Just a few things I do for my birds. I use their own eggs for calcium, I put the oven on warm and put the egg shells in and leave them for a half hour. Then I use a rolling pin to crush them. I then add it to their container of feed and mix it in. I use pine needles vs hay. Only because we are in the piney woods region in East Texas so it's free. I add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with the mother into their water daily as it helps with their digestive health aka production of eggs. I add one tablespoon of Chile powder into their daily feed as it's also good for them and makes their yolks way darker. I also let them out everyday for exercise and for bug hunts. It gets dark around 5 so I let them out around 3. When it gets dark they go into their coop and onto their resting areas. This is just what I do and thought I would share.
I live in Texas and I only gave my chickens cracked corn and a mineral block. They were free range. They went into the garden for bugs and the mulch pile for worms. They also ate snails, grass snakes, and grasshoppers.
Notice!! I used one of those dollar tree buckets to hold fish while cleaning their tank . The fish were in the buck 45 mins when I went back to retrieve the fish they were floating belly up. Best check to see what kind of plastic it is to be sure it is non toxic.
I did acclimate the water but someone suggested using a dollar store bucket earlier and I was stating not to cause I did and it killed my fish obviously those buckets are not made of safe materials very toxic to fish .@@Darryl603
Home Depot buckets always worked for me. Never lost a fish. It also helps if you fill it with the same fish water you are changing. And then if you have it an air pump for added measure.
Wow! You have done all the time-consuming research for me and everything you have said makes perfect sense to me. Many people I know have mentioned their chickens are not laying as well as they used to, that their gardens vegetables like tomatoes and green peppers are much smaller than in the past. Thank you so much for this video. I've been making my dog's food for decades with the help of Dr. Karen Becker, Dr. Royal and Dr. Ian Billinghurst and its paid big dividends in their health. Vet visits are only for the rabies vaccine, they are so much healthier eating a species appropriate diet! Again, thank you so much!
I was able to watch the complete video with full attention. All information that I wanted was here in the video. All my to do items for research was covered in your video. Thank you very much for this, saved a lot of my time. I am a beginner and this is my first time raising chickens in my new farm here in India.I really appreciate your hardwork in putting this video together. Thank you again
We have made our girlz whole food feed for three years and they are thriving. We also add Diatomaceous Earth (DE) which help ensure no worms 😅 straight into the feed so they stay healthy and deliver clean shiny eggz. Enjoyed your video and thanks for info on azure.
I don't have birds, but I enjoyed watching this. It's good to know that there is one more area that we don't have to depend on outside sources for. Thanks for all of the time and hard work that you and Rob put into this.🌽
Thanks Dannie!! We appreciate you watching! It's definitely important for us all to try to depend less on outside sources, no matter if that's food for us or food for our animals. That's very true! Thank you so much!
Growing grains is super easy. I grew spelt last year and wow. It grew great and stayed green during the drought when the rest of my garden was stunted.
Awesome addition! I also use Cayenne pepper from the day their born. Also helps with shiny feathers. FYI for anyone asking the cayenne won’t bother them the way it bothers us nor will the crushed red pepper flakes.
Zucchini seeds, pumpkin seeds etc, are a great natural de wormer. I save them after the harvest, freeze them and give them to the chickens throughout the winter once a month.
I'm so blessed that I found your video by chance as so many comments state yours is the best on the subject. I'm a novice chicken owner (they haven't even started laying yet, but hopefully soon). I'm very concerned about their diet. An employee at TS told me she had the low production issue with the most popular brand and started buying an organic brand and mixing cat food into it to increase protein amount. Don't know about that, but I do buy a good grain free cat food. So I was going to give that a try when I switch them over to a laying feed. I'm just so pleased to find this video so I can definitely give your recipes a try instead. Thanks for your detailed hard work and sharing it with all of us newbie's. God bless you!
🌾 My first time raising chickens, my girls are now 10 weeks. I have been playing around with fermenting a grain mixture, they seem to love it, for now it is only a treat, they are still on the grow mixture. Thank you for all the information.
I love the pidder padder of the little feet! I do not currently own chickens but I love learning because we do see chickens at my veterinarian hospital where I work and many people I know do keep chickens. 🌾🌾🌾 Another great video! ❤
Stephanie, does your facility ever see/treat chickens for bumblefoot? There is a rooster someone dumped at the state park I work at that seems to be developing this. It's currently the resident yard chicken / mascot at headquarters after it got caught by a ranger with a friend-hen (who's since met its demise due to a predator). I bought 50 lb. bags of crumble and scratch feed for them/it as they were mainly being fed junk food from the vending machine by everyone. I'm going to buy healthy extras based on this video, but I worry about the rooster's feet as I am only a seasonal employee. My stint ends this coming weekend and I want to buy what could be needed to rehab him. We have grassy areas but also a gravel drive. He lifts his feet more regularly now (for relief, I'm assuming). I live in an apartment so can't help out more. I'd def take him home otherwise.
Great video. We’ve been making our feed with ingredients from Azure and the Farmer Peapod recipe on the Azure blog for years now and store it in 55 gallon drums. It only became difficult when many items were out of stock because of supply chain issues. Making your own isn’t a cheaper option but allowed us to make an organic feed at a competitive price. And we soak the feed which makes it go a lot further.
@@justjason7662 Put feed in a bucket and cover it with water. Make sure to keep the water level ABOVE the feed, to prevent aerobic bacteria and fungus growth. The feed in the water will then ferment. Chickens require LESS feed if it is fermented. Probably because of the increased bacteria and open availability of nutrients. 1 bag of fermented feed is equal to about 1.3 bags of dry food.
Howdy neighbor! MAINE you say? We're in Dixmont. I'm a retired MAINEiac. We have some meat birds coming the end of June to run in a tractor. I'm absolutely interested in DIYing their feed, but will likely go with store bought organic (Paris CoOp in Newport) this first time. A lot on the plater this summer already. I checked and Waterville would be our Azure drop. Things to ponder... SUBBED ya BTW.
Hey there fellow Mainer!!! Thank you for subbing and thank you for being here. I appreciate you! How did you guys do with this last storm? Did you lose power?
🌾 Thank you so much, I really enjoyed your video! I appreciate that you gave so much good information in such a concise manner without rambling or stretching things out. It really was very enjoyable to watch and you are easy to listen to. 😊 I also keep chickens and have thought about and wanted to make my own feed. I did ferment the feed when they were chicks, but have not continued that practice now that they are layers, but I may go back to that.
Holy COW thank you for ALL THE INFO on your page here and watching was fantastic education. Then the connected links really did help to find the products in Organic. You have DONE your research and I will pass it on to others. Thank you BIG TIME :)
I am 10 seconds in. It was autoplaying in my TH-cam home page. I saw Gate and Scwob (sp?) and immediately knew you were a great channel. Now let me check out your whole line up 🤩
I'm very happy to see this video Good information Beautiful woman I'll give it a try after watching the ferminting way .. Can chickens eat the whole corn ? Ducks do . What about feed for chicks ? I'm feeding greens and kitchen waste , they're doing well thank GOD but no weight gain . You can use sweet potato in winter instead of corn if it's cheap , also you can add moringa to your mix .
Azomite can also be added to animal feed in small amounts, the same stuff you put in your garden as its sourced from volcanic ash (check out their website). Hemp is another additive for animal feed much like the kelp but hard to source.. I'm getting chickens in the spring to fill the gap between gardening waste and honeybees.
This is exactly the type of video that I was looking for. 🌾 We have 11 pullets and 1 that turned out to be a rooster 😂 right now. They are still too young to lay, but this is super helpful. Thanks!
I very much appreciate this video! It is the very best video I’ve found on the subject on YT so far! The options and calculations have given me the confidence to do this myself! Thank you SO much! Great job!
Thank you so much for this video!!!! I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to calculate protein percentage in homemade feed and how to figure out crude protein! You are a life saver!
🌾 I enjoyed this video very much and learned a lot. I got a new flock of chicks recently. Haven't had chicken for about three years. This time around I am mixing my own feed. Wasn't sure which grains to feed them so I bought the four they were being fed. Thanks to you they now will get a wider range of grains and seeds. I am enjoying my chicks so much. Will keep watching for more informative videos as you post them. Kaye .. Texas
I tried this for the same reasons In the end i went to a quality pre prepared milled feed with added meat meal so the protein content was at around 18% and calcium Chickens health improved shells got thicker
I gave my old flock away to work out of state. Just got some new pullets and bought a bag of feed from TS. I'm going to look into making one of these recipes and maybe plant some food for them for grazing. Thank you for all of the information 🌾
See if your area has a livestock feed store. You can get more locally sourced ingredients, and many blend their own. It's also less expensive and more nutritious.
Thank you for the advice and hard work that you put into sharing your experience and research. We are struggling to get egg production back up after reducing free ranging due to predation. Just completed an additional run 3x the size of the one in the coop to alleviate crowding/confinement stress. I’ll be heading to the feed store today to get the ingredients you recommended and start introducing the new diet. The biggest takeaway for me besides the obvious benefits of diet diversity was your comment on eating the same crap 24/7, Sorta like being in prison on permanent bread and water. DUH. Great video!
Thank you. New here. Just started fermenting. Working great so far! Will be buying my own whole grain after I finish the layer feed I have. Your video was concise, you speak quickly and clearly and are very organized, all of the grains were clearly pictured, all of which are greatly appreciated! Will be checking out prices on Azure. I live in the middle of nowhere and it's next to Impossible to find these grains. We had a feed store but they retired and closed down. Two hour drive to feed stores. Min $50 in gas so shipping becomes key. Tractor Supp 25 miles but slim choices. Your info great! This is only emoji even close. 🌾
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this! *Question - I ferment my feed, but I don't pour off the liquid. Do people pour off the extra liquid for health or just practical reasons? My chickens seem to enjoy their "porridge"! I feed them in a large rubber feed bowl. They gobble it & don't make a mess all over the ground. (But they also climb into the bowl 😂). They drink less water when I give fermented food, so I assume the extra liquid is hydrating them.
@@aminaschmiat6476 I haven't soaked rolled oats (except when my kids don't finish their oatmeal). It should be fine. Just check the progress if you're fermenting several days. I found I can't ferment much longer than 1-2 days in warm weather, or it gets icky.
Thankyou sooo much for this valuable info. I really appreciate it. I have subscribed and intend to follow you to learn a lot more from you. Well done 🐔🐔🐔
I see a few of those videos about chickens not laying because of feed. I am not 100% sold on that.. People dont realize that it takes 12-14 hours of sunlight to get hens to lay.. Chickens always lay fewer eggs in the fall and winter.. Oh, I bet a lot of people don't realize not to wash the eggs they keep them fresher longer.. Thanks Jara for helpful info 👍 😊 😀 🐔🐓🦃🐔🐓🐣🐤🐤🐤🌾🌾🌾🌾
I know my chickens don’t always lay in winter ( I always had one odd one that always laid in the winter . I don’t provide artificial lighting ) , my girls stopped laying earlier then usual and I noticed the molt was off , they seemed thinner ( not normal at all ) , I tried upping the protein , then I had 5 hens and a rooster drop dead overnight . I know there was no sickness in my flock , I believe the feed diddnt have enough protein . I stopped using commercial feed , started feeding scraps with wild bird feed , I watch the protein and they started laying again 1 month after I cut off the commercial feed . It’s a horrible thing to happen .
@@amandaforeman2626hat's awful Amanda! I can't imagine that loss. I would be so sad. We all have our favorite chickens and there are definitely a few that have really become my little babies. 😅
@@sherragurman9959 ya it was so shocking :( I lost my favorite rooster and my sassy old gal who used to jump up for treats 😂. These are things I have never experienced before ! I’ve raised chickens before ! It was heartbreaking . Now that the chickens are on scraps and wild bird feed ( read your labels ) , I haven’t lost one chicken since
I have been mixing my own feed for about a year now. My layers leave the whole oats behind. I'll definitely try the hr wheat and split peas. Thanks for such a informative video.
