# Storing Prepared, Non-medicated Chicken Feed



## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

Has anyone made any preps storing non-medicated layer chicken feed? Or oyster shells/calcium supps? 

Since I have recently begun storing livestock feed, I wondered I anyone has tried this, and at some point rotated it through after a few years. What are the results? My chickens are about 75% free range, but feed heavily on store bought grains and feeds through the winter when they prefer to stay in the barn. They are free range, but reside in the barn (their own preference, the side door is always open during the day) when snow is on the ground. The typical Purina processed feed (even of the organic variety) is packaged in a 50# bag. I store my everyday feed in a large, lay down freezer that is air tight to keep the varmits out. It is not plugged in, and never has been. During the summer when they only pick at their feed because they forage all day on grass and bugs, and I often end up pitching half the feed in the compost heap because it will mold. Note: I never buy medicated feed. 

So, has anyone tried storing this feed in mylar bags, with O2 absorbers (and of course in buckets)? Even 100#s stored would go a long way. Layers need their calcium. Once upon a time, I fed my cooped chickens nothing but scratch grains and ended up with soft shells, or the hen's would just turn around and eat their eggs due to lack of calcium. Time and experience has made me wiser, but I worry about a future with a lack of such convenient sources. Has anyone experimented with this? Thanks


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

There were many ways they used to keep up calcium levels in heavy laying breeds such as feeding them bonemeal or their own eggshells after being cooked. Some grains, grasses, weeds, and bugs are higher in calcium too.
Now the more common solution is oyster shells and lime(feed grade), this is what they put in prepared feed for calcium. They both store forever and are pretty cheap today, all things considered. The lime has the advantage that you can feed it to other animals like cows that may get a mineral imbalance or calcium deficiency. The oyster shells may be more bioavailable and the chickens will eat it without you having to mix it in their feed.
As to the storage of prepared feed it would probably be akin to cat/dog food, there is fat and protein that can spoil over time but typically it is well preserved. You know the obvious problems with moisture and bugs, heat will obviously diminish it's storage life, btw I think the freezer is a great idea I tend to use galvanised trash cans for that sort of thing.


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## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

cowboyhermit said:


> There were many ways they used to keep up calcium levels in heavy laying breeds such as feeding them bonemeal or their own eggshells after being cooked. Some grains, grasses, weeds, and bugs are higher in calcium too.
> Now the more common solution is oyster shells and lime(feed grade), this is what they put in prepared feed for calcium. They both store forever and are pretty cheap today, all things considered. The lime has the advantage that you can feed it to other animals like cows that may get a mineral imbalance or calcium deficiency. The oyster shells may be more bioavailable and the chickens will eat it without you having to mix it in their feed.
> As to the storage of prepared feed it would probably be akin to cat/dog food, there is fat and protein that can spoil over time but typically it is well preserved. You know the obvious problems with moisture and bugs, heat will obviously diminish it's storage life, btw I think the freezer is a great idea I tend to use galvanised trash cans for that sort of thing.


Thank you sir! Follow up questions:

1.) Oyster shells, just store the bag as is and I am good to go within reasonable temps/humidity?

2.) I like to compost my egg shells, I have had an experience with ONLY RI Red hens fed back shells, after I used the eggs for cooking, picking their eggs (I have almost phased out my "reds", good egg/meat production, but is it my imagination or do they seem to be the most picky of the common breeds?)

3.) Lime.... Please keep going. I use lime in small amounts in the compost heap, and when cleaning the horse stalls, to combat ammonia odors. I should research this more myself, and will, but can you add more to your earlier post? I assume lime will store for the forseable future?

***** This is why I LOVE this forum!!!


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## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

Also, lime.... If feed is not available to mix with it, will they "lick it" like a salt block? 

Now this is good stuff


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Feeding eggshells can definitely cause problems with picking like you say, there are things you can do to prevent it like fake eggs or processing the shells a bit but just feeding other sources may be less problematic.
I found a bag of oyster shells behind the wall of an old chicken coop that was decades old, just fine. Feed lime will clump or harden if exposed to moisture over a long period of time, making it a pain to use but the calcium in both of these is a stable mineral, it isn't going anywhere and it isn't going bad 

They may eat lime free choice but it is not their favorite  If you mix in some salt or molasses they should like it. Sometimes we buy bags of expensive mineral (1:1) and then mix feed lime in to bring up the calcium at much less cost than the premixed and they still eat it up. You can mix a lot with a little bit of feed and they will still eat it too.


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## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

cowboyhermit said:


> Feeding eggshells can definitely cause problems with picking like you say, there are things you can do to prevent it like fake eggs or processing the shells a bit but just feeding other sources may be less problematic.
> I found a bag of oyster shells behind the wall of an old chicken coop that was decades old, just fine. Feed lime will clump or harden if exposed to moisture over a long period of time, making it a pain to use but the calcium in both of these is a stable mineral, it isn't going anywhere and it isn't going bad
> 
> They may eat lime free choice but it is not their favorite  If you mix in some salt or molasses they should like it. Sometimes we buy bags of expensive mineral (1:1) and then mix feed lime in to bring up the calcium at much less cost than the premixed and they still eat it up. You can mix a lot with a little bit of feed and they will still eat it too.


Excellent! I can prep AND cut down on my active riding horses's supps  I never really knew about the lime and oyster shells beyond how I use them on a normal free choice or cleaning day to day basis.

I am going to try stoing 200# of hen layer feed. I will use a Purina brand becaue it is so common, with the 5 gallon buckets, mylar bags, and O2 pouches. I'm thinking this should be about 4 buckets worth going by how much sweet feed fits in a 5 gallon bucket when feeding time rolls around (its either coffee cans or buckets ifya know what I mean). If I can remember this thread name, I will try to repost with my results 1 year, 2 years and so forth as life allows. To bad I am not a super scientist that could anyalize the true feed values!


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Sounds like a good plan
Generally when you mill grains like they do in prepared feed, the nutrient are SLOWLY declining over time, vitamins for instance will not last well for over a year but in that type of storage it should definitely be extended. Whole grains are easier to store but may be harder to use. You could send the feed to a lab for testing, we send in hay or mixed feed samples sometimes, probably cost like $50 so not really worth it I would think.
I just want to add so that nobody comes here and misunderstands we are talking about "feed" lime which is basically ground limestone or CaCO3 not the caustic stuff. Sometimes they complicate things further by calling it agricultural lime etc. I have heard of people using other "limes" medicinally but not something I know about.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

Lime is needed to release the B vitamins in food. But to answer the original question, I store about 250# of Purina Layena Crumbles in my garage and I have never had any of it go bad. I keep it in metal trashcans. I've done it this way for 30 years. 

Now, horse feed is a totally different story. Sweet feed will go bad in heat. Unless you can store it in a dry basement, it isn't going to keep. You know, you can make your own sweet feed easily. It is mostly beet pulp (which keeps forever), corn, soybean hulls, ricebran, and molasses. You can keep the ingredients separated and mix as needed.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

I quit buying mixed feed for my chickens. Mine are free range too. I buy whole grains... wheat, oats, barley and cracked corn and mix my own feed. Birds do not need you to grind their food, that is what the gizzard and gravel is for. With the protein that they get from the bugs they catch you have a winner.

I think it was coming out around $30 cheaper for every 200 pounds.


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## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

kejmack said:


> Lime is needed to release the B vitamins in food. But to answer the original question, I store about 250# of Purina Layena Crumbles in my garage and I have never had any of it go bad. I keep it in metal trashcans. I've done it this way for 30 years.
> 
> Now, horse feed is a totally different story. Sweet feed will go bad in heat. Unless you can store it in a dry basement, it isn't going to keep. You know, you can make your own sweet feed easily. It is mostly beet pulp (which keeps forever), corn, soybean hulls, ricebran, and molasses. You can keep the ingredients separated and mix as needed.


