Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (26 page)

Knowledge of the nutritional needs of chickens

Ability to mix feed in a quantity your flock will use within 4 weeks

If you decide to mix your own, you might purchase all the feedstuffs separately or grow some of them yourself. You’ll need to include carbohydrates for energy (corn and other grains), protein (a combination of ingredients that together
furnish all the amino acids needed to create a complete protein), and vitamins and minerals (some of which will be in carbohydrate and protein ingredients; others will require additional feedstuffs).

Of these ingredients, protein offers the greatest challenge. Soybeans are the most common source of protein in chicken feed, but they first must be heated by roasting or other means to deactivate soy’s natural protein inhibitor. Roasted soybeans are high in fat, which provides energy as well as protein. Chickens are most commonly fed soybean meal, which is what’s left after soy oil has been removed from the beans. Alternative sources of protein include other oilseed meals (such as peanut, safflower, and sunflower), grain legumes (alfalfa, beans, and field peas), and animal sources (fish meal, meat and bone meal, and dried whey).

The exact nutritional analysis of each ingredient varies with its source, the time of year it was grown, the place where it was grown, and the method by which it was grown and harvested. Purchased feedstuffs may be labeled. Average values are suggested in
Nutrient Requirements of Poultry
(see Recommended Reading on
page 422
) and similar source books. Information also may be available through your local Extension office.

Ask local feed outlets and your state Extension poultry specialist to help you find other chicken keepers who mix their own poultry rations, and solicit their help in ironing out the wrinkles based on the availability of local feedstuffs. Purchasing ingredients in bulk to share with others who mix their own is a good way to keep costs down while maintaining freshness.

You’ll need a way to mix the ingredients together. Depending on the volume of feed you need, you may find a local mill willing to mix for you. Most mills want to mix at least 1,000 pounds (500 kg), if not a ton (1,000 kg), which may be more than you can use within about 4 weeks. You might get a mixer that operates off the power take-off (PTO) of a farm or garden tractor. For small volumes a manually operated compost tumbler works fine, and for really small volumes simply combine and stir.

You’ll also need a grinder, otherwise known as a feed mill or heavy-duty flour mill, that produces a coarse grind to improve the digestibility of corn, beans, and large grains. Mills come in hand-crank or motor-driven versions. The hand-crank style is fine for a few chickens, but if you have a sizable flock, you’ll be happier with a quicker and less taxing motor-driven mill.

A good, comprehensive resource for ration formulation is
Feeding Poultry
by G. F. Heuser (see Recommended Reading on
page 422
). Although it includes some nutrient tables, its greater value is in its extensive discussions of nutrient sources and feeding methods, as well as its numerous recipes for complete starter/grower rations, layer rations, and breeder rations.

Chickens of different ages and levels of production have different protein needs. Broilers require the greatest amount of protein (20 to 24 percent), while mature cocks outside breeding season require the least (9 percent). Chickens eat to meet their energy needs and need more energy to stay warm in cold weather. Since energy is less expensive than protein, you can save money by increasing their ration’s carbohydrates (by reducing the protein) during winter.

You can easily adjust the protein level of any ration by combining it with a supplemental ration. You’ll need to know how much protein you want to end up with and also the protein content of both the ration and the supplement. To raise protein choose a supplement that’s higher in protein than the ration; to reduce protein choose a supplement that’s lower in protein than the ration.

Using a method called
Pearson’s square
, you can easily determine how much ration and how much supplement you must combine to get the protein content you want. Begin by drawing a square on a piece of paper. In the upper left corner, write the percentage of protein of the regular ration. In the lower left corner, write the percentage of protein contained in the supplement. At the center of the square, write the percentage of protein you want to end up with.

Moving from the upper left toward the lower right (following the arrow in the illustration), subtract the smaller number from the larger number. Write the answer in the lower right corner. Moving from the lower left toward the upper right (again following the arrow), subtract the smaller number from the larger number. Write the answer in the upper right corner. The number in the upper right corner tells you how many pounds of ration, and the number in the lower right corner tells you how many pounds of supplement you need to mix together to achieve the desired amount of protein.

PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS

The illustration below shows two typical examples. In the first case 16 percent lay ration is combined with 8 percent scratch to create a 9 percent cock maintenance diet. Note that since we want to reduce the protein content, the number in the lower left corner must be less than the number in the upper left corner. Pearson’s square shows that we need to combine 1 pound (0.5 kg) of lay ration with 7 pounds (3.2 kg) of scratch to get a 9 percent cock maintenance ration.

In the second example, 16 percent layer ration is combined with 31 percent cat kibble to create a breeder-flock ration containing 20 percent protein. Since we now want to increase the protein content, the number in the lower left corner is greater than the number in the upper left corner. Pearson’s square shows that we should mix 11 pounds (5 kg) of layer ration with 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of kibble to get a 20 percent breeder ration.

Different feedstuffs have different weights, so you won’t get an accurate mix if you measure by volume (bucketfuls) instead of by weight (pounds or kilograms). Use a spring scale or weigh yourself on a bathroom scale holding an empty bucket. Add feed to the bucket until you increase the total weight by the amount you need.

In combining feedstuffs use rations of similar consistency. If, for example, you use soybean meal to boost the protein in pelleted ration, the meal will filter out and fall to the bottom of the trough. You’d do better to combine soybean meal with crumbles, perhaps moistening the result at feeding time to keep the meal from sifting out.

Whenever you adjust the protein in your flock’s diet by more than a percentage point or two, make the change gradually. Too rapid a change can cause intestinal upset and diarrhea.

PEARSON’S SQUARE

Using Pearson’s square, you can determine how much ration and how much supplement to combine to get the desired protein content.

In an effort to avoid feeding commercially formulated rations, some chicken keepers rely on scratch grains. Chickens love
scratch
— a mixture containing at least two kinds of grain, one of which is usually cracked corn. A common mixture consists of one-third each cracked corn, wheat, and oats. Avoid mixtures containing barley — even if your chickens eat it, they’ll find it hard to digest.

It’s called scratch because when it’s scattered on the ground, the chickens scratch for it, perhaps thinking they’ll turn up more grain kernels. Like people, individual chickens have their preferences. When fed scratch, some may eat it all, others may pick out only the corn. When I fed scratch containing milo (sorghum grain), some of my chickens refused to eat the milo; others ate only the milo.

Scratch is high in energy and low in vitamins, minerals, and protein. Too much scratch in the diet radically reduces total protein intake. In growing birds insufficient protein leads to feather picking — the chicks eat protein-rich feathers in an attempt to obtain enough of that important nutrient. Scratch should never be fed to chicks under 8 weeks of age. In the diet of laying hens, insufficient protein reduces egg production and the hatchability of incubated eggs and makes hens fat and unhealthy. Scratch should therefore be fed sparingly, if at all.

Consider scratch to be in the same food group as candy and you will be unlikely to overfeed it. Scratch does have its uses, aside from being offered as an occasional treat: