Homemade Chicken Feed

Do you ever wonder if there is another way than purchasing chicken feed from a store? I mean, what did our ancestors feed their chickens before the boom of commercial feed industries took over? So I got curious and did some research. I researched what nutrition my chickens need in order for them to be healthy and provide our family with yummy healthy eggs.

Last year I started mixing my own soy free, mostly organic whole grain chicken feed.  The decision to feed a whole grain diet- versus a commercially formulated diet is a personal one based on what I believe is best for my chickens.  Luckily it also turned out to be an economical decision and a benefit to my own diet.

Fair warning, my chickens are spoiled.  Not only do they live in the most adorable three-story chicken mansion, they free range, fed dried mealworms as treats, and have access to all of my endless supply of leftover kitchen and garden scraps.  Can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Why make your own whole grain feed? 

Most commercial chicken feed comes in crumble or pellet form, neither of which looks like real food to me.  Since real food comes out of my chickens, I want real food to go in them. “you are what you eat”.

Crumble and pellets are already formulated to contain the nutritional balance that a chicken need but all of the processes of crackling, mashing, pressing and heating the grains causes them to go stale and lose some their nutritional value- even months before you purchase the feed. I’d rather give my chickens real food and not processed food. Do you ever wonder why there isn’t an expiration date or best by date on most livestock feeds? 

Is whole grain diet a complete diet?

Like humans, chickens need a diverse diet and sometimes they need a different diet in winter than they do in the summer. For example, cracked corn in the winter helps their little bodies generate heat to keep warm.  You wouldn’t want to feed your ladies corn during a hot summer, instead switch it out with sunflower seeds. A layer hens diet consist  16% protein in the summer and 18% protein in the fall and winter during the molting stage. You can accomplish this with whole grains and by adding supplements like kelp for minerals. I like to add brewers yeast for another source of minerals like vitamin B and it has digestive enzymes.  Fish meal is a great source for protein and omega-3s. Sunflowers contain about 17% protein.

Where can you purchase the ingredients?

My best advice for you is to shop around for the best prices and buy bulk. You can check with your local feed store if they carry the ingredients, or if they can place a special order for you through one of their vendors.  Azure Standards is also a good source too.  Basically shop around to get the lowest bulk prices.

How do you store all the Ingredients?

You want to store all the ingredients in a dry space within an airtight storage container.  You can store your feed in the barn, coop, or garage, depending on what works best for you. Wouldn’t suggest storing your ingredients outside unless you want raccoons to invade your storage containers.

One night I took the garbage out and discovered a raccoon bandit making itself at home after discovering how to take the lid off the trash cans.  Yikes! What a mess it made. You can find galvanized steel locking-lid storage containers at your local pet and/or feed store. There are all sorts of containers out there from metal to plastic containers. Even food grade barrels to store all your ingredients. 

I store my ingredients in metal 20lb trash cans with lids. I sprinkle a thin layer of food grade Diatomaceous Earth at the bottom of the can before placing anything in it. Food grade Diatomaceous Earth contains 0.5–2% crystalline silica and is used as an insecticide as well as an anti-caking agent in the agricultural and food industries. I do this for a couple of reasons, one, it will kill insects that may be interested in making a habitat in the can and feast on the grains. When Diatomaceous Earth comes in contact with an insect, the silica removes the waxy outer coating from the insect’s exoskeleton.  Without this coating, the insect cannot retain water and dies of dehydration.

One year my local feed store had a beetle infestation on some of their feed supplies. In this case, it was a 25lb bag of oat groats.  When I opened the bag I noticed movement within the bag. In my mind, I started to recall a scene from an Indiana Jones movie and quickly sealed the bag and placed it outside.  I called the feed store and they had explained that they had a beetle infestation and are trying to get rid of them.  Luckily I had discovered it the minute I got home.  Otherwise, all of my other whole grains would have been infested.  So from this day on, I put a layer of food grade Diatomaceous Earth in my cans.  It’s a great safety precaution.

The Recipe! 

1 part Oat Groats
2 part Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (seasonal)
3 part Hard Red Wheat Berries
3 part Soft White Wheat Berries
1 part Kamut
1 part Hulled Barley
2 part Crushed Corn (seasonal)
1/4 part Fish Meal
1/4 part Diatomaceous Earth (the edible kind)
1/4 part Flax Seeds (omega-3s)
1/4 part Brewer’s Yeast
1/4 part Kelp Granules
1/4 part of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, or Molasses.
Free-choice Oyster Shells
Free-choice Grit

Instructions