That is interesting that your chickens wont eat the oats. My chickens refuse to eat flax seed. I mixed a whole bunch of feed before I knew this. It is always the flax seed that is left.
$$$ side hustle alert, lol If you don't like bugs, you can raise freshwater shrimp in plastic garbage cans with just a bubbler for most of the year. You can feed them garbage scraps and duckweed (which is high in protein and may also be good for chickens instead of either insect or shrimp protein, I know it's named duckweed because ducks LOVE it). Any shallow tub of water out in the sunlight with some urine in it should work as long it's above freezing temps (urine is for nitrogen). But the bonus is that while most of us don't want to eat black soldier fly larve ourselves, the freshwater shrimp is delicious and quite a delicacy, even in Thailand where it is found wild. It's called blue lobster in restaurant circles (and yes, it grows to be the size of a small lobster) but it has more flavor than a regular lobster and sells for $30 a pound retail! So before TSHTF, it can make a great side-income. Just call around to the highest-end restaurants in your area or learn to ship it out on ice packs. As a pro chef myself, I've been tempted to get into it and sell to a restaurant supplier. Though I'm not sure what certification might be required for selling for human consumption. And you can throw the undersized or injured ones to your chickens, live. Can't get any fresher protein than that ;)
Look into raising Dubia Roaches. My chickens love them. Great nutrition. Easy to keep a tote of roaches in a dark warm spot. They reproduce so the cost is minimal.
I make my own pig and chicken food. I boil and dehydrate excess chicken eggs, shell and all. I store the dehydrated eggs until I buy a feeder pig in early Summer. My basic feed is corn, soybean meal, and dehydrated eggs. I also add lysine, methionine, and di-calcium phosphate. I then grind it in a hammer mill.
love your mixes, and the care and time you put in... i originally clicked here to see what you had going on if, heaven forbid, some emergency DID affect our ability to do biz online... but these ingredients are also online... (?) anyway, love the details 🐥
Our girls eat weeds, dinner scraps, bugs we find. Our gardens provide greens and veggies. We fish a lot and we boil the carcass and pull off the leftover fish. Chickens love fish. They have layer feed available but only eat a small amount. Best case is 2 or three eggs a day from 4 girls consistantly with strong shells.
Thank you for the detailed breakdown! I do have an important question. Should I WEIGH out the grains, rather than measure it out by cups, because of the different densities of the grains?
You can grow sunflowers to seed, save the seeds for the birds and then you can eat the receptacle, which is also edible by the birds too. Do mealworms!!!! 100% good idea.
@@wickedpreparedMy mealworm farm was started by accident. My kids were getting groceries out of my truck and the chameleon food rolled under the seat. I don't know how long it was in there but when I found it the mealworms had gone through their whole life cycle and were beetles, making more mealworms. So I looked up youtube videos about how to make a farm and a few hours later had a self-sorting set up. We had it long enough to at a minimum pay for the farm itself then I gave it to a friend when our chameleons passed. He still uses it to this day.
I've been juicing wheatgrass for years and I get my berries from a family owned small farm called "grains from the plains" they offer free shipping as well.
I add milk thistle seeds as they love those - good for the liver. I also give them buckwheat, hemp and sesame seeds. I tend to use grains for scratch at the moment, and ferment them from time to time, a jar on the go at the moment and another one started. Not quite gone down the whole replacement yet. Mine won't eat split peas - spoilt brats! I get GM and soya free feed at the moment but it is getting extremely expensive. Plus I'm concerned about supply in the future as we don't produce enough food over here for humans let alone animals, and it is getting worse. Love your pretty muscovies - I have a fair few of those. I'd love my birds to be able to free range but we have foxes here. I'd like to have alpaca guards, but husband says no! Edited to add thank you for the recipes!
Question - the 1/2 cup per bird - is that dry or after it has been fermented? I ask because it is bulkier after it has fermented so want to make sure I am calculating correctly - thank you!
I'm not sure I understand the logic. If you are purchasing the ingredients from outside/online sources, how is that being "self sufficient"? You are selecting the quality of the ingredients and the mix ratio, but you are still dependent on the supply chain (competing with others for that limited supply, like the toilet paper fiasco). For that issue, your ingredients need to come from your own garden/farm, and what you pull out of the local river/lake/ocean. But that can be a lot of work, so getting your mix or ingredients from your local co-op would be a good option.
She uses Azure Std. which uses organic. But yes, that too will be unavailable via future controlled internet Hopefully a non-infiltrated alternative will be created
A number of these ingredients can be sourced from local farmers markets. So supply chain hiccups are less probable. She also has eggs and meat to barter or sell locally to secure her feed.
Have you ever had issues with smelly eggs due to high omega 3 content? Apparently, it is an issue with brown egg laying chickens. We live in Florida so my chickens only get corn in the winter. I love all of your ideas, thanks for sharing! ❤
I haven't noticed that, but we are just getting started with this feed so I'll have to keep that in mind if I notice anything! I did read that the fish meal is a good source of the omega 3's but that too much of that can make the eggs smell/taste "fishy"...
Thank you for this video. I am placing an order with Azure as we speak but I cannot find "meaties" - I don't even know what this is. I asked Tractor Supply and they didn't know either. Could you please specify what this is? Thank you.
How much brewer's yeast and kelp do you add? And is there rhyme or reason to it? I saw on your brewer's yeast jar it said 1/4 t/10 lb. That seems extremely minimal. Another website said, "The recommended dosage is generally about 1 to 2 tablespoons of brewer’s yeast per 5 pounds of chicken feed." Also wondering on the kelp.
