Post by thystledown on Nov 30, 2022 9:57:24 GMT -5
I have gone to a completely soy free cow feed, and now I want to do that with the chickens. I did it years ago, but lost the recipe. We only used local grains, but I had to feed another protein source, which at the time was ground meat scraps from butchering various hoof stock. Now I'm betting my clabber which all my birds were raised on will be a sufficient source of missing amino acids in a corn, oats, wheat blend with Fertrell Nutribalancer and salt in the mix. I can grind it all and mix it and feed the clabber free choice on the side as always. My birds are free range the year around unless predator pressure starts to be a problem (nasty foxes hunt during the day). I checked Fertrell for a recipe, but couldn't find any posted there anymore. I asked if they'd make me one like they did for the cow, but they don't approve of clabber and want me to use fish or crab meal in place of the soy. I tried searching the internet for any historic records of what chickens were fed in the early 1900's before soy was used, but couldn't find much except that chickens didn't do well. I don't think that is true. I know my grandfather, born in 1900, had a butter and egg farm and had several chicken houses and sold lots of eggs. During war rationing at one point, he would kill a bull calf to keep them fed--which was also against the rules, but necessary. But that was an exception. they didn't generally feed calves to the chickens.
So anyway, the grains I have access to locally at reasonable prices are corn, oats, and wheat. But I'm not sure what percentage of each should go into the mix I grind. I do know the fertrell poultry nutribalancer is mixed in as 3% by weight or 3#/100#grain. Anyone with any experience please let me know what you did! Thanks!
(If you are dying to know why Fertrell doesn't like milk for chickens, I found this blog post. I think it isn't persuasive because even the author says he'd like to see research. He's making a guess and in conditions that don't match feeding skim milk clabber to free range heritage breeds, which is what I do. www.fertrell.com/blog/feeding-milk-to-chickens)
So anyway, the grains I have access to locally at reasonable prices are corn, oats, and wheat. But I'm not sure what percentage of each should go into the mix I grind. I do know the fertrell poultry nutribalancer is mixed in as 3% by weight or 3#/100#grain. Anyone with any experience please let me know what you did! Thanks!
(If you are dying to know why Fertrell doesn't like milk for chickens, I found this blog post. I think it isn't persuasive because even the author says he'd like to see research. He's making a guess and in conditions that don't match feeding skim milk clabber to free range heritage breeds, which is what I do. www.fertrell.com/blog/feeding-milk-to-chickens)