About feeding birds
I have run into a bit of a problem. The base protein source for my home-mixed chicken feed is Kodiak flash dried salmon meal. And they're out. It won't be available until sometime in August!
So what's a girl to do? Everyone else feeds their birds soy, usually in the form of commercial feed. But I just can't bring myself to do it. My research says that third generation males ingesting soy have turned out sterile... not what I want for my family, my customers OR my birds. Damn phytoestrogens anyway.
Nope, I'm sticking to my guns that soy should only be consumed in the traditional Japanese fashion- in small amounts and usually fermented. The last 6 weeks or more, my chickens have been dining on freezer burnt meat salvaged off Craigslist, in addition to their wild free-range diet.
But now that I'm out of fish, and seeking salmon meal, I can't get it. Anywhere. No where, no how. Alternatively, I guess I might have to cook pinto beans or something. Not exactly sure yet. Maybe the pea farmer has some leftover seed I could sprout?
Next year I'll be able to stock up ahead, to be prepared for the summer run-out of Kodiak dried fish. This year I'm scratching just to make it through. I guess a person has to learn somehow.
Anyhoo, I'm going to write down my recipe here... it's been a process to get to this point, and will likely morph some more, but hey. You've gotta start somewhere.
(Bizarre and interesting sidenote: right this second, as I was scribing this post, a distributor from the States called me about shipping up some of his products for me to try... including, you guessed it, fishmeal. So we're in business! Now back to the recipe.)
The carb base for my chicken feed is barley. Locally grown grain is the real key, and for us that's barley. I pay $200-225 a ton for it and go through a ton every 6 weeks. In the winter I sprout it and in the summer I soak it. This summer we're supplementing with spent grain from local breweries as well.
In winter I sprout black oil sunflower seedsfor the chickens, since we don't feed corn. Alfalfa pellets get added for the all important green component- the more the better. And the rest of the feed is ground: fish meal, kelp, sea salt and brewer's yeast.
Oh, and my birds get all the whey from cheesemaking... like 15 gallons a week or so. Sometimes I put apple cider vinegar in their water for extra vitamin C. Other additives include garlic powder and cayenne and all the carrots I can score.
Of course, the proportions change from summer to winter to meet the different stressors of the seasons. I use Pearson's Square to figure out how much protein is required to match the grains, and experiment from there. It's had its ups and downs, but I'm pretty happy with my base recipe.
I'd love to figure out how to grow enough bugs and sprouts to feed them through the winter, but haven't gotten that far yet... since my mealworm project failed miserably. It grew alot of worms, but then the worms got mites, and the mites got loose in my cabin, and well... that's just not gonna happen again.
In the end, we are where we are- and I'm enjoying the ride. So far so good.
Reader Comments (7)
Wow that's complicated and awesome. I need to do more research on chicken feed. Right now, we buy the organic stuff from our locally-owned farm store. It's produced down the valley a ways.
Lisa, what percentage protein do you suggest? Some of my birds free range for 5-6 hrs a day, so I know they are eating insects, but that is hard to figure... (As time goes by more will be free ranging but they are young for it now)
Also, I was trying to get fishmeal myself when we met that day. Can you tell me what your experience was or is with this new distributor? I need to get some of that somewhere....
I've found that keeping a 16-20% protein balance in any feed that I provide is helpful. Even if I'm feeding raw fish or other meat... The birds love grain and will gorge on it. So free choice protein doesn't work in the long haul. The guys name is Jonathan and his business is in Vancouver, WA. He's a distributor for Fertrell's. It costs $60 for him to take our order to the truck depot or the ferry terminal, then we pay for shipping on top. Fish meal is $35 a 50# bag.
Just a thought -- if you set up some giant vermicompost bins, you could probably harvest worms year-round and feed them fresh or freeze-dried and ground into a powder like crumbles. I don't know the protein content of wigglers, but it's got to be pretty high. Would probably take a huge vermicomposting system to feed a large flock; but it might be doable if you have lots of garden waste or a rabbitry (worms really love rabbit poo!); or maybe just for a smaller flock or as a supplementary protein.
I love your idea... especially the comment about rabbits. The problem with feeding wigglers, as I understand it, is they carry parasites that are likely to infect chickens. I should read up on it again, but I think mealworms are about the only culturable variety that is safe.
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