Excellent Video! One of the Best on chicken feed that I have yet to see! Two quick questions: 1. You don't mention Rice anywhere...do you have any information on Rice as a feedstock? 2. I have a container of crushed corn. I live in the deep south part of Louisiana, and I have a container of crushed corn. In the heat and humidity here, my container of crushed corn has formed a layer of mold on the top of my corn. Would this be harmful to my chickens? Thank you for all of the Work and Research that you have done...you are Truly a Jewel!
Thank you! I did research rice a bit and from what I read it is OK to include in the feed. However I can't get over what I've always heard about not feeding rice to birds (the whole throwing rice at weddings thing) so I avoided including it in my ingredients. And I would definitely avoid feeding the mold to the chickens unfortunately.
@@wickedprepared Thank you for the prompt reply. I shall dispose of the corn. About the rice harming birds, that is a myth. I have personally seen flocks of birds descend upon a rice field many times in my life. And have you ever seen any dead birds around a Church?
I'm super happy to find your information. I'm a do it yourselfer for sure, but also very mindful of health. I'd be concerned not buying organic whenever possible as all these conventionally grown grains are sprayed with glyphosate to dry out faster for processing, and that unhealthy chemical is passed to the consumer, be it human or animal.
I get my feed from Atwood's. Lately the pellets have had a noticeable amount of corn in them and my chickens love it. Now they Are on a different bag and hardly eating. They have cut me back from well over a dozen a day to 6 yesterday. I feed neighbors! I can't be having that. Given the coffee they would eat while corn over the pellets. Gotta figure out something.
We never saw an egg reduction but we stopped using TSC and Purina feed in favor of fresh feed produced locally. I found our chickens do great on our goat feed. They are healthier and won't touch pelletized feed (I had a little left over after we switched.) Here in south Texas, out hens can free range most of the year. Out goats have never been healthier.
OK looking at eventually getting chooks, Is it possible that they can just freely eat grass fruit & vegetable I grow & corn 🌽 on cob & scraps and survive on just that ? When my hubby grew up he said he had chooks just eating in his yard free range & didn't feed them any special foods only grass & table scraps ( NO store bought pre packaged or store bought Human grade foods!) He said if they're in the wild they would be eating grass , worms & any foods they could forage for themselves. I have barley , split peas, flax & sunflower seeds from my food so could use that occasionally . Looking at getting 4 -6 birds (would it be good to grind as you go for Bantams or silkies?) Rural Australia 🇦🇺
They need animal protein so unless they can forage plenty of insects and mice you'll need to supplement it with sources such as meat, fish, eggs, mealworms. Your local foxes will discover your chooks within the hour so you'll need predator proof fencing or a livestock dog.
To learn all about how Azure Standard works so you can get the best deal on ingredients, check out my video: th-cam.com/video/5Gm5qe_0l0c/w-d-xo.html
azure organic is not organic the old man owner told me its just very cleaned.but not truly organic
Azure Standard is great! They sell both organic and conventional bulk grains, and their pricing is reasonable.
is this type of homemade feed OK for baby chicks to eat?
Just a few things I do for my birds. I use their own eggs for calcium, I put the oven on warm and put the egg shells in and leave them for a half hour. Then I use a rolling pin to crush them. I then add it to their container of feed and mix it in.
I use pine needles vs hay. Only because we are in the piney woods region in East Texas so it's free. I add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with the mother into their water daily as it helps with their digestive health aka production of eggs. I add one tablespoon of Chile powder into their daily feed as it's also good for them and makes their yolks way darker. I also let them out everyday for exercise and for bug hunts. It gets dark around 5 so I let them out around 3. When it gets dark they go into their coop and onto their resting areas. This is just what I do and thought I would share.
I live in Texas and I only gave my chickens cracked corn and a mineral block. They were free range. They went into the garden for bugs and the mulch pile for worms. They also ate snails, grass snakes, and grasshoppers.
Last week I bought 10 pullets for the first time ever. I'm stoked to learn how to take care of these little ladies and I'm subbed. My Jesus bless you!
Notice!! I used one of those dollar tree buckets to hold fish while cleaning their tank . The fish were in the buck 45 mins when I went back to retrieve the fish they were floating belly up.
Best check to see what kind of plastic it is to be sure it is non toxic.
They may have run out of oxygen.
When you're ready to clean your fish tank, use some of the fish tank water into a small container so the fish will already be acclimated to it.
I did acclimate the water but someone suggested using a dollar store bucket earlier and I was stating not to cause I did and it killed my fish obviously those buckets are not made of safe materials very toxic to fish
.@@Darryl603
The recycle symbol on the bottom will let you know the grade, only food grade should get used and expect to spend a few bucks on food grade items!
Home Depot buckets always worked for me. Never lost a fish. It also helps if you fill it with the same fish water you are changing. And then if you have it an air pump for added measure.
Bravo.........hot tip.......soak all grain and seed over night water.......double the feed.......cheers...........free range......cheers
Wow! You have done all the time-consuming research for me and everything you have said makes perfect sense to me. Many people I know have mentioned their chickens are not laying as well as they used to, that their gardens vegetables like tomatoes and green peppers are much smaller than in the past. Thank you so much for this video. I've been making my dog's food for decades with the help of Dr. Karen Becker, Dr. Royal and Dr. Ian Billinghurst and its paid big dividends in their health. Vet visits are only for the rabies vaccine, they are so much healthier eating a species appropriate diet! Again, thank you so much!
Cooked beans also provide a great deal of protein!
My chickens don’t like beans 😅
@@courtw3231 oh no ! Lol try cooked lentils :) see if they will like those !
My mother cooks pintos and macaroni. The birds go nuts for it.
@@courtw3231have you tried sprouting or fermenting your beans or grains?
🐓🌾 Thank you! I have 8 chickens and I never made my own mix. But now I am inspired! Thank you. 👍
I was able to watch the complete video with full attention. All information that I wanted was here in the video. All my to do items for research was covered in your video. Thank you very much for this, saved a lot of my time. I am a beginner and this is my first time raising chickens in my new farm here in India.I really appreciate your hardwork in putting this video together. Thank you again
We have made our girlz whole food feed for three years and they are thriving. We also add Diatomaceous Earth (DE) which help ensure no worms 😅 straight into the feed so they stay healthy and deliver clean shiny eggz. Enjoyed your video and thanks for info on azure.
