At Hawg's request Im starting this thread.
We've been experimenting with chicken feeds for a few months. I acquired 100 cinnamon whatever from a grower that was told to destroy them. He lost a contract with a company whom shall remain nameless. They were 9 months old when we got them.
These birds didn't know what the outside of a chicken house was. We couldn't get them to come out into the yard for almost a week. We finally mixed these hens in with our others, and they began to get the hang of being farm birds.
(The rooster's reaction to all those hens was comical, and the story can only be repeated in potty mouth...)
Anyway, all these birds knew was an egg pellet feed that was supplied by the company. So we had to change the diet. And those birds knew nothing about anything but feed from a trough.
OK. On with the story. This is getting xerographica long.
We came up with a mixture of chicken scratch, egg pellet, and whole corn. This mix jumped production up. The birds went through a molt, and we did put light on them.
But the mill wanted a price and quantity to mix for me I just couldn't afford. So, I took an old electric concrete mixer, cleaned it up, and use it to mix.
Set the drum at an angle, and I mix in half a bag of pellets, then half scratch while it's turning. This mixes pretty well. Then I put in the other half of each bag. While it's turning, I add 4 of the big coffee cans of whole corn.
When I like the way the mix looks, I set a metal trash can under the drum and slowly tip. The running mixer feeds it into the can still turning and mixing.
Each drum equals out 100 pounds plus the corn, and costs me about $17. Still a little high, but considering I don't have to purchase by the ton, it's doable. I'm feeding 104 hens, two roosters, 20 Quail, 5 guineas, and 7 ducks on about 125 pounds per week. Only the roosters and drakes aren't giving eggs.
I sell the eggs here at work for $3 per dozen. So we get all we need, plus any the kids want, and still the chickens pay their own way and help support the rabbits. To put it in perspective, within three days they produce enough eggs to feed us and themselves for a week.
I don't think I've ever written a post that long when I wasn't ranting about something.