Is this feed recipe healthy?

[saysfaa]

I was planning on having the feed for the whole year, we have an older air tight silo I would store it in

I'm familiar with silos although ours were not airtight. And I'm a little familiar with the other related options including Havestors. Only for storing silage and haylage, though, so I may just be missing things but I'm having trouble seeing how it would work with dry feed or with such a small amount of feed (in the size of even the smallest Harvestors, although I realize there may be other airtight silo options). How do you get the oxygen out without filling the silo with fermenting feed? And how do you get small amounts out without letting oxygen in?

 

[saysfaa]

I am a second year agriculture buisness major at the moment, planning to take animal science which would cover this in the upcoming semester

And

So, what changes would you guys recommend? ...

I recommend buying soybean oil meal and mineral salt. Maybe also vitamin/mineral premixes. And alfalfa if you don't yet have your own.

Then look up a ration to see how much to mix with what bulk feed stuffs (meaning your corn, wheat, oats, etc).

I would use one of the rations from the old extension office bulletins or poultry textbooks or peer reviewed articles in research publications. "Old" being 1950s - 1970s maybe.... basically from after researchers had rations that worked pretty well but before the extension bulletins just said to feed commercial bagged feed. These are very, very, very much more likely to work well enough than what I've seen "on the internet" or even in recent homesteading type books.

This one in the picture below has options that don't use meat or milk. Unless you have extra milk available? This example is just one of many - look around for one uses the ingredients you can grow or get or use the most easily.

Then, when you get that working, you can try substituting other ingredients if you want to and as you learn how in your classes (or on your own). At least, ag classes used to teach that when my brothers went through dairy science and related programs.

You might look for rations using buckwheat and grow some of that too.

 

[saysfaa]

In addition, I would cultivate chicken pastures. By that, I don't necessarily mean plots with fences around them. I mean things like leaving patches of weeds, overseeding clovers or deer plot mixes or edible flowers, planting or encouraging fruit including small fruits (except autumn olive or floribunda rose), making compost piles - or just piles of vegetation to rot, even simple boards flat on the ground to encourage insects - moving the boards to let the chickens feed is optional, shallow water bowls for the bees, and so on.

 

[Sally PB]

except autumn olive or floribunda rose

Are those toxic to chickens, or is there another reason? I know autumn olive is an invasive that is spread by birds eating the fruits and pooping out the seeds.

We have it all over. The honeybees LOVE it, so I let it stay. Oh, and I probably couldn't get rid of it anyway.

 

[Rangergord]

Making your own feed is a subject that has been gone over a lot here over the years. I invite you to check out some of the posts I have made in various threads. There are links to books you can download and study, links to websites etc. Take the time to understand poultry nutrition thoroughly rather than just copy a formula and understand what your limitations are. Organic poultry ration is especially difficult to source ingredients for and always rather expensive. One thing I found that was crucial to understand was the essential amino acids versus crude protein. Crude protein levels of most rations are the minimum required and the insects that your poultry may or may not consume make a large contribution to pastured poultry diets.

 

[saysfaa]

Are those toxic to chickens, or is there another reason? I know autumn olive is an invasive that is spread by birds eating the fruits and pooping out the seeds.

We have it all over. The honeybees LOVE it, so I let it stay. Oh, and I probably couldn't get rid of it anyway.

Neither of them are toxic.

I said it mostly because of how invasive they are. But also because I learned that the wild birds are harmed by eating the autumn olive berries instead of other things but the AO berries are not as nutritious; so much so that it harms the birds. I think the conservation office said that in one of the info meetings they put on or in their literature. It may have been the extension office putting out info about invasives. I might look for the source for y'all. Not tonight, though.

Anyway, because of the less nutritious part, I figured it was best to discourage that.

The floribunda rose was mostly because I put them in the same bucket of very hard to deal with and no redeeming value that other plants can't provide without the problems.

 

[Lisa-Kama]

I agree with ChickenCanoe.

Also, you need salt.

Depending on where you are, also iodine and selenium - if they aren't in the soil, they won't be in the plants. The soils of wide swaths of the world are deficient in one or the other or both. They are usually in vitamin/mineral mixes but check that the mix you select is appropriate for your area.

You should check into the peas and lentils also. Each can be good ingredients as long as the amount is limited enough. However, they are both legumes so I think they have the same reason for needing to be limited percentages. If so, then they should be counted toward that limit together. 25% seems high but it has been a long time since I last looked at that and I don't remember numbers very well so it is something to check with the concept in mind rather than this being the checking of it.

Whether lentils are toxic depends on how you look at it. They have some antinutrients so technically they are. Sort of. There isn't very much and you can select varieties that are lower than most varieties, and there are things that can lower what they do have (heat, for example).

Whoever said to make 3500 pounds for 35 chickens needs the rest of their advice checked and double checked. That would take them well over a year to eat. Feeds should be fed within a couple of months once the seed coat is broken (such as cracking the corn).

2000 pounds = ton

 

[UpstateChickenDaddy]

Hi all
I am looking into making my own feed recipe for my chickens. I found this recipe online. Is it healthy and good for my chickens? I have 35 red star layers. Let me know if this is good or if it can be tweaked at all. I live in Northampton Pa, so I'd like to grow most of these feed stuffs.


MAKE 3500lbs for 35 CHICKENS

24% wheat
24% oats
24% cracked corn
12% dry split green peas
12% dry brown lentils ???? TOXIC
5% dry meal worms

I cannot in any way take credit for this. I just spent a long time with a lot of books etc and this is remarkably similar (but look at the last ingredient in particular). Apologies these are in pounds. Easier for me when buying from the source. For a small batch (20 lbs):

Cracked corn 6 lbs
Hard red wheat 3 lbs
Hard white wheat 3 lbs
Split peas 4 lbs
Oats 2 lbs
Black oil sunflower seeds 1.6 lbs
Nutribalancer 0.4 lbs

They get mealworms, fresh fruits and veg, and assorted other treats each day mixed up here and there. But the feed is balanced according to experts (which I am not). The nutribalancer seemed very important for trace minerals etc given they are not free range but do have a large run with multiple chicken gardens and infinite insect life during the nicer months.

 

[Sic]

Might I suggest reading "Nutrition and Feeding of Organic Poultry" by Robert Blair
You may find it useful. Good luck.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Cracked corn 6 lbs
Hard red wheat 3 lbs
Hard white wheat 3 lbs
Split peas 4 lbs
Oats 2 lbs
Black oil sunflower seeds 1.6 lbs
Nutribalancer 0.4 lbs

[...]

But the feed is balanced according to experts (which I am not).

I'm not sure what experts, but that's a sub-par feed on numerous metrics. Curious where you found that.

I'm looking at 13% Protein (low), 5% fiber (fine), 6% fat (high, but potentially ok) sub-par Met (even with the Fertrell's that includes dl-Met. If you use the Fertrells w/o, is quite deficient), Lysine is fine, Threonine is deficient, Tryp is quite deficient, and its got a lot of energy - at the top end of targets.

I would not feed that to my birds - but if your pasture is good enough, potentially adult birds could do fine. Looking out at my pasture? I wouldn't risk it.

Otherwise, COMPLETELY agree with formulating recipes in pounds (or grams, or Kg, or stones, or any other measure of weight)