Once a year, my family raises enough broiler chickens (meat birds) to sustain us for the year so we don’t have to buy chicken at the supermarket. I quickly realized that the feed at our local feed stores had GMO ingredients. So why was I going thru all the work to raise my own food only to feed it unhealthy ingredients? I started researching organic or NON-GMO chicken feed and how I could get my hands on it at a reasonable cost. In my area, the cheapest organic feed I can get shipped to me is thru amazon. So this led me on a journey to come up with my own homemade chicken feed recipe. I used this recipe last year for the first time. My birds were more active and healthy looking. They walked and moved around much more than the previous years. I’ve been happy with this feed recipe. We’ve figured up that it’s about $20 more per 200 lbs of feed over my local feed store.
What are broiler chickens?
How much water do broiler chickens drink?
Homemade Broiler Chicken Feed Recipe (Grower/Finisher):
- 12lb Oats
- 8 lb Soft White Wheat
- 8 lb Hard Red Wheat
- 6 lb Sunflower Seeds
- 5 lb Lentils
- 5 lb Split Peas
- 2 lb Flax Seed
- 1 lb Sesame Seeds
- 1 lb Kelp
- 4 tbsp Organic Coconut Oil
- 4 drops Oregano essential oil
Mix together and store in an air tight container.
I purchase this starter feed for my broiler chicks. Once they are ready for grower feed I use the above recipe. Good luck naturally feeding your homestead chickens.
Learn More
If you are interested in looking for more recipes, then make sure to check out the recipe section on Amazon. There are a ton of recipe books that are sure to catch your eye.
AMANDA
Tuesday 21st of July 2020
Can you use this as starter feed for the chicks as well, if one were to grind it?
Tracy Robinson
Wednesday 12th of August 2020
I'm not positive. I always used store bought organic for chick's.
Sonni
Sunday 17th of November 2019
Do you soak the feed in water before feeding or feed dry?
essentialhomestead@gmail.com
Wednesday 8th of January 2020
Feed dry
Mrs sule
Wednesday 27th of March 2019
Thank for the recipe I just started these hen poultry and I need ur advice pls I have 20 broiler and I want it to grow fast what is ur opinion and what to feed them
essentialhomestead@gmail.com
Friday 5th of April 2019
I use an organic chick starter grower from the local store. I start this recipe about 6 weeks old.
Christy
Wednesday 6th of March 2019
Great Information! Thank you for taking the time to share it with others. We are getting ready to raise our first broilers, and we plan to use your recipe. Thank you
essentialhomestead@gmail.com
Wednesday 6th of June 2018
Great question. We grow for 12 weeks and birds are 6 to 10lbs. Some roosters are a little heavier. Here's the type of birds we usually get: https://www.efowl.com/shop/jumbo-cornish-cross-chickens-cackle/. I ran a test with a friend. We bought these birds together. We both had around 50 birds. She fed conventional feed. I fed this recipe. Her birds were a little larger in the 11-12 weeks we raised but she also fed more more feed. We butchered them together so we were able to see everything side by side. Her birds weren't as healthy. She had more fatalities than I did and they had more fat on the skin. I've raised this breed both ways and while the breast is meatier with conventional feed, I prefer to have healthier birds that don't put on the weight so quickly. They are perkier, walk around more and I don't lose as many before processing day. Maybe we could add more protein to this recipe to get it closer to 20%?
Jessica
Wednesday 16th of September 2020
Just wondering -- how would you adjust the recipe to make it 20% protein? I'm using conventional feed this time raising Freedom Rangers, but I would love to feed my next batch homemade organic feed. I think they'd need a higher protein ratio, though, because they already grow at a slower rate than Cornish Cross. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!