3 Reason To Make Your own Homemade Chicken Feed

 

 

There are many reasons why someone might choose to make their own homemade chicken feed. I’ve included my top 3 reasons why, plus my recipe that is gluten, corn, soy, and oat free. 

*This post contains affiliate links*

 

11- You know Exactly What’s in Your feed

My number one reason for making my own homemade chicken feed is so I know exactly what my chickens are eating. Between food allergies and sensitivities in our family, GMOs, the heavy use of pesticides on conventional crops, and never truly knowing what a company might put in their feed, I want to be sure my girls are getting the best of the best.

 

I also want to ensure my chickens are not eating anything that we ourselves are allergic or sensitive to. You’ll be hard pressed to find a feed that is gluten, corn, soy, and oat free. I want my family to have the best and be completely free from all allergies or sensitivities for their own optimal health. I also want organic feed without the price tag.

 

2- Saves Money

If done wisely making your own feed can actually save you money. Ingredients like alfalfa and clover are perennials, which means they’ll keep coming back. Buy seeds once and have a never ending supply of alfalfa and clover to feed your chickens. 

 

Now not everyone has the yard space for this but there are still ways to manage it. Grow your crops in pots or grow bags. Get creative with vertical space. Replace your lawn with a clover lawn. This idea is growing in popularity because it still looks nice but it’s better for the ecosystem. Bees and other pollinators love clover fields. Grow sprouts in a sprouting jar.(AD)

This last idea won’t give you a never ending supply because you’re not actually planting them but they can still yield a bountiful crop top feed your chickens.

 

Mealworms are another ingredient that can provide a never ending supply of protein for your birds. For less than $20 you can start a mealworm farm that is literally living off your scraps. They will repopulate generation after generation proving feed for years to come.

 

Other things like sunflower seeds, legumes, and gluten free grains like buckwheat are going to need to either be sourced in bulk or grown yourself. If you seed save though, then you’ll be able to grow these types of ingredients over and over with no additional yearly cost.

Again not everyone has the space to grow everything but you can still consider growing in pots or vertical gardening. Even if you’re only able to grow half the ingredients you can still save a ton of money with your own homemade chicken feed.

 

3- Self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency is the goal for a lot of homesteaders and chicken owners but what happens when the grid goes down and you can no longer buy feed for your chickens or other live stock? What if there are shortages and you can’t get feed? I for one don’t want to be dependent on anyone else to provide food for my family or my animals. Self-sufficiency for us means being able to provide our animals with their food ourselves.

Raising my own livestock, growing my own food, and growing my food’s food means my family and my animals will always have what we need to survive. If my husband loses his job I don’t have to worry about where our next meal will come from. If there continue to be shortages or supply chain issues I need not worry because my supply is in my own backyard.

I can trade with other homesteaders in my area and we can build a community that supports one another, rather than be dependent on big Ag to put food on the table.

 

Even if you choose not to make your own feed, it’s a great idea to tuck this information away for a rainy day. You never know when you might need to become your own feed supplier.

 

HOMEMADE CHICKEN FEED RECIPE

For simplicity sake and for accuracy I did this recipe by weight. I have 2 versions, the first version comes out to about 25% protein and the second version comes out to about 20% protein. 

 

RECIPE 1 (25%)

• 1lb each dried mealworms, black oil sunflower seeds, and buckwheat.
• 2lbs each alfalfa and clover. (AD)

 

Many of these ingredients can also be sourced from azure standard, which is our preferred place to shop.

Mix all ingredients together. Can use fresh, dried, soaked, or sprouted. It doesn’t change the protein percentage enough to matter. With the exception of the mealworms. Dried mealworms have about twice the protein content for this recipe dried must be used. If raising your own mealworms you’ll need to harvest your mealworms and allow them time to dry out before weighing them. 

*There are also those who prefer black soldier fly larva to mealworms. If that’s you simply swap the fly larva for the meal worms.

If you have trouble sourcing an ingredient look for something with a similar macro breakdown and simply swap it out. Since this recipe is 25% protein there’s a large margin for error. As long as you keep the mealworms at the suggested ratio your feed will have ample protein. 

 

RECIPE 2 (20%)

• 1lb each dried mealworms, black oil sunflower seeds, sorghum, and buckwheat.
• 2lbs each alfalfa and clover. (AD)

As you can see this recipe is almost identical to the previous version but has an added pound of gluten free grain. This drops the protein percentage down a little but still provides adequate protein for you chickens both as babies and as layers. Prepare the same as you would the first recipe. 

 

CHICK CRUMBLE

As a bonus, these recipes can also be turned into chick crumble. It’s as simple as adding your ingredients to a food processor and blending them into a crumble. And since both these recipes are 20% or more they are more than adequate for baby chicks. 

I find soaked or sprouted ingredients work best when turning your feed into a crumble.

 

OPTIONAL ADD INS

For your layers they will need a good calcium source. Oyster shells are a popular choice but since I cannot produce those on my own very easily I opt for crushed egg shells. I sprinkle a little on top of the feed so the chickens can take it or leave it depending on what their needs are. 

Other add ins can include herbs like basil, rosemary, parsley, and red pepper.

 

On this homestead we believe food is medicine and herbs can provide powerful healing properties as well as prevent many ailments. By adding them to our feed we can keep our chickens healthy and strong.

 

FINAL Thoughts

You can easily halve or double this recipe depending on the size of your flock. I only make about a weeks worth at a time.