Formulating a Beneficial Organic Chicken Feed to Produce Soy-Free and Corn-Free Eggs

Formulating a Beneficial Organic Chicken Feed to Produce Soy-Free and Corn-Free Eggs

Summary

WORK ACTIVITIES
This year I spent a few months sourcing ingredients. Local ingredients were not really an option for all of the items in the chicken diets. When my original supplier went out of business, I found it difficult to get the ingredients in the quantities that I needed without paying a hefty price.

While I had started out with the assistance of Professor Applegate, his schedule became so busy that he was no longer able to assist me. He recommended another colleague, Professor Liburn who has been able to assist me with the diet formulation and picking up where Professor Applegate left off.

The pens were constructed and the pelletizing mill was purchased for pelletizing the feed in order to reduce feed waste. The chickens are too young to produce eggs at this time, and will likely start in January. That is when we will send the eggs to the lab for results and schedule the field day at the farm.

RESULTS SO FAR
The most important thing that I’ve learned so far is that organic feed ingredients are a lot more expensive and are very scarce in this part of the country. It was very hard to come by field peas as a protein source. My original feed supplier went out of business so that greatly increased both pricing and availability. She bought in such large quantities that the prices were lower and she received them from Nebraska. I did not receive the same price and they were less flexible since I did not have the relationship with them that she had.

Once the feed ingredients were received the mixing was a bit of an issue due to the large batches needed, however I ended up making several small batches. Logistics and sourcing of ingredients and supplies was the most difficult thing in this project. However, once those items are established, the process is easy and repeatable.

I am considering growing field peas myself so that I will have a cost effective source of this high protein ingredient. I recently acquired the space to grow grains and legumes. I think this will be the most cost effective option if the diet including the pea is the one that is most successful, which so far it seems to be.

WORK PLAN FOR 2013 and 2014
We will continue with the diet until such time as we can send the eggs for testing and get the nutrient results. Once the results are received they will be posted and we’ll have our field day. We have been speaking with many groups; they are interested in our results and would like to see what would be the best soy-free and corn-free diet for their hens for many different reasons.

Once the best diet has been determined, we will continue that diet for all the other groups of hens from now on. I think the goal from there will be to find local sources for the ingredients or start growing some of the ingredients myself. Based on all of the interest in this area from other farmers and customers, I think there is a market for not just the final product, but the ingredients themselves.

OUTREACH
I am still working on a field day; however I will post the results on our website with all of the data that we collect and our final report. I also will create a YouTube video of the presentation so people that could not attend will have the benefit of the findings.

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