Complete guide to homemade chicken feed (With recipe)
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So, you’ve found yourself with some backyard chickens. Welcome to the club! It’s a surprisingly big club, comprising about 13% of American households. You’re about to embark on a special journey with some new pets to adore who will also supply your breakfast. What’s not to love?
Since your chickens will be feeding you, you might be wondering what you should be feeding them. Your chickens' diets are important for both the health of the individual birds and that of the eggs they produce.
Chickens are resilient animals and although they can survive off junk food, they thrive when their diets are catered toward their specific needs. So let’s get into what to feed your chickens to yield the happiest birds and the healthiest eggs.
Chicken dietary needs
In order to produce quality eggs at a regular rate, the girls have to eat — and eat well. When consuming a well-rounded diet laying hens should produce around one egg a day, give or take. You feed them, they feed you, and everyone is happy.
Protein: Protein is an essential component in egg production. Experts suggest that 16-18% of a chicken's diet is protein — the girls love to bulk. Because chickens are omnivores, this protein can come from animal proteins (like meat, bones, and fish meal) or plant-based proteins (like grains, nuts, and oats).
Carbohydrates: Chickens need carbs for energy and for fuel. But don’t worry: you don’t need to sacrifice your best sourdough to the birds — corn, millet, and barley are also great options for their feed.
Fat (and fatty acids): Fat provides even more energy than carbohydrates do, and it makes the food tastier for chickens (just like it does for us). Fat is also necessary for chickens to be able to process some vitamins that are only soluble in fat (like vitamins A, D, E and K). Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid for chickens, and it can be found in vegetable oils, nuts, animal fats, and eggs — all of which can be added to chicken food.
Minerals: There are two types of minerals out there: macro- minerals and microminerals, and chickens need both of them. Macrominerals are essential, and these include sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Calcium is essential for strong, healthy eggshells. Microminerals are important for a healthy metabolism, and these include copper, zinc, and iron.
Most chicken-raisers add supplemental mineral mixes to the feed to make sure their hens are getting the nutrients they need. Oyster shells, for example, contain calcium, and some farmers grind these up and add them to their chicken feed to increase its mineral content. Commercial feed producers often add limestone to feed to increase its calcium content.
Vitamins: Chickens need many of the vitamins that we do but in much smaller quantities. Vitamins B, K, D, C and A are helpful for things like healthy metabolism, bone growth, and strong eggshells. While chickens can produce vitamin C, supplemental vitamin C has been shown to help relieve stress in chickens. And trust us, nobody likes a stressed-out chicken.
Three types of feed
Just like babies move from milk to purees to solids and, eventually to small bites and entrees, layer chickens also progress through different stages of food to support them throughout their growth.
Starter feed: Starter feed is to baby chicks what milk or formula is to babies. From the moment they hatch until they’re about six weeks old, chicks rely on high protein feed (20-21%) that supports them during this period of growth and development.
Growth feed: After about six weeks, chicks can transition over to growth feed, which typically has less protein (17-18%) than starter feed and less calcium than layer feed, which is the next stage. An appropriate balance of proteins and minerals at this stage helps ensure lifelong health for chickens.
Layer feed: Once a layer chicken starts laying eggs — usually around 20 weeks — they should begin eating layer feed. It has all the vitamins and minerals necessary to ensure healthy chickens and healthy eggs with strong, calcium-rich shells.
Poultry nutritionist Kevin Roberson, Ph.D., of CSA Animal Nutrition, explains: “Layers need an appropriate amount of protein and energy to produce eggs and maintain body tissue. If a hen is under-fed, she may lose body weight and egg production will be reduced or stop entirely in severe cases.”
How much does store-bought chicken feed cost?
The cost for chicken feed can vary significantly based on the mix’s ingredients. A less-expensive option may retail for 38 cents a pound, while a more expensive organic option can go for $3.00 a pound.
“At the lower end of the spectrum, you’ll likely find simple conventional feed formulas of corn, soybean meal, limestone, monocalcium phosphate, salt, lysine, methionine, and VTM premix,” explains Roberson. “At the higher end, you might find organic specialty layer formulas that contain ingredients to provide a high level of Omega-3 fatty acids.”
Chicken feed can be sold in different quantities too, generally ranging from 10 to 50 pounds. On average, 50 lbs of feed will feed one chicken for 33 weeks — you’ll need to do the math to decide whether or not commercial feed is a good idea for you.
Should you make your own chicken feed?
The decision to either make your birds’ food or explore the route of homemade chicken feed is a personal one, which should be driven by factors such as convenience, cost, and capacity — your capacity, that is, to take your chickens’ nutrition into your own hands.
“Homemade chicken feed may be a viable alternative to purchasing feed at retail,” says Roberson. “Homemade feed can potentially work well in small flocks where high output isn’t necessarily important. But each person should do their own economic evaluation based on the cost of their ingredients and labor and compare it to the cost of retail feed.”
Benefits and risks of store-bought chicken feed
Store-bought feed is sold as pellets or crumbles — which entails a few distinct advantages for your birds, according to Roberson:
Convenience. Premade, prepackaged chicken feed is as easy as it gets — buy, open, feed, repeat.
Uniform nutrition. You can have confidence that products labeled as “complete feed” will provide total nutrition of protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals in every bite.
Less waste. There’s less spillage with pellets compared to a mash feed, which reduces waste.
More digestible. The process of pelletizing feed also improves its digestibility, thanks to a gelatinization process of the starch that makes energy more available to your chickens.
However, as with other prepacked, store-bought goods, you run the risk of ending up with additional preservatives in your chicken feed you might not want there. It’s also possible that the nutritional value of the pellets can deteriorate before they ever make it to the plate (or whatever you’re feeding your chickens from).