You may want to research DE and find out what it's doing to your lungs and your chicken's lungs.
@@SamStone1964 maybe use it in wet(sprouting) feed so can’t be inhaled
@@coleen2213 Once DE is wet it is ineffective against insects. I would never use it and risk harming my hen's lungs.
I don't have birds, but I enjoyed watching this. It's good to know that there is one more area that we don't have to depend on outside sources for. Thanks for all of the time and hard work that you and Rob put into this.🌽
Thanks Dannie!! We appreciate you watching! It's definitely important for us all to try to depend less on outside sources, no matter if that's food for us or food for our animals. That's very true! Thank you so much!
Growing grains is super easy. I grew spelt last year and wow. It grew great and stayed green during the drought when the rest of my garden was stunted.
Great video.❤ Red pepper flakes are also a great natural de-wormer!
Awesome addition! I also use Cayenne pepper from the day their born. Also helps with shiny feathers. FYI for anyone asking the cayenne won’t bother them the way it bothers us nor will the crushed red pepper flakes.
Zucchini seeds, pumpkin seeds etc, are a great natural de wormer. I save them after the harvest, freeze them and give them to the chickens throughout the winter once a month.
Pumpkin is good as a natural de-wormer as well
I'm so blessed that I found your video by chance as so many comments state yours is the best on the subject. I'm a novice chicken owner (they haven't even started laying yet, but hopefully soon). I'm very concerned about their diet. An employee at TS told me she had the low production issue with the most popular brand and started buying an organic brand and mixing cat food into it to increase protein amount. Don't know about that, but I do buy a good grain free cat food. So I was going to give that a try when I switch them over to a laying feed. I'm just so pleased to find this video so I can definitely give your recipes a try instead. Thanks for your detailed hard work and sharing it with all of us newbie's. God bless you!
🌾 My first time raising chickens, my girls are now 10 weeks. I have been playing around with fermenting a grain mixture, they seem to love it, for now it is only a treat, they are still on the grow mixture. Thank you for all the information.
I love the pidder padder of the little feet! I do not currently own chickens but I love learning because we do see chickens at my veterinarian hospital where I work and many people I know do keep chickens. 🌾🌾🌾 Another great video! ❤
Thank you for watching! 😊
Stephanie, does your facility ever see/treat chickens for bumblefoot?
There is a rooster someone dumped at the state park I work at that seems to be developing this. It's currently the resident yard chicken / mascot at headquarters after it got caught by a ranger with a friend-hen (who's since met its demise due to a predator).
I bought 50 lb. bags of crumble and scratch feed for them/it as they were mainly being fed junk food from the vending machine by everyone.
I'm going to buy healthy extras based on this video, but I worry about the rooster's feet as I am only a seasonal employee. My stint ends this coming weekend and I want to buy what could be needed to rehab him.
We have grassy areas but also a gravel drive. He lifts his feet more regularly now (for relief, I'm assuming). I live in an apartment so can't help out more. I'd def take him home otherwise.
🌾 great video! New chicken owner here as of yesterday! We adopted 10 that are already laying (about 1.5 yrs old) so thank you! This was so helpful
Great video. We’ve been making our feed with ingredients from Azure and the Farmer Peapod recipe on the Azure blog for years now and store it in 55 gallon drums. It only became difficult when many items were out of stock because of supply chain issues. Making your own isn’t a cheaper option but allowed us to make an organic feed at a competitive price. And we soak the feed which makes it go a lot further.
azure organic is not organic the old man owner told me its just very cleaned.but not truly organic
What do you mean you soak your feed? You just add water and let it soak? Wouldn’t mind learning more about this.
@@justjason7662 Put feed in a bucket and cover it with water. Make sure to keep the water level ABOVE the feed, to prevent aerobic bacteria and fungus growth.
The feed in the water will then ferment. Chickens require LESS feed if it is fermented. Probably because of the increased bacteria and open availability of nutrients.
1 bag of fermented feed is equal to about 1.3 bags of dry food.
@@justjason7662 We call it fermentation.
Howdy neighbor! MAINE you say? We're in Dixmont. I'm a retired MAINEiac. We have some meat birds coming the end of June to run in a tractor. I'm absolutely interested in DIYing their feed, but will likely go with store bought organic (Paris CoOp in Newport) this first time. A lot on the plater this summer already.
I checked and Waterville would be our Azure drop. Things to ponder... SUBBED ya BTW.
Hey there fellow Mainer!!! Thank you for subbing and thank you for being here. I appreciate you! How did you guys do with this last storm? Did you lose power?
@@wickedprepared We had a couple hard flickers and had to wait for the router to reboot a couple times, but the lights stayed on here.
🌾 Thank you so much, I really enjoyed your video! I appreciate that you gave so much good information in such a concise manner without rambling or stretching things out. It really was very enjoyable to watch and you are easy to listen to. 😊 I also keep chickens and have thought about and wanted to make my own feed. I did ferment the feed when they were chicks, but have not continued that practice now that they are layers, but I may go back to that.
Holy COW thank you for ALL THE INFO on your page here and watching was fantastic education. Then the connected links really did help to find the products in Organic. You have DONE your research and I will pass it on to others. Thank you BIG TIME :)
I am 10 seconds in. It was autoplaying in my TH-cam home page. I saw Gate and Scwob (sp?) and immediately knew you were a great channel. Now let me check out your whole line up 🤩
I'm very happy to see this video
Good information
Beautiful woman
I'll give it a try after watching the ferminting way ..
Can chickens eat the whole corn ? Ducks do .
What about feed for chicks ?
I'm feeding greens and kitchen waste , they're doing well thank GOD but no weight gain .
You can use sweet potato in winter instead of corn if it's cheap , also you can add moringa to your mix .
