How to Prepare Poultry Feed
If asked, most city dwellers would day that chickens eat chicken feed. While this is true, if chickens have access to grasses, clovers and broadleaved weeds, the chickens will graze. Chickens will also eat earthworms, insects and slugs. Chicken farmers can prepare a more nutritious poultry feed at home than is available for purchase.
Items Needed:
- Alfalfa pellets
- Aragonite
- Barley
- Bugs
- Corn
- Crab meal
- Cultured yeast
- Fish meal
- Flax seed
- Grass clippings
- Kelp
- Nutri-balancer
- Oats
- Peas
- Probiotic
- Rye
- Salt
- Soybeans
- Storage bins
- Troughs
- Vegetables finely chopped
- Water
- Weeds
- Wheat
- Worms
- Place water troughs inside the coop and outside for the chickens to drink. It is important for the chickens to obtain an adequate supply of water.
- Include kenneled grains in the diet, as they are less likely to spoil and are less pricey on the budget. Alfalfa, barley, oats and rye in the natural form are best for the chicken’s diet.
- Select greens, such as finely chopped vegetables, weeds and grass clippings, during the summer months
- Mix aragonite, salt, probiotic, crab meal, flax seed, nutri-balancer, kelp, fish meal, and cultured yeast for a premix for a back-up during the winter months.
- Grind the corn and peas before adding to small batches of the premix.
- Add small grains whole to the premix and stir thoroughly by hand.
- Purchase additional bugs and worms from feed supply stores.
- Add protein to the mix in the form of worms, bugs and soybeans. Chickens obtain some protein during the spring and summer months while pecking for bugs and worms, but it is necessary to supplement the supply during the winter months.
- Store the premix, but utilize the feed mix with the corn, peas, bugs, worms and whole grains within a few days.