Benefits and risks of homemade chicken feed
While making your own feed can get complicated, there are some potential benefits, says Roberson.
Lower carbon footprint. You may choose to include locally-sourced grains, which has the potential to lower the carbon impact of the feed, and your personal carbon footprint along with it.
Reduce waste. You can also incorporate food scraps, which may otherwise go to waste, into your feed.
Full control over what your birds eat. When you make your own feed, you can be sure that your flock isn’t consuming preservatives or additives, which aren’t always indicated on feed ingredient lists.
As for drawbacks, Roberson highlights a few notable challenges when it comes to making your own chicken feed:
You may not be able to source ingredients in a financially-savvy way.
You may not have the right equipment on hand to process and mix the feed.
You may not be able to assess the nutrient content of your ingredients accurately.
Can you feed chickens food scraps?
Can you feed chickens food scraps? Yes. Is it safe? Also yes — with some caveats. Chickens aren’t compost machines, they’re living animals with dietary needs and should be treated as such. Plus, “food scraps should only constitute a small part of the bird’s diet since they are highly variable in their nutrient composition so the nutritional contribution can’t be guaranteed,” says Roberson.
What food scraps can you feed chickens?
Cooked proteins and most fruits, vegetables, and grains are great for chickens’ diets. Cuttings from veggies, bananas, berries, tomatoes, bread crusts — many of the things you might compost (or toss in a Mill) would be happily and healthily gobbled up by your chickens. Specifically, dry grounds from your Mill make a great ingredient in homemade chicken feed.
Even though it might feel a little odd, you can also feed your chickens their own eggs (shells and all, raw or uncooked), which contain many of the essential nutrients they need. If you do decide to feed them eggs, just make sure you grind them up so they no longer resemble eggs when you do, as it might encourage them to start eating eggs they’ve just laid.
What food scraps should you not feed chickens?
Although most fruits, veggies, grains, and cooked proteins are safe for chickens to consume, there are a few things you should avoid. Avocados, some dried beans, and rhubarb all contain different compounds that are toxic for chickens. Similarly, excess salt and any caffeine are both detrimental to a chicken's overall health. So, while it might be tempting to treat your girls to some leftover movie theater popcorn or the morning’s coffee grounds, it’s best to keep those things away from the flock.
How Mill can help you make nutritious homemade feed
If you decide to pursue making your own feed, a Mill food recycler can make the process easier and less expensive. Mill takes all your food scraps and forgotten leftovers, dries and grinds them overnight, and heats them to kill any lingering pathogens — all while conserving the nutrients the food had prior to being recycled. In the morning you can add the fresh, dry grounds to supplement your chicken feed or sprinkle them as a treat.
To ensure your chickens get a properly balanced diet, Roberson suggests purchasing “the highest protein level of layer feed” you can find and adding the Mill grounds as a “free-choice” option separately, or blending it with the feed. The grinds should make up about 5% of the chickens’ meal if you’re buying the highest protein level feed.
Two homemade chicken feed recipes
If you have a Mill, here’s a recipe that includes Food Grounds:
Corn: 1107 lbs per ton; 55.4%
Soybean meal: 503 lbs per ton; 25.2%
Mill Food Grounds: 100 lbs per ton; 5%
Vegetable oil: 53 lbs per ton; 2.7%
Calcium carbonate: 187 lbs per ton; 9.4%
CSA Chicken 50 Premix (50633): 50 lbs per ton; 2.5%
Most of these ingredients are readily available at local feed stores and mills, and they all have a relatively long shelf life. However, do observe the manufacturing date, and use these ingredients within six months of that date so that vitamins maintain their efficacy. If you have a mill close by that does custom mixing, they may be able to grind any grains, mix the feed, and bag it.
And a note on substitutions: Be conservative. If you use ingredients other than corn and soybean meal, that could significantly alter the final nutrient composition, which may have a
negative impact on your flock’s performance and health.
If you don’t have a Mill, here’s a simple recipe:
Corn: 1176 lbs per ton; 58.8%
Soybean meal:532 lbs per ton; 26.6%
Vegetable oil: 51 lbs per ton; 2.6%
Calcium carbonate: 191 lbs per ton; 9.6%
CSA Chicken 50 Premix (50633): 50 lbs per ton; 2.5%
Sources
NPR: “'We Are Swamped': Coronavirus Propels Interest In Raising Backyard Chickens For Eggs.” April 3, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/03/826925180/we-are-swamped-coronavirus-propels-interest-in-raising-backyard-chickens-for-egg
Alabama A&M and Auburn University Extension: “Nutrition for Backyard Chicken Flocks.” July 12, 2022. https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/farming/nutrition-for-backyard-chicken-flocks/
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Poultry Extension: “Basic Poultry Nutrition.” https://poultry.extension.org/articles/feeds-and-feeding-of-poultry/basic-poultry-nutrition/
Veterinary World: “The application of ascorbic acid as a therapeutic feed additive to boost immunity and antioxidant activity of poultry in heat stress environment.” March 24, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9047122/
CSA Animal Nutrition: “CSA Animal Nutrition.” https://csaanimalnutrition.com/
ABC Organic Gardener: “Storing Chicken Feed for Maximum Nutrition.” https://www.organicgardener.com.au/storing-chicken-feed-for-maximum-nutrition/
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: “Is it OK to Eat Eggs from Chickens I’ve Raised in My Backyard?” https://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/is-it-ok-to-eat-eggs-from-chickens-ive-raised-in-my-backyard/#:~
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