Chicken feed formula?

C

Chicken Chaser

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Hello folks,

I was wondering if y'all have any nutritious chicken feed recipes. - CC
 
My chickens are fed a mixed grain diet. In the winter it's 4 parts wheat to 2 parts split maize (corn) to 1 part rolled barley. I add about 1/2 part of micronized peas if they need more protein. I put the wheat in first then add enough cod-liver oil to make the grains glisten, then add the maize and lastly the barley which will absorb any excess oil.

In the summer I reduce the amount of split maize to one part as they don't need it to keep warm. They get treats of live mealworms, which are a good source of protein, and a good handful of sunflower seed hearts.

In the winter if it's really cold I soak some of the general feed over night, add some poultry spice and microwave it. The feed it to them warm. A warm "mash" in the morning gets them going more quickly.
 
Thank you Marigold! Only I have one problem, I can't get micronized peas anywhere I know of. Would the red peanut skins work as a source for protein? -CC
 
No idea CC. Field beans are another option. You need an agricultural feed merchant. Whereabouts are you?

BTW it's very flattering to be mistaken for Marigold, but I'm not her.

Margaid
 
I'm very flattered to be taken for you, Margaid - you certainly know far more about mixing chicken feed than I do, I mostly stick to layers pellets!
 
Hi All,

Sorry for getting back to you so late!

Sorry for the name mistake! I live in southwestern U.S..

Would a equal mixture of oats, wheat, cracked corn, barley and peanut skins work? -CC
 
Sorry CC, haven't been keeping up.

You certainly don't want to give an equal mix of those grains, they should be in the proportions described above. It's too late to look up my books but i think there's a reason for not giving chickens oats, I'll try and remember to do it tomorrow. Why do you want to give them peanut skins? I'm not quite sure what you mean anyway - is it the red skin off the nut itself or what we would call the shell? I don't know what nutrient they would get from the skins.

Depending on your climate, you may want to cut down on the cracked corn - it's good in our cold winters for keeping them warm, but if it isn't cold they'll just get fat which is why I reduce it in the summer. Do your hens free range? I didn't worry too much about adding protein when mine were ranging all over the place, but now they have to stay in a (large) enclosure they're not picking up as many bugs and insects. if you need to add protein another source is fishmeal.
 
I agree with Margaid, it is the ratios of the specific grains to look out for, and also the age, breed of the bird, consider whether they are laying hens etc....
Red peanut skins would be a good addition, I am not sure however, how much to add this would depend on how much protein they would contribute. You would want to get the overall protein content to around 14 - 15% as a general rule, again this need could be lower depending on the quality of free-range and or growth/moulting factors where the protein depend will be higher, although very slightly.
 
The peanut skins are the red inner skins of the actual nut. They are 84% protein and 16% fat.

They do free range, but it doesn't seem as if they get enough protein out of the insects and their other findings.

So are would your (Margaid's) earlier mentioned recipe work with only a substitute with peanut skins instead of micronized peas work? Does your (Margaid's) feed recipe provide all essential nutrients for your chickens?

CC
 
Thats quite a high protein content compared to micronised peas which are around 20 - 25% protein content. So I would imagine a substitution of around 20% volume of peanut skins versus micronised peas. Margaid will be along sometime soon to advise I am sure! :D
 
I've not had any problems with the hens on the ration described above. I started giving them the peas when they were moulting as some of the other suggested alternatives are not permitted in this country any longer (feeding kitchen scraps for example is not allowed). A lot of the peas in the mix aren't eaten - I've started soaking a good handful overnight in cold water, draining them and giving those to the birds first thing and mainly because the cock is moulting.

The measure we use at my friends where we mix the feed is a round plastic animal feed scoop (I use an old wok if I mix any here).

So if you think of something the size of a wok then:
We use half a scoop of peas in the mix, which is less than one fourteenth of the total, which if my maths is right is about 7%, so you wouldn't want more than about 1.25% of your mix to be peanut skins. In the case of our scoop that would probably be no more than a cupful.

How old are your birds, are they laying yet? You need to think about the general nutritional requirements, and here Foxy is better qualified than I am as all my birds were in lay when I got them. I know you need to watch the calcium levels for growers - too much is not good for them. But I'm not sure who needs the most protein - growers or layers.

BTW I haven't been able to find much reference to oats - don't know if any one else can advise here?
 
Thank you for the recipe!

My birds range from just starting to lay to 5 years old. We also hatch some chicks every once in awhile, do you have any good chick feed formulas?

Could it be that the oats can expand too much in the chicken's crops? CC
 
Not sure about the oats, I thought it was something to do with their ability to digest oats but I can't find the reference.

The guy whose recipe I use puts his chicks on commercial chick crumb for a few weeks - not sure how long as I've never hatched anything
 
Thank y'all for your replies and I plan to try this recipe and see how it turns out. Thanks again! CC
 
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