How to Make Homemade Chicken Feed and Save Real Money

Feed is the single biggest cost of keeping chickens. Ask most backyard keepers where their money goes and they will point straight at the feed bin. So here is the good news. Once you learn how to make chicken feed at home, you take control of both the quality and the price, and the savings add up fast.

I have mixed my own feed for years, and the difference on the monthly bill is real. Homemade chicken feed lets you buy grain in bulk, skip the markup on bagged brands, and tune the recipe to what your birds actually need. Whether you keep four hens in the suburbs or fifty on a small farm, the same simple ideas apply.

This guide walks you through what chickens need, the ingredients to use, a proven recipe, and the exact steps to mix a batch. You will also find honest cost numbers and a few tricks that stretch every dollar even further. Let us get into it.

Why Making Your Own Chicken Feed Saves Real Money

Bagged feed is convenient, but you pay for that convenience. The price covers the brand, the packaging, the shipping, and the store shelf. When you buy raw grains from a local mill or co-op and mix them yourself, most of that markup disappears.

Buying in bulk is where the biggest savings live. A single 50 pound bag of finished layer feed costs far more per pound than the corn, wheat, and protein meal that go into it. Purchase those in larger quantities and your cost per pound drops sharply.

There is a control angle too. Store feed can sit for months and lose freshness, and you never really know how old it is. Mix your own and every batch is fresh, which means better nutrition and less waste. Want to see the exact numbers for your flock? Run them through the poultry feed calculator before you buy a single bag.

What Chickens Actually Need in Their Feed

Before you mix anything, it helps to know what a balanced diet looks like. Chickens are not picky in a bad way, but they do have real nutritional needs. Miss one and you will see it in fewer eggs, thin shells, or slow growth.

A balanced layer feed leans on grains for energy, with a solid protein share and calcium on the side.

Protein for Growth and Eggs

Protein is the fuel for feathers, muscle, and egg production. Laying hens need about 16 to 18 percent protein in their daily feed. Chicks need more, closer to 18 to 20 percent, because they are growing fast. Soybean meal, field peas, fish meal, and dried insects all deliver it.

Energy from Grains

Grains like corn, wheat, and barley are the energy base of any feed. They keep birds warm, active, and laying. Corn is the classic choice because it is cheap and rich in calories, but a blend of grains gives a more rounded diet.

Calcium for Strong Shells

Laying hens burn through calcium to build eggshells. Crushed oyster shell or limestone offered on the side lets each hen take exactly what she needs. Skip this and you will get soft or cracked shells within a week or two.

Minerals, Vitamins, and Grit

A small amount of poultry mineral and salt mix fills the gaps that grains leave behind. Grit, which is just coarse sand or tiny stones, sits in the gizzard and grinds up whole grains so the bird can digest them. Free ranging birds often find their own grit, but it is smart to offer some anyway.

The Core Ingredients for Homemade Chicken Feed

You do not need a long shopping list. A handful of reliable ingredients covers nearly everything a flock needs. Here is what belongs in your bin and why.

Ingredient	Protein	What it does for your flock
Cracked corn	8%	The main energy source that keeps birds warm and active
Wheat or barley	11 to 12%	Extra energy plus fiber for healthy digestion
Soybean meal	44%	The workhorse protein for growth and steady egg laying
Field peas	22%	A homegrown protein you can raise yourself
Fish meal	62%	A protein and amino acid booster, use in small amounts
Oyster shell	0%	Free choice calcium for strong shells and bones
Salt and minerals	0%	Rounds out the diet and prevents deficiencies
Grit	0%	Helps the gizzard grind whole grains

Notice how the proteins vary so much. Fish meal packs a huge punch, so a little goes a long way, while corn is mostly energy. Balancing them is the whole game. This chart makes the differences easy to see.

Protein levels swing widely, so mixing high and low protein ingredients is how you hit the right target.

A Simple Homemade Chicken Feed Recipe for Layers

Here is a balanced layer recipe that lands right around 16 to 17 percent protein, which is the sweet spot for hens in full lay. The amounts are given by weight, not volume, because weight is what keeps the nutrition consistent.