Love the Schwab and Gates pop up🤣
Azomite can also be added to animal feed in small amounts, the same stuff you put in your garden as its sourced from volcanic ash (check out their website). Hemp is another additive for animal feed much like the kelp but hard to source.. I'm getting chickens in the spring to fill the gap between gardening waste and honeybees.
This is exactly the type of video that I was looking for. 🌾 We have 11 pullets and 1 that turned out to be a rooster 😂 right now. They are still too young to lay, but this is super helpful. Thanks!
chickens need meat/insects = and green leaf = supply chain disruption can/will include grain = so you are potentially screwed lady
appreciate all this info and links for sources for the feed items. 🌾
We've been looking for other chicken feed alternatives because this is the third year that our hens have low egg production.
Thank you so much
I very much appreciate this video! It is the very best video I’ve found on the subject on YT so far! The options and calculations have given me the confidence to do this myself! Thank you SO much! Great job!
chickens need meat/insects = and green leaf = supply chain disruption can/will include grain = so you are potentially screwed lady
Very good thank you I'll be following
Thank you so much for this video!!!! I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to calculate protein percentage in homemade feed and how to figure out crude protein! You are a life saver!
chickens need meat/insects = and green leaf = supply chain disruption can/will include grain = so you are potentially screwed lady
🌾 I enjoyed this video very much and learned a lot. I got a new flock of chicks recently. Haven't had chicken for about three years. This time around I am mixing my own feed. Wasn't sure which grains to feed them so I bought the four they were being fed. Thanks to you they now will get a wider range of grains and seeds. I am enjoying my chicks so much. Will keep watching for more informative videos as you post them. Kaye .. Texas
Super stoked to try both of these. Will be digging to see any and all you create. Thanks for the help!! ❤❤
🌾🌾🌾🌾
Thanks. Informative and not dry.
I tried this for the same reasons
In the end i went to a quality pre prepared milled feed with added meat meal so the protein content was at around 18% and calcium
Chickens health improved shells got thicker
I gave my old flock away to work out of state. Just got some new pullets and bought a bag of feed from TS. I'm going to look into making one of these recipes and maybe plant some food for them for grazing. Thank you for all of the information 🌾
What kind of crops would you grow that chickens could forage on?
See if your area has a livestock feed store. You can get more locally sourced ingredients, and many blend their own. It's also less expensive and more nutritious.
Thank you for the advice and hard work that you put into sharing your experience and research. We are struggling to get egg production back up after reducing free ranging due to predation. Just completed an additional run 3x the size of the one in the coop to alleviate crowding/confinement stress. I’ll be heading to the feed store today to get the ingredients you recommended and start introducing the new diet. The biggest takeaway for me besides the obvious benefits of diet diversity was your comment on eating the same crap 24/7, Sorta like being in prison on permanent bread and water. DUH. Great video!
Thank you. New here. Just started fermenting. Working great so far! Will be buying my own whole grain after I finish the layer feed I have. Your video was concise, you speak quickly and clearly and are very organized, all of the grains were clearly pictured, all of which are greatly appreciated! Will be checking out prices on Azure. I live in the middle of nowhere and it's next to Impossible to find these grains. We had a feed store but they retired and closed down. Two hour drive to feed stores. Min $50 in gas so shipping becomes key. Tractor Supp 25 miles but slim choices. Your info great! This is only emoji even close. 🌾
Fellow Mainer! Tha ks for these recipes and tips 🥚🐓🌾
Very interesting video. Obviously, you know this subject. 🌽
🌾great information. Thanks
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this! *Question - I ferment my feed, but I don't pour off the liquid. Do people pour off the extra liquid for health or just practical reasons? My chickens seem to enjoy their "porridge"! I feed them in a large rubber feed bowl. They gobble it & don't make a mess all over the ground. (But they also climb into the bowl 😂). They drink less water when I give fermented food, so I assume the extra liquid is hydrating them.
Do you soak rolled oats & if so is it ok😊
Videos I’ve seen of people using soaked or fermented feed, they seem to pour it all in- not strain the liquid
@@aminaschmiat6476 I haven't soaked rolled oats (except when my kids don't finish their oatmeal). It should be fine. Just check the progress if you're fermenting several days. I found I can't ferment much longer than 1-2 days in warm weather, or it gets icky.
Thankyou sooo much for this valuable info. I really appreciate it. I have subscribed and intend to follow you to learn a lot more from you. Well done 🐔🐔🐔
I see a few of those videos about chickens not laying because of feed. I am not 100% sold on that.. People dont realize that it takes 12-14 hours of sunlight to get hens to lay.. Chickens always lay fewer eggs in the fall and winter.. Oh, I bet a lot of people don't realize not to wash the eggs they keep them fresher longer..
Thanks Jara for helpful info 👍 😊 😀 🐔🐓🦃🐔🐓🐣🐤🐤🐤🌾🌾🌾🌾
I agree with you there Tim... our birds never lay in the winter! 0
Thank you Tim!
I know my chickens don’t always lay in winter ( I always had one odd one that always laid in the winter . I don’t provide artificial lighting ) , my girls stopped laying earlier then usual and I noticed the molt was off , they seemed thinner ( not normal at all ) , I tried upping the protein , then I had 5 hens and a rooster drop dead overnight . I know there was no sickness in my flock , I believe the feed diddnt have enough protein . I stopped using commercial feed , started feeding scraps with wild bird feed , I watch the protein and they started laying again 1 month after I cut off the commercial feed . It’s a horrible thing to happen .
@@amandaforeman2626hat's awful Amanda! I can't imagine that loss. I would be so sad. We all have our favorite chickens and there are definitely a few that have really become my little babies. 😅
@@sherragurman9959 ya it was so shocking :( I lost my favorite rooster and my sassy old gal who used to jump up for treats 😂. These are things I have never experienced before ! I’ve raised chickens before ! It was heartbreaking . Now that the chickens are on scraps and wild bird feed ( read your labels ) , I haven’t lost one chicken since
Thank you for the great information! Enjoy your day, Jara!
