How to Make Your Own Poultry Nutri Balancer

Raising chickens can be an extremely rewarding experience. Not only do backyard chickens provide fresh eggs but they make great pets too! However keeping chickens does come with responsibilities, including making sure your flock is getting proper nutrition.

While there are many commercial feeds available, more and more chicken owners are choosing to make their own feed Homemade feed allows you to control the ingredients and avoid genetically modified crops or fillers you may want to avoid

One essential supplement for any chicken ration is a nutri balancer pellet. This provides the vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients required for good health and production. But nutri balancer can be expensive to buy. Luckily, you can make your own homemade version and save some money!

What is Nutri Balancer?

A nutri balancer for chickens contains a premix of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other essential nutrients required in a chicken’s diet. Using a nutri balancer ensures your chickens get all the nutrients they need for optimal health, growth and egg production.

Commercial nutri balancers are designed by animal nutritionists and manufactured to provide precise amounts of nutrients. Making your own allows you to avoid genetically engineered ingredients, but getting the nutrient ratios right takes some work.

Why Make Your Own?

There are a few reasons you may want to make your own nutri balancer instead of buying a commercial product:

• Cost savings – Buying pre-made nutri balancer can get expensive, especially for large flocks. Homemade lets you save significantly.

• Avoid GM ingredients – Many commercial feeds contain genetically modified corn, soy or other ingredients. Homemade gives you control over sourcing non-GMO grains and supplements.

• Customize for your flock – You can tweak your recipe to alter protein, calcium, phosphorus or other nutrients to perfectly suit your flock’s needs.

• Make fresh batches – Nutrients like vitamins degrade over time in storage. Homemade means you can mix up smaller batches more frequently.

• Use local ingredients – Support local agriculture by using grains and supplements from regional farmers or mills.

How to Formulate Your Own Nutri Balancer

Making your own nutri balancer takes careful formulation to provide all the nutrition chickens need. Follow these steps:

1. Learn Nutrient Requirements

Start by researching the recommended amounts of each nutrient chickens need. Requirements differ depending on the bird’s age and whether they are layers or broilers. Most feed mills will have nutrition specification sheets to help you learn target amounts.

Key nutrients to understand are:

• Protein and amino acids
• Calcium and phosphorus
• Vitamins A, D, E, K
• B complex vitamins
• Major and trace minerals like zinc, copper, manganese, etc.

Having a goal for each nutrient will guide you in building the recipe.

2. Research Ingredient Nutrient Profiles

Next, research different supplement ingredients to find their nutrient compositions. For example, fish meal is high in protein while kelp meal provides trace minerals.

Make a list of potential ingredients and their nutrient breakdowns. Good options include:

• Fish meal
• Kelp meal
• Dried distiller’s grains
• Wheat middlings
• Flaxseed meal
• Poultry grit
• Oyster shell
• Brewer’s yeast
• Dried herbs
• Molasses
• Vegetable oils
• Vitamin and mineral pre-mixes

3. Use Feed Formulation Software

Balancing dozens of nutrients in the right amounts is complex. Using feed formulation software makes it much easier. Programs like Farmax and Zoetis Optimal Formulation allow you to enter nutrient targets, then input your ingredients. The software will then calculate combinations to meet the nutrition specifications.

Many local feed mills and agriculture extension offices have formulation programs you can use for a small fee. Having the software take care of calculations saves lots of guess work.

4. Adjust and Tweak The Recipe

After generating an initial recipe, review each nutrient amount against your target goals. Make adjustments to the ingredients and have the software re-calculate if any nutrients are too low or high.

Tweak and optimize the recipe until everything is within an acceptable range. It will likely take some trial and error to get right.

5. Scale Up and Mix Your Batch

Once your recipe hits all nutrient targets in the software, it’s time to mix up a batch! First, scale up the amounts to produce the quantity you need.

Gather all the ingredients and combine thoroughly in a large mixer or tumbler. A cement mixer works great for large batches. Blend for 10-15 minutes until uniformly mixed.

6. Analyze the Finished Product

Before feeding it to your flock, it’s smart to send a sample of your finished nutri balancer to a lab for analysis. Labs can test if your actual nutrient levels match your targets.

Testing the batch lets you verify nutrition before using it. If any key nutrients are too low or high, you can tweak your recipe and re-mix another batch.

Tips for Making Nutri Balancer

Follow these tips for success when making homemade nutri balancer:

• Use a vitamin and mineral premix designed for poultry to ensure correct nutrition.
• Choose digestible protein sources like fish meal over plant proteins.
• Incorporate a probiotic or yeast for digestive health.
• Consider using a binding agent like bentonite clay to pelletize.
• Mix small test batches first to tweak your formulation.
• Store out of sunlight in sealed containers to preserve nutrients.
• Test batches with a lab analysis to verify nutrient levels.
• Adjust the recipe based on your flock’s body condition and egg production.
• Reformulate if you change protein sources since amino acid levels will change.

Sample Poultry Nutri Balancer Recipes

To give you an idea of what a homemade recipe may look like, here are two sample formulations:

Sample #1

• 40% fish meal
• 20% wheat middlings
• 20% flaxseed meal
• 10% brewer’s yeast
• 5% oyster shell
• 2.5% kelp meal
• 2.5% poultry vitamin/mineral premix

Sample #2

• 30% distiller’s dried grains
• 20% wheat middlings
• 15% meat and bone meal
• 10% fish meal
• 10% soybean meal
• 5% flaxseed meal
• 5% oyster shell
• 2.5% kelp meal
• 2.5% poultry vitamin/mineral premix

These are just examples – your recipe should be customized to your flock based on their age, breed, environment and productivity. Getting the formulation right takes work, but the reward is happy healthy chickens.

Is it Worth Making Your Own?

While homemade poultry nutri balancer takes effort to create, it can pay off through lower feed costs and the ability to control ingredients. If you have the time and motivation to formulate nutrient-balanced recipes, then making your own can be a great DIY project.

Be sure to have your finished product analyzed to confirm the right nutrition before feeding it to your flock. Pay close attention to their egg production, growth rates, and feathering to see how they perform on your homemade mixture. Adjust the formulation as needed to give your chickens the best nutrition possible.