Sprouting and processing grain for chicken feed

March 4, 2010 Posts No Comments

One of the reasons we’ve
held back from growing
our own chicken feed grains for so long is that we were
a bit scared of the processing step.  But it sounds like there are
two options that are suitable to the backyard scale.

Sprouting beans for chickensSome
grains can be fed whole, but nearly all grains are more digestible if
they are ground.  If you’re grinding grain into flour for
yourself, you can use the same hand-cranked mill to grind a bit of
grain for your chickens.  On the other hand, if we really get into
growing our own feed we’ll probably find a way to make or buy a better
mill.



Old timey farmers knew
that sprouting was even better than
grinding.  If you’re willing to put in a little extra time, you
can sprout all of the grains you feed your animals, a process that
makes them even more nutritious.  This would probably be our
processing option of choice, especially in the winter.



Stay tuned for several
less conventional chicken feed options in upcoming posts. 
Meanwhile, check out our homemade chicken
waterers that
provide clean water for your hens.

This post is part of our Homemade Chicken Feed series. 
Read all of the entries:

Growing grains for chicken feed

March 4, 2010 Posts No Comments

cornThis
year, we’ve decided to start growing some of the grain for our
chickens’ feed.  We’ll be starting small to figure out what works
well on the backyard scale, first trying hulless oats, buckwheat,
amaranth, and quinoa, and then probably expanding out in later years to
include wheat, field corn, rye, barley, and millet.  In the long
run, we’d like to grow all of our own chicken feed, which is estimated
to be about a bushel of grain per chicken per year.

OatsIn Small-Scale
Grain Raising, Gene Logsdon explains that you can plan your
garden so
that your animals (and you) eat nearly fresh grains throughout the
year.  Rye and barley are the first grains to ripen in early
summer, then wheat, oats, buckwheat, and sorghum are ripe in the
fall.  In the winter and spring, you can feed the easily stored
corn and soybeans.  Check out our homesteading blog for more tips
on how
to grow and process grain.  We’ll be updating
over there on how our first season goes as the weather warms up.



Meanwhile, if you’re
going to keep your chickens healthy by formulating your own chicken
feed, why not go the extra mile and keep them happy with a poop-free chicken waterer?

This post is part of our Homemade Chicken Feed series. 
Read all of the entries:

Vitamins and minerals in chicken feed

March 4, 2010 Posts No Comments

Chickens scratching at chickweedOf
course, protein isn’t the only factor your
should consider when formulating your chicken feed (although it is very
important.)  You’ll notice that our recipes
for chicken laying feed and chicken
starter/grower feed contain additional vitamins and minerals. 
What should you add to your grains and beans and why?



First
of all, laying hens need extra calcium to keep their eggshells strong.  Most people add some
combination of aragonite,
ground limestone, marble, bone meal, or oyster shells to
their feed, but on a small, backyard scale, you can feed eggshells back
to the hens.  Just be sure to crush the shells well so that your
girls don’t realize that the eggs they’re laying are food, and be aware
that just feeding the eggshells back isn’t quite enough.  Luckily,
calcium sources are pretty cheap — drop by your local feed store and
chances are you can find one of the sources for a little over a dollar
a pound.  Many people who mix their own feeds simply offer one of
the calcium sources in a separate trough to their hens — the girls
will eat as much as they need and no more.



The
other additive to feeds is either salt or poultry nutri-balancer (which is a combination of
calcium, phosphorous, salt, and trace minerals.)  If your chickens
live in chicken
tractors, like ours,
and have access to forage every day, chances are you can get by with
just feeding some salt to your birds — which is a good thing because
nutri-balancer is seriously expensive!  If you feel like your
birds have a deficiency, you might consider growing some dynamic
accumulators to feed
your hens, keeping them naturally healthy.



While you’re at it, give
your birds an automatic chicken waterer, because a hydrated bird is
a healthy bird.

This post is part of our Homemade Chicken Feed series. 
Read all of the entries: