chicken feed

Nick167 · Mar 12, 2014

This is probably a dumb question but is it cheaper to buy
bagged feed for chickens or buy corn and grain and run it
through a hammer mill? This will be for 10-15 chickens

Pair-a-dice farm · Mar 12, 2014

Well it would be cheaper to buy your eggs or chicken. But that's not the reason we raise our own is it? It would be cheaper to buy the feed too but you can make it how you want it.

Nick167 · Mar 12, 2014

OK thank you i think the reason I ask is because I want an
excuse to run my heart grandpa's hammer mill lol

Dave H (MI) · Mar 12, 2014

If the reason is to run the mill, have at it. But chickens do not need their grain milled and will eat loose cattle minerals if provided for supplement along with grit. Further reason not to is that if you store it there can be mold issues...not always a problem with poultry but some believe it reduces vitality. broken grain molds quicker in my experience. Last would be waste. If you have a lot of fines these get scratched in and not eaten. BUT, said it before and say it again, chickens bring out a lot of opinions in people and if yours is you want to mill grain for them....

Dutchman · Mar 12, 2014

I buy chicken layer .... and get some corn and oats and run that thur a Chipper { don't have a hammer mill ... wish I did }
I have 2 feeders hanging in the shed ... 1 for the layer and the other for the mixer ...
only have 18 chickens ourself ... FRESH EGGS are GREAT ...
.............. mark

Nick167 · Mar 12, 2014

OK there's a few old grain rooms in my barn I was planning on putting it in feed sacks if that helps

Bob Bancroft · Mar 12, 2014

We have our own grain. And I have my grandfathers David Bradley hammer mill. We used to grind when the wife had pigs and chickens.

You can experiment with screens and speeds to get different grinds. Wife recalls her chickens didn't like flour, and didn't like whole grain, but something in between. A coarse grind, or "cracked" grain.

notjustair · Mar 12, 2014

Bob has it - run corn through the mill without a screen. You could also throw in whole wheat.

I have hogs so I grind for them. I feed the chickens that feed as well. There are two feeders in each chicken house, one for layer crumbles and the other for the hog feed. The hog feed has the mineral and protein in it already as a bagged supplement I put in the mixer grinder. I have found that when they have access to that feed they lay about a third more eggs. They still eat the crumbles, but they eat about as much ground grains as crumbles. Chickens will eat a balanced diet when given the choice. Just don't make it too fine. If it is a belted grinder don't run it at full steam.

Part Time Pete · Mar 12, 2014

I don't grind my own grain, but I get ground corn and oats from a friend and mix it 50/50 with laying mash - seems to work good. Now that we're getting some daylight they're finally starting to lay again
Pete

Nick167 · Mar 12, 2014

OK thanks I'll probably have more questions to come I have to fix the hammer mill get a belt and then find something to run it.

Dave H (MI) · Mar 12, 2014

No, in my experience it will still mold. Anytime you crack a grain the extra exposed insides will mold quicker than if you left it whole. Common sense tells you this can be bad. Plus there is the waste factor if it is milled too fine. But you are unlikely to kill anything unless you mill it a ton at a time and if it makes you happy....

I will tell you we never grind feed for poultry. Won't even feed cracked corn because they don't need it ,there is a lot of waste, and an old timer showed me once under a magnifier all the green mold growing in cracked corn. He didn't feed it either.

OliverGuy · Mar 12, 2014

You would laugh at our redneck way, put corn we cleaned out from the head and grain tank on the concrete and then fired up the plate compactor.... I did have a picture, but delelted it to get rid of all evidence!

fixerupper · Mar 12, 2014

I buy crumbles in 50 pound bags. Current cost for 15 hens that are laying at 85 percent is $1.80 per dozen eggs produced. Maybe cheaper now that I don't have to heat the water or have a heat lamp running in the chicken house. If you want to grind the feed with the hammer mill for the fun of it, go at it. You won't save yourself any money but you'll have the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Better make sure the corn is under 13 percent moisture this time of year or it will want to set up on you, like was mentioned before. I used to hate the hammer mill when I was a kid but now, 55 years later, I'd like to run one just for old time's sake.

When I used to haul bean meal out of Cargill in Sioux City a man in an old pickup would come to where the trucks lined up to load and scoop up for his chickens whatever the truckers emptied out of their hoppers before they loaded with bean meal. The parking lot had little piles of corn, beans, wheat, barley, and whatever other feed ingredients they didn't want in their trucks. He filled garbage cans with the scoopings and drove away with the bumper on the ground. The only expense he had was whatever it took to keep an old beat up F150 running. Jim

GordoSD · Mar 12, 2014

I had two dozen homing pigeon I trained dogs with for 10 years. I only shot bridge pigeons. I fed those pigeons whole kernel oats, corn and wheat, whatever I could scrounge around farmers yards here. Never had one die.
If I wasn't flying them they had ample supply of grit in the loft.

Nick167 · Mar 12, 2014

I'm only 15 just thought it would be cool to run an old
hammer mill. Does it make a difference the moisture if i put it
in a wooden grain room?

fixerupper · Mar 12, 2014

This time of year the moisture of the grain you grind shouldn't be above 13 percent tops. If you grind corn that's 13 percent, maybe 14 percent it will keep in the feed room for a long time. In the spring the corn wants to germinate if it's above that moisture. I found that out the hard way grinding 18 percent corn for hog feed. It worked fine all winter but in the spring it wanted to set up in the feeder even though it was still keeping well as shelled corn in the bin.. Have fun with the hammer mill. The feed doesn't need to be ground too fine for chickens. Jim

jennifer408 · Mar 12, 2014

nick167,
you should check into fermenting your chicken feed. we do it and use half the feed and our chicken doesn't taste gamey.
the roosters are less tough, not gamey are great for chicken pot pie, soup, chicken and rice. it's a bit more work, but the rewards are great ! if you need any help, let me know, I'll guide ya through it.

Traditional Farmer · Mar 13, 2014

If chickens have access to grit or gravel there is no reason to grind the grain just feed it whole
and there is usually no
waste when feeding whole grains.The quality of grain starts to drop the minute its ground up.

greygoat · Mar 13, 2014

I"ve always,(well,for over 50 years) fed the birds
in the winter. This year, perhaps due to the colder winter, in Wisconsin,(42 days below zero
in January and February, many at 20 below, with
30 below windchill) lots of birds that I didn"t
want, like Doves and Starlings came. Rather than
feed them expensive wild bird food, I bought a
50 pound bag of "Scratch Feed", at "Blains Farm-
-Fleet". It was $10.00 for 50 pounds. It had
cracked corn, oats, and misc. other grains. The birds ate it. Seems like a resanable price, if
you have just a few hens.

Nick167 · Mar 13, 2014

Thanks for the responses from what I've learned I think its
about the same either way

chicken feed

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