How to Make Poultry Feed

Making poultry feed is not particularly rocket science. You only need the right ingredients in the right amounts for the type of chickens that you are formulating the feeds for. The rest is just mixing, grinding and pelletizing the feed for your flock in order to make them more palatable for your chickens.

You can read more on the various kinds of the poultry feed pellet machines that are currently in the market.

Due to the rising feed costs and the fact that many farmers now want more control or at least more transparency on the feed formulation processes and ingredients used by their suppliers, the business of poultry feed milling is fast growing in popularity, not just among small scale agricultural entrepreneurs but also among small scale farmers with a flock of a few thousand flock.

Poultry feed milling as a part of an integrated poultry production system helps farmers cut down on the costs of feeds and place more oversight on the kinds of ingredients that go into their poultry feeds.

However, when it comes to poultry feed milling, farmers still grapple with a host of challenges. For example, what ingredients will they use to mill the poultry feed? What is the formula for mixing up these ingredients? What amounts of feed supplements and additives should they use? What kind of feed pellet machinery should they use in preparing the poultry feed? Should they purchase a small poultry feed milling machine or invest in an entire feed production line? These are some of the questions y0ou are likely to grapple with when trying to set up a poultry feed mill.

The Raw materials used in making poultry feed

This is one of the areas where you will have utmost flexibility because many of the ingredients commonly used in poultry feed formulation can easily be substituted with locally available grains.

Grind or Whole Portion Raw Materials

• Barley
• Wheat
• Oats
• Corn
• Peas
• Alfalfa Pellets

Premix

• Cultured Yeast
• Crab Meal
• Fish meal
• Kelp
• Salt
• Aragonite
• Flax seed

The Formula for Mixing Your Chicken Feed Pellet

Crude Protein Minimum: 16.5%

Crude Fiber Maximum: 5%

Calcium Minimum: 3.5%; Maximum 4%

Crude Fat Minimum: 3%

Lysine Minimum: 0.7%

Phosphorous Minimum: 0.5%

Salt: Minimum: 0.2%; Maximum 0.4%

Methionine Minimum: 0.2%

Poultry Feed Pellet Milling Machine

There are numerous machines in the market that can be used for poultry feed milling. Many of the smaller poultry feed milling machines are fairly easy to install on your premises and operate. When buying a suitable poultry feed pelleting machine, you will need to factor in considerations such as the capacity of the machine, pellet size, power consumption, technical support among other factors. The poultry feed production lines are generally more sophisticated and require serious investments and more comprehensive technical support to get them running and working smoothly.

Many of the smaller poultry feed pelleting machines cost anywhere from $500 to $2000. The larger poultry feed pelleting machines will cost in the regions of $4000 to $8000 while poultry feed production lines can cost anywhere from $25,000 to millions of dollars.

The smallest poultry feed milling machines can have a capacity ranging from 60kg/hour to 100kg/hour. These typically cost anywhere from $500 to $1000. The medium scale poultry feed pelleting machines will have a capacity of 400kg/hour to 600kg/hour and may cost anywhere from $1000 to $8000.

However, keep in mind that many of these smaller poultry feed pelleting machines may not have grinder functions. If you want a machine that will grind, mix and pellet, make sure you read the specifications of the machines before making a purchase. Otherwise you might find yourself only buying a pelleting machine. This will force you to grind your poultry feed ingredients elsewhere before you bring them to the machine for pelleting.

Why Choose a Poultry Food Pelleting Machine for Your Chicken?

A good poultry feed pelletizer makes quality poultry feed that is not just palatable but where the nutritional integrity of the poultry feed ingredients is preserved. This can significantly boost the feed conversion and subsequently, the health and yield of your flock. Quality poultry feed is integral to the success of your poultry farming enterprise.

Chickens in different stages of growth will need different pellet size of poultry feeds and a poultry pelleting machine can help you formulate varied rations of your poultry feed, suited for the different ages of your chickens.