Homemade feed for my hens?? Better than commercial feed? More affordable? I need the truth!

[syndylli]

this is what I do, for a mixed breed and age flock
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wholesome-homemade-feed-2.79307/
and this is what it cost me (and their eggs earned me) last year
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-money-keeping-poultry.1162786/post-28476623

Question about the fermentation process. I tried fermenting some "scratch" and felt it went bad, so I tossed it. I was adding water and stirring every day and it didn't fill up the glass like it did for others. How long do you ferment the feed for? Thanks!

 

[Debbie292d]

Question about the fermentation process. I tried fermenting some "scratch" and felt it went bad, so I tossed it. I was adding water and stirring every day and it didn't fill up the glass like it did for others. How long do you ferment the feed for? Thanks!

I ferment Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve and add in some red winter wheat and oats. It ferments fine in three days. I was using quart jars for the first few years, and recently switched to a 5-gallon bucket and keep that running.

For the quart jars, I'd fill them half, and the rest with water. Be sure it's non-chlorinated. By the end of three days it was full.

 

[Perris]

How long do you ferment the feed for?

To begin, I half fill the jar with fresh clean cold water, add a dollop of plain natural live yogurt and stir to disperse. Then I add whole grains/ peas/ seeds until the jar is about 3/4 full, and rest the lid loosely on top. I pop it somewhere warm and leave it - I do not stir it - until I see through the glass sides of the jar little bubbles amongst the grains. If you lightly tap the jar they will wiggle their way through the grain up to the surface. Those bubbles are caused by the fermentation process, so when you see them, you know it's working. That can take up to 3 days initially, depending on the ambient temperature.

Once you've got there, you can extract the feed and keep back a little (say, an inch depth) of the cloudy liquor to start the next batch; add more fresh water till it's 1/2 full again, then the grain etc. as above. And then it will be ready in about 24 hours, sometimes sooner.

Why did you feel it went bad the first time you tried it?

 

[syndylli]

I ferment Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve and add in some red winter wheat and oats. It ferments fine in three days. I was using quart jars for the first few years, and recently switched to a 5-gallon bucket and keep that running.

For the quart jars, I'd fill them half, and the rest with water. Be sure it's non-chlorinated. By the end of three days it was full.

So, no stirring at all? Just let it sit for 3 days?

 

[syndylli]

To begin, I half fill the jar with fresh clean cold water, add a dollop of plain natural live yogurt and stir to disperse. Then I add whole grains/ peas/ seeds until the jar is about 3/4 full, and rest the lid loosely on top. I pop it somewhere warm and leave it - I do not stir it - until I see through the glass sides of the jar little bubbles amongst the grains. If you lightly tap the jar they will wiggle their way through the grain up to the surface. Those bubbles are caused by the fermentation process, so when you see them, you know it's working. That can take up to 3 days initially, depending on the ambient temperature.

Once you've got there, you can extract the feed and keep back a little (say, an inch depth) of the cloudy liquor to start the next batch; add more fresh water till it's 1/2 full again, then the grain etc. as above. And then it will be ready in about 24 hours, sometimes sooner.

Why did you feel it went bad the first time you tried it?

The YouTube videos I watched all said to stir it daily. I did that, but I also didn't keep a tight lid on it. My feed did not seem to fill the jar, even after 5 days. There was a weird film on top of the water, so I tossed it. Worried it would make my chickens sick.

Do you keep the Mason jar lid fully screwed on and not stir for 3 days?

 

[Perris]

The YouTube videos I watched all said to stir it daily. I did that, but I also didn't keep a tight lid on it. My feed did not seem to fill the jar, even after 5 days. There was a weird film on top of the water, so I tossed it. Worried it would make my chickens sick.

Do you keep the Mason jar lid fully screwed on and not stir for 3 days?

no, the lid is just rested on the jar. If it is fermenting, gases will be generated (what's in those bubbles), and they need to be able to escape in order to avoid a lot of pressure building up in the container.

Stirring won't hurt but is not necessary in my experience.

What you need to log on this learning curve is that a lot of people are using the same terms - 'fermented feed' - for a wide variety of processes on an even wider variety of feedstuffs, and of course they get very different outcomes as a result. Reading about or watching videos on fermented feed is very confusing until you realize that.

I describe in detail what I do, with photos, here https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/ and there is an update reporting changes after a year here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wholesome-homemade-feed-2.79307/

 

[Jmcintosh23]

I use Dumore and Kelly's feed mostly. I treat them daily with dried meal worms or scratch grain -- a small part of their diet. I regularly string up ears of corn from Walmart. I run a skewer through the cob so it dangles and my girls play a rousing game of "teather corn." They also get sweet potato peels, celery, and other veggies. Sometimes we trade eggs for arugula, which they adore. I recycle their eggshells. First, I boil them with drain opener (lye) to hydrolyze the residual protein. Then I rinse throughly and run them through a blender to make "sand." I transfer to a tray and dry in the sun. Then, I blend it with the treats. Yes, much of it ends up on the ground, but the girls get a lot of calcium anyhow. My hens seem to like pellets better than crumbles, so that is what I standardize on. And, "no," they are on our "farm" as pets, egg layers, and entertainers. They do all three jobs so well.

I did that with cabbage on a warm day about 2 weeks ago. I'll have to try corn cobs and I'm planting sweet potato I have lots of vines so they have some leafy treats. I'm doing more green for them this year and squash so they can have flowers and doing a grape vine. So excited this year and it always seems different every year. Every year spring comes around, the warm weather and plants just seems exciting!

 

[Delphene]

I Just get the non-GMO feed and mix it with mealworms and calcium pellets

 

[Slw]

Hello all, I have 11 hens (6 are pullets) and I want to make them a home-made feed but I want to be sure that it is balanced. All of my hens are used for eggs, not meat, and I want a feed that does not include calcium in the recipe because I want to be able to feed it to my pullets when they reach 8 wks of age, and to the older hens who aren't laying anymore. I will provide calcium sources in another feeder for all my layers. Does anyone have any recipes that have worked for their flock? I give them black soldier fly larvae as a treat a couple times a week and they have a large run with a compost they can eat bugs from. Also, is homemade feed generally more affordable than commercial feed?

Just comment if you need any other info about my flock

Can’t get hens to eat regular oyster shells so I came up with a recipe. 3 c dry cat food, 2 c dried meal worm/soldier fly larva and 2 c of aragonite calcium sand. Set aside. Mix 1/4 c powdered gelatin with 1/2 c aragonite calcium sand then add 4 cups water mix with wire whisk, bring to a boil. Set mixture aside
IN a 2 cup measuring cup Dissolve 1 tablespoon of rooster booster vitamin powder with 1 cup of water, then add ice to this up to the 2 cup mark. Combine the cooked gelatin mixture with the rooster booster ice water mixture. One the ice cubes have melted in the gelatin mixture, pour all of this in the dry cat food, worm and aragonite calcium mixture. Set in the fridge for 10 min. Stir it and let it set until solid.