Thank you! You too!
I have been mixing my own feed for about a year now. My layers leave the whole oats behind. I'll definitely try the hr wheat and split peas. Thanks for such a informative video.
That is interesting that your chickens wont eat the oats. My chickens refuse to eat flax seed. I mixed a whole bunch of feed before I knew this. It is always the flax seed that is left.
Same with my chickens and most of the wheat
❤ loved it. Very helpful. 🌾
Great Information
Thanx for sharing brief information that is very handy. Stay blessed 😊😊😊
$$$ side hustle alert, lol
If you don't like bugs, you can raise freshwater shrimp in plastic garbage cans with just a bubbler for most of the year. You can feed them garbage scraps and duckweed (which is high in protein and may also be good for chickens instead of either insect or shrimp protein, I know it's named duckweed because ducks LOVE it). Any shallow tub of water out in the sunlight with some urine in it should work as long it's above freezing temps (urine is for nitrogen).
But the bonus is that while most of us don't want to eat black soldier fly larve ourselves, the freshwater shrimp is delicious and quite a delicacy, even in Thailand where it is found wild. It's called blue lobster in restaurant circles (and yes, it grows to be the size of a small lobster) but it has more flavor than a regular lobster and sells for $30 a pound retail! So before TSHTF, it can make a great side-income. Just call around to the highest-end restaurants in your area or learn to ship it out on ice packs. As a pro chef myself, I've been tempted to get into it and sell to a restaurant supplier. Though I'm not sure what certification might be required for selling for human consumption.
And you can throw the undersized or injured ones to your chickens, live. Can't get any fresher protein than that ;)
Wow that's incredible!
At first I thought no way can I do this, then I watched the whole vid and realized I didn't need to do the fish or soy. Thanks, I can do this too!!!!
Absolutely the most informative tutorial on home made chick feed. And also thank you for all the resources…. truly very valuable information.
chickens need meat/insects = and green leaf = supply chain disruption can/will include grain = so you are potentially screwed lady
where i live corn is heavily sprayed with Monsanto chemicals as is soy and sugar beets
Look into raising Dubia Roaches. My chickens love them. Great nutrition. Easy to keep a tote of roaches in a dark warm spot. They reproduce so the cost is minimal.
I make my own pig and chicken food. I boil and dehydrate excess chicken eggs, shell and all. I store the dehydrated eggs until I buy a feeder pig in early Summer. My basic feed is corn, soybean meal, and dehydrated eggs. I also add lysine, methionine, and di-calcium phosphate. I then grind it in a hammer mill.
hopefully works for me thanks for sharing
You are super!!
That's a really good video ♥️
Very Much enjoyed. Grate to see three recipes. Very helpful. Thanks
Great information! Thank you. 🌽🌾
🌾 Great info.
Excellent, especially figuring the protein percentage.
love your mixes, and the care and time you put in... i originally clicked here to see what you had going on if, heaven forbid, some emergency DID affect our ability to do biz online... but these ingredients are also online... (?) anyway, love the details 🐥
🌾🐓 I can't wait to try this😊
Lots of good info! Great research and compiling skills. Appreciate the time it took and the kindness to share.
🌾🌾
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much for watching!
Our girls eat weeds, dinner scraps, bugs we find. Our gardens provide greens and veggies. We fish a lot and we boil the carcass and pull off the leftover fish. Chickens love fish. They have layer feed available but only eat a small amount. Best case is 2 or three eggs a day from 4 girls consistantly with strong shells.
Thank you for the detailed breakdown! I do have an important question. Should I WEIGH out the grains, rather than measure it out by cups, because of the different densities of the grains?
Would love to see an updated video on this with your current recipe(s)
You can grow sunflowers to seed, save the seeds for the birds and then you can eat the receptacle, which is also edible by the birds too. Do mealworms!!!! 100% good idea.
I really want to do soldier fly larvae... was hoping to get it set up this year but 🤷♀️
@@wickedpreparedMy mealworm farm was started by accident. My kids were getting groceries out of my truck and the chameleon food rolled under the seat.
I don't know how long it was in there but when I found it the mealworms had gone through their whole life cycle and were beetles, making more mealworms. So I looked up youtube videos about how to make a farm and a few hours later had a self-sorting set up.
We had it long enough to at a minimum pay for the farm itself then I gave it to a friend when our chameleons passed. He still uses it to this day.
Protein comes in many forms, including indigestable. Amino acids, in particular essential amino acids, are what you need to focus on.
Thumbs up at 3 seconds in!
I've been juicing wheatgrass for years and I get my berries from a family owned small farm called "grains from the plains" they offer free shipping as well.
I add milk thistle seeds as they love those - good for the liver. I also give them buckwheat, hemp and sesame seeds. I tend to use grains for scratch at the moment, and ferment them from time to time, a jar on the go at the moment and another one started. Not quite gone down the whole replacement yet. Mine won't eat split peas - spoilt brats! I get GM and soya free feed at the moment but it is getting extremely expensive. Plus I'm concerned about supply in the future as we don't produce enough food over here for humans let alone animals, and it is getting worse.
Love your pretty muscovies - I have a fair few of those. I'd love my birds to be able to free range but we have foxes here. I'd like to have alpaca guards, but husband says no! Edited to add thank you for the recipes!
My girls don’t eat split peas either… they are SPOILED!😂
🌾 thank you 😊
Homemade probably has less exposure to rodents and mold, too. Thanks for this detailed info!
Great point!
Good job.
🌾Great Video 🌾
Question - the 1/2 cup per bird - is that dry or after it has been fermented? I ask because it is bulkier after it has fermented so want to make sure I am calculating correctly - thank you!
