Another question on the basics of raising chicks...

I have been researching chicken feed; homemade varieties and store bought. It seems that a lot of people balk at homemade varieties. I was always under the assumption that chickens would eat pretty much any scraps. Then some info sites on this said to "beware" of homemade chicken feed because they would not get a balanced diet this way. I am confused, I mean, what did they do in the old days!

I would imagine they threw them what the had left over if any and what they grew. And I would assume they lived off the land as in free ranging.

But again how chickens are being bred now could that be a difference? I would love to just feed my chickens homemade stuff. I would love to see where this will go.

I know! I googled this question and they had actual homemade versions of store bought feed all broken down to match the name brands ingedients and nutritional facotors and while some where thrilled with it, others (maybe the brands' incognito!) balked!

I have a feeling nutrition was not the most important thing back in the day. I think the emphasis was on being full, not healthy.

This message was edited Oct 4, 2008 1:20 PM

Maybe, but junk food was expensive because you couldn't grow it! Sugar, flour, fried foods...The only added thing I remember the great grandparents supposedly gave was cracked corn -and you know it wasn't GM

Interesting topic. I was so frustrated yesterday. Since I've had the girls I've been making my own scratch for them with millet, barley, wheat, flax seed, and sunflower seeds. I wasn't terribly thrilled with stuffing them full of just cracked corn.

Then the other day I was at the feed store and they had a "5 grain" scratch that they were offering for $15 for 50lbs. I thought, "WOW! That's way cheaper than what I've been doing through the Winco bulk foods section". So I bought it. I got home opened it up and poured it into my steel container and it SURPRISE! I had to be at least 70% cracked corn.

I'm so bummed! I now have 50lbs of scratch for three girls and I really don't want to feed it all to them. *UGH*

Rural King here in Illinois just started carring their own brand name feeds, on the bag in small letters it says Nuetra (sp) BUT>> the scratch is definitly different.. for the first time I can see about 6 different grains in there. It really looks very good and the girls go nuts over it. Last bag of scratch I bought from Big R (I thought they were they same) but it was NOT Rural King feed and it was about 90% corn.

Hey Lazy, haven't talked to you in a while! Hows the art thing going? I was trying to google some feed and there are a lot of neat ideas out there- and a lot of opinions on it! Concerning your 50 lbs of cracked corn-You can always do what I do when I buy a dry cat food that I don't think has enough good stuff in it- I incorporate it into a bigger amount of the better stuff. But you probably know that already! Do you buy the barley, wheat, flax etc,. separately in bulk? If so, where do you buy them? I am highly allergic to wheat and barley, even ingesting it....I wonder if I can leave those things out or maybe hubby will end up feeding the chickens when I get them! We don't have a Rural King here so I can forget that nor a Winco! We don't have a lot of the same chains as the south, and west coasters...bummer for me!

Hi Brit,
I hadn't seen this message until just now. Sorry about that. The art thing went quite well. We got a couple of custom orders and DH is quite busy. Helps him to feel more productive and "earning his keep" with the broken leg.

I thought of that or I'm also thinking of trying to sell it on craigslist. Then I can go back to what I was doing or hunting for something with less corn.

Yes, until I found what I thought was going to be good I had been buying all of the different ingredients in bulk at Winco. There has to be a store that sells bulk in NY, right?

I can't remember (and am too lazy to re-read the whole thread) whether silkie and I made this clarification here or in another thread, so here goes.... I'm not saying that this is all that I feed my girls. They get a commercial bought organic layers crumble that is 16% protein. What I"m mixing up is just their treats. This is what I throw out when I'm letting them out in the morning and if I get home before their bedtime what I throw out right before bed.

Have you seen this thread? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/888425/ TF does a great job describing the detail to which she goes to make sure her chickens are getting a nutritional and balanced diet. She would know about the substituting the barley and wheat question....

Thanks a bunch! :)