutrient dense foods. Unless you get dehulled, in which case barley and oats have fantastic feed value.

Also, lazyfarmer; does your dad rot the wheat on purpose?

Finally, KathyS I understand your desire to both make your own feeds and determine the potential for size in your birds. Animal proteins are always best if you can add them. All commercial rations have to add amino acids, especially methionine, which are particularly in short supply in legumes but are abundant in animal protein, especially fish. In the summer I don't worry because the birds are getting lots of animal protein on their own. In the winter, I add the sunflowers to at least try to balance the methionine a bit.

I have similar desires to you in the feed my own but still get big birds department. One thing of note is that in Genetics of the Fowl, Heuser states that some research done back in the day showed that birds fed poorer diets early, even though they had less growth in the first couple of months, tended to compensate for that growth again later in life. I also know that some turkey producers now intentionally decrease the quality of their feeds to encourage more skeletal growth early on because they know the birds will just compensate for size later anyway. It increases the market value of their birds at butcher time. This is useless information for a cornish rock or whatnot producer, because they expect to butcher their birds far to young to get any benefit from compensatory growth, but it is incredibly valuable for us heritage breeders. Starter and grower were designed for commercial broilers, not for our birds. Lazyfarmers dad has the right idea (except for the mold part maybe )

I am currently on a thought to breed for birds that specifically do well only on feeds that I or a neighbour can grow, kind of a hundred mile chicken diet.

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Here is another site that has feed mixes
also alot of other information for the homesteader. I think I might order his book looks like it would be some fun reading

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Making-Poultry-Feeds-3.html

appway wrote:Here is another site that has feed mixes
also alot of other information for the homesteader. I think I might order his book looks like it would be some fun reading

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Making-Poultry-Feeds-3.html

I bought his book this winter. It was a pretty good read. I like his management paradigm and we've been using a feed recipe very similar to his along with a neighbour and we're both happy with the results. I'm sure it wouldn't work if we were in any rush to grow our birds though.

That's good to know about the amino acids that are present in animal protein. I do notice the chickens manage to catch a surprising number of worms, moths and insects and even the odd mouse, so I guess that does help supplement their diet in the summer. Then, for winter I'll add the sunflower seeds. I wonder if suet or something similar from time to time in the winter might be a good idea too.
All in all, great information in this thread. I'll be refering back here often!

Michelle S wrote:I use a grower supplement that I buy from UFA to mix with my wheat & barley. They have the ratios you mix it with depending on the grain you are using printed right on the label. It is only about $17 a bag and I mix mine 2 Wheat: 1.5 barley: 1supplement. I use a layer supplement that is get from the co-op that is mixed with wheat 4:1. It's only about $12 a bag

Michelle, I thought this was a great idea, so I went and got a bag of the grower supplement to mix in. Now I've got such a wide variety of grains, seeds, peas and stuff mixed in there, all the nutritional requirments MUST be covered!! The little rascalls do tend to make a mess as they pick out their favorite bits first, so I'm making them clean up the floor before they get their feeder refilled!

Mine do the same thing Kathy, so I make sure they eat everything before I refill it. I initially wanted to do my own mix with all the vitamins & minerals but with 2 little boys I just don't have the time. But I am happy with these supplements- its easy, inexpensive and I feel confident they are getting a balanced ration.

I know this topic is a little dated, but for those of you who do make/mix your own feed - do you find it a cheaper alternative then buying pre-made or is the cost roughly the same?

I'm feeling a lot more confident now with mixing my feed than when I first posted this question. It took a bit of trial and error but after a while you get a feel for whats working. I'm always adjusting the mix based on their needs at the time...higher protein while in the heavy growth period, more oats when molting to promote good feather production, added corn and sunflower seeds in winter for energy etc.

It would be interesting to price out all the ingredients and see if there is much difference in the final cost. I know its cheaper for me to mix my own because the main ingredient is wheat which we grow ourselves.
But I also just like knowing what exactly you are feeding. The pellets are convenient and considered a complete diet, but I often wonder how much of those pellets is filler and how much is good quality grain.

I'm glad this thread got brought back up. Chicken Team's mix seems doable, economical and relatively easy, and I've been wanting to do this for a while.

After realizing my birds go through just as much oyster shell on layer ration as off, it kind of made me wonder how 'complete' things really were. In addition to that, I want off GMOs for my own reasons anyway.

For a while, I was feeding just oats and barley. A 50lb bag of each comes out being $5 more than a single bag of layer ration and they did equally well. I was worried about vitamin deficiency and put them back on layer ration with oats on the side. I started doing the oats and barley after reading a few forums from Europe overseas. Many rural people either don't have easy access to or cannot be bothered with the rations and feed Oats, barley, wheat and corn -- thats it. Feedrite has a three grain mix which I may start picking up and add some lentils, corn, flax and BOSS as supplements. As I stated in my fat bird posts, for the first time ever butchering (about 2 weeks after we usually do), my birds had a solid layer of fat on them, about 1/4 inch thick. I wasn't afraid of the fat, just had never seen it before so didn't know if it was 'too much'. It makes me wonder why they were missing that last year when they were strictly fed ration.