I'm not sure I understand the logic. If you are purchasing the ingredients from outside/online sources, how is that being "self sufficient"? You are selecting the quality of the ingredients and the mix ratio, but you are still dependent on the supply chain (competing with others for that limited supply, like the toilet paper fiasco). For that issue, your ingredients need to come from your own garden/farm, and what you pull out of the local river/lake/ocean. But that can be a lot of work, so getting your mix or ingredients from your local co-op would be a good option.
She uses Azure Std. which uses organic. But yes, that too will be unavailable via future controlled internet
Hopefully a non-infiltrated alternative will be created
She can store in large quantities and they hold their nutrients longer. Therefore the food is healthier and lasts longer. 😊
You are correct about supply chain issues. This insures you know what is in your feed. Unmedicated etc. ideally you produce or source locally
Grain 🌾
A number of these ingredients can be sourced from local farmers markets. So supply chain hiccups are less probable. She also has eggs and meat to barter or sell locally to secure her feed.
I love Azure! But I think their drop requirements vary. For my town our minimum is a few thousand
Have you ever had issues with smelly eggs due to high omega 3 content? Apparently, it is an issue with brown egg laying chickens. We live in Florida so my chickens only get corn in the winter. I love all of your ideas, thanks for sharing! ❤
I haven't noticed that, but we are just getting started with this feed so I'll have to keep that in mind if I notice anything! I did read that the fish meal is a good source of the omega 3's but that too much of that can make the eggs smell/taste "fishy"...
They need a balanced diet. Corn is a carbohydrate so you need to add protein for sure and some seeds and vegetables.
@@donnettehenderson2447 I only add corn in the winter to help warm them up… they have a nice healthy diet…. Lots of bugs too 😂
@@ruthipete2244 good! Your first comment said you only gave them corn.
chickens need meat/insects = and green leaf = supply chain disruption can/will include grain = so you are potentially screwed lady
This was a very informative video. I’m wondering if nutritional yeast could be used instead of brewers yeast?
Absolutely!
Thanks, very useful!
Thank you for this video. I am placing an order with Azure as we speak but I cannot find "meaties" - I don't even know what this is. I asked Tractor Supply and they didn't know either. Could you please specify what this is? Thank you.
Do you have a recipe for chick starter? Thank you for the links to Azure standard. Luckily I have a drop about 8 miles from me. Yay
Love the channel name :) Great info. Thanks for doing the math!
Could you share your spreadsheet?! that would be really handy
Gr8 ❤ INFO MATE SUBSCRIBED
I would love an update on this homemade diet. What was your egg output? What ingredients did you notice weren't being eaten?
Thank you ever so much!!
You're very welcome!
How much brewer's yeast and kelp do you add? And is there rhyme or reason to it? I saw on your brewer's yeast jar it said 1/4 t/10 lb. That seems extremely minimal. Another website said, "The recommended dosage is generally about 1 to 2 tablespoons of brewer’s yeast per 5 pounds of chicken feed." Also wondering on the kelp.
Excellent Video! One of the Best on chicken feed that I have yet to see!
Two quick questions:
1. You don't mention Rice anywhere...do you have any information on Rice as a feedstock?
2. I have a container of crushed corn. I live in the deep south part of Louisiana, and I have a container of crushed corn. In the heat and
humidity here, my container of crushed corn has formed a layer of mold on the top of my corn. Would this be harmful to my chickens?
Thank you for all of the Work and Research that you have done...you are Truly a Jewel!
Thank you! I did research rice a bit and from what I read it is OK to include in the feed. However I can't get over what I've always heard about not feeding rice to birds (the whole throwing rice at weddings thing) so I avoided including it in my ingredients. And I would definitely avoid feeding the mold to the chickens unfortunately.
@@wickedprepared Thank you for the prompt reply. I shall dispose of the corn. About the rice harming birds, that is a myth. I have personally seen flocks of birds descend upon a rice field many times in my life. And have you ever seen any dead birds around a Church?
Good Job 👍👍👍
I'm super happy to find your information. I'm a do it yourselfer for sure, but also very mindful of health. I'd be concerned not buying organic whenever possible as all these conventionally grown grains are sprayed with glyphosate to dry out faster for processing, and that unhealthy chemical is passed to the consumer, be it human or animal.
I get my feed from Atwood's. Lately the pellets have had a noticeable amount of corn in them and my chickens love it. Now they Are on a different bag and hardly eating. They have cut me back from well over a dozen a day to 6 yesterday. I feed neighbors! I can't be having that. Given the coffee they would eat while corn over the pellets. Gotta figure out something.
I was hoping to see a follow-up video to see which recipe they like best but I couldn't find one did I miss it?
We never saw an egg reduction but we stopped using TSC and Purina feed in favor of fresh feed produced locally. I found our chickens do great on our goat feed. They are healthier and won't touch pelletized feed (I had a little left over after we switched.) Here in south Texas, out hens can free range most of the year. Out goats have never been healthier.
Very interesting! I'd love to have goats some day! That's definitely on the list!
Do not forget, TSC is also a WOKE Corp. also.
@@firstlast2034 NOTE: Both Dumor and Producer Pride are made by Purina with feed base imported from China.
OK looking at eventually getting chooks, Is it possible that they can just freely eat grass fruit & vegetable I grow & corn 🌽 on cob & scraps and survive on just that ?
When my hubby grew up he said he had chooks just eating in his yard free range & didn't feed them any special foods only grass & table scraps ( NO store bought pre packaged or store bought Human grade foods!)
He said if they're in the wild they would be eating grass , worms & any foods they could forage for themselves.
I have barley , split peas, flax & sunflower seeds from my food so could use that occasionally .
Looking at getting 4 -6 birds (would it be good to grind as you go for Bantams or silkies?)
Rural Australia 🇦🇺
They need animal protein so unless they can forage plenty of insects and mice you'll need to supplement it with sources such as meat, fish, eggs, mealworms.
Your local foxes will discover your chooks within the hour so you'll need predator proof fencing or a livestock dog.
They can't digest grass (grass seeds are ok) but most lawn weed forbs are good
Regarding heavy metals, doesn't kelp come from the sea just like the fish meal?