So overall, yes - this is a complete diet. I imagine that people wanting to make their own feed at home are likely also the sort of chicken keepers that let their chickens forage for bugs and weeds, or give their chickens mealworm treats and kitchen scraps. Layers need at least 16 percent protein and the rest is common sense - not too much fat, not too many carbs, and that last piece of chocolate cake is probably not a good idea. The greater variety of grains, legumes, and seeds you can provide your chickens, the healthier and happier they will be. Like humans, chickens need a diverse diet and sometimes they need a different diet in winter than they do in summer.
View my policy.īulk Storage Bin Is a homemade whole grain diet a complete diet for a chicken? Disclosure: Garden Betty earns commissions on purchases made through these links to my affiliated retailers. This leads me to believe that their bodies are processing the food better and it’s not just passing through them. With a whole grain diet, I’ve noticed that my hens eat less and poop less (as opposed to the crumble diet they started on). On the other hand, whole grains (which you can pick and choose) retain all of their nutrients. Since real food comes out of my chickens, I want real food to go into them.Ĭrumbles and pellets are already formulated to contain the nutritional balance that a chicken needs, but the process of cracking, mashing, pressing and/or heating the grains (often times, not even quality grains) causes them to go stale and lose some of their nutritional value - even months before you buy them.
Their feathers are soft and shiny, their personalities as perky as ever… so I must be doing something right! Why should you make your own whole grain chicken feed?Ĭommercial poultry feed comes in crumble or pellet form, neither of which looks like real food to me. My small flock of hens lays two dozen eggs a week on a DIY diet of whole grains and leafy greens. Homemade chicken feed is not as expensive or complicated as you may have thought or been told. Luckily, it also turned out to be an economical decision and a benefit to my own diet. The decision to feed a whole grain diet - versus a commercially formulated diet - is a personal one based on what I believe is best for my hens. (I’ve tried the entire lineup from the feed store.)
More than nine years ago, I started mixing my own soy-free, mostly organic, whole grain chicken feed, and it’s still the best feed I could possibly give my hens. Update: I also have a soy-free corn-free version of my homemade whole grain chicken feed! For easy formulating, download Garden Betty’s Chicken Feed Calculator to manage costs, calculate protein content, and custom mix your feed on the fly.
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