How long have you had it last in the trash cans? My freezer bin is pretty much air tight and insulated by nature, but in the high heat and humidity we get in Ohio during the summer, my chicken feed will still mold. Mainly because I am just not feeding it out fast enough when the chickens are foraging on their own, but it only comes in 50# bags. Soooo... if it will store well like other bulk preps, it would save me in the long run, plus let me keep it as a prep, IF it stores. Sadly I don't think the trash cans will work for me unless it is in the mylar bags due to the humidity  That's why I was wondering about typical food prep techniques withi it.

Sweet feed... Yep, most likely way worse than chicken feed as far as storing, but I feed very little of it, and when I do it is for packing trips, and the week leading up to them for acclimation, so I never keep much on hand. I'd like to start storing some oats and field corn for them, maybe spelts as it is still a common crop around here. You're right about the beet pulp, I swear by that stuff. If you ever get a skinny horse in, its excellent for adding extra calories without the sugar in typical sweet feeds, and I have some from two years ago that I am quite certain is still every bit as nutritional as it was the day I bought it  And stored under plain jane conditions in the freezer bin  But my horses as a rule never need grain. They are rather fat from just grazing like a horse should.

Example: "Do these patches make my butt look big?" says Patches.


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## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

cnsper said:


> I quit buying mixed feed for my chickens. Mine are free range too. I buy whole grains... wheat, oats, barley and cracked corn and mix my own feed. Birds do not need you to grind their food, that is what the gizzard and gravel is for. With the protein that they get from the bugs they catch you have a winner.
> 
> I think it was coming out around $30 cheaper for every 200 pounds.


Me two, but my primary concern is calcium over the winter. If the oyster shells last forever, I am good to go! But I still like my layer feed, and if I was raising chicks, I'd like to be able to pull them off the sitter as soon as they hatched and feed them a high protein crumble. Every time I have let free range chickens raise chicks, something manages to eat them, be it cats, crows, blue jays!?!, frogs!?!.... oye. So I pull them and raise them up to be fledglings before letting them out to free range with the adults. So... Does it store I guess is what I'm asking. I know at some point I would have to go to dry grains, but if I can store some for a few years of layers and raising chicks I'd be a happy camper


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Very nice horses 
I agree with you, horses shouldn't need grain if they have grass unless you are working them hard or something sets them back. Even way up in Alberta they do really well in the wild.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

kejmack said:


> Sweet feed.... is mostly beet pulp (which keeps forever), corn, soybean hulls, ricebran, and molasses. You can keep the ingredients separated and mix as needed.


I think I would like to see if a little bit of this would be a yummy treat for the chickens from time to time. It all looks like stuff they would like to eat.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

We have our stock lime (just ground limestone) delivered in about 5 ton lots. We just dump it on the ground, yep it sets into a huge hard lump. We just break off chunks by the wheel barrow load and dump in each field and the stock lick it when needed. I put chunks in the poultry yards and they peck at it. We feed egg shells back to the pigs as well as whole cooked eggs as their calcium supplement. 
We store all our grains whole, straight from local farms and store for one to two years in a silo, very little deterioration in nutrition if whole even over 2 years. 
We grind it for the horses (we feed a bit of grain in summer when we have no pasture), cows and pigs. 
We also burn all bones, beef, pig, chicken etc. We pile them up over summer etc, they have all been picked clean by the poultry or dogs (except the chicken bones) and don't smell at all. Then after we get a bit of rain we pile up brush/branches and burn. This turns all the bones into nice crunchy calcium snacks for the chickens, they love it. We do this as we are burning the woody rubbish anyway and I don't have to dig a hole to bury them 
We also keep a big supply of seaweed meal on hand, we give this add lib to all our livestock they'll pick at it when they need it. To fill any further gaps we have a range of commercial lick blocks on hand, they store very well as long as they don't contain molasses. 
We also feed lucerne chaff to our poultry when green feed is scarce, we buy it in sealed 50 lb plastic bags and if stored in a coolish, dark shed is supposed to store with no nutrient loss for a year or more.


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