Ingredient	Parts by weight	For a 50 lb batch
Cracked corn	30	15 lb
Wheat or barley	25	12.5 lb
Soybean meal	20	10 lb
Field peas	10	5 lb
Fish meal	3	1.5 lb
Oyster shell (free choice)	8	4 lb
Poultry mineral and salt mix	4	2 lb

Offer the oyster shell in its own dish rather than mixing it in, so hens self regulate their calcium. For meat birds, bump the soybean meal up and the corn down to push protein toward 20 percent. For chicks, grind everything finer and aim a little higher on protein as well.

Growing your own grains or greens? A fodder production calculator helps you plan how much to sprout, and fresh fodder is one of the cheapest protein boosts around.

Step by Step: How to Mix Your Own Chicken Feed

Mixing feed is simpler than baking bread. Follow these five steps and you will have a fresh batch in under half an hour.

The whole process comes down to five easy steps you can repeat every few weeks.

1. Weigh each ingredient. Use a kitchen or hanging scale and measure by weight, following the recipe parts. Guessing by the scoop throws off the balance.
2. Grind or crack the grains. Whole corn and wheat are hard for small birds to eat. A cheap grain mill or even a sturdy blender works for backyard batches.
3. Mix the base thoroughly. Combine grains, protein meals, and the mineral mix in a clean bin or wheelbarrow. Stir until the color looks even, with no pockets of one ingredient.
4. Offer calcium on the side. Keep oyster shell in a separate feeder so each hen takes what she needs for strong shells.
5. Store it right away. Move the finished feed into a sealed, dry container to lock in freshness. More on storage below.

How to Cut Your Feed Costs Even Further

Once your base mix is dialed in, a few habits can shave the bill down more. None of them are complicated, and your birds tend to love them.

• Ferment the feed. Soak your mix in water for two to three days until it smells slightly sour. Fermenting boosts nutrition, cuts waste, and can lower how much feed birds need.
• Sprout grains into fodder. Turn cheap barley or wheat into fresh green shoots in about a week. It multiplies the food value of the grain and gives hens something juicy in winter.
• Use kitchen and garden scraps. Veggie trimmings, stale bread, and leftover grains are free calories. Just keep treats under 10 percent of the diet so nutrition stays balanced.
• Let them free range. Bugs, weeds, and seeds are protein your birds gather for free. Even a few hours out reduces how much feed you scoop each day.
• Buy grain in bulk with neighbors. Split a bulk order with other keepers to hit the lower price tier without storing a ton yourself.

Small changes stack up. If you keep hens for eggs to sell, plug your new lower feed cost into the egg production profit calculator and the selling price calculator to see how much wider your margin gets.

Storing Homemade Feed So It Does Not Spoil

Homemade feed has no preservatives, so storage matters more than with bagged brands. Done wrong, feed can grow mold or go rancid, which is a fast way to lose the money you just saved.

Keep feed in a sealed metal or heavy duty plastic bin in a cool, dry place out of direct sun. Metal cans also keep rodents out, which is a common and costly problem. Mix only what your flock will finish in three to four weeks so the natural oils in the grain stay fresh.

Moisture is the enemy. If you sprout or grow your own grain, check that it is fully dry before storing, since damp grain molds quickly. The grain moisture and dry weight calculator takes the guesswork out of that step.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Most feed problems come down to a few repeat errors. Dodge these and your flock will thrive.

• Skipping the protein target. Too little protein means fewer eggs and dull feathers. Do not lean on corn alone.
• Mixing calcium into the feed. Roosters and young birds do not need the extra calcium, so keep it separate.
• Measuring by volume. A cup of corn and a cup of soybean meal weigh differently. Always mix by weight.
• Forgetting fresh water. Birds eat less and lay poorly when water runs short. Check the daily water requirement so your flock never goes thirsty.
• Ignoring flock losses. Watch your numbers with a poultry mortality rate calculator so a small health issue does not quietly eat your savings.

Is Homemade Chicken Feed Really Cheaper?

Let us look at honest numbers. Prices swing by region and season, but the pattern holds almost everywhere. A basic homemade mix usually beats bagged feed, and adding fermenting and fodder widens the gap.

Illustrative pricing. Your exact savings depend on local grain costs and how much you produce yourself.

Option	Cost per 50 lb	Yearly cost (10 hens)
Bagged layer feed from the store	$28	About $290
Basic homemade mix	$21	About $220
Homemade plus fermenting and fodder	$16	About $165

Across a year, even a small flock saves a meaningful chunk of cash. Scale that to a bigger operation and homemade feed becomes one of the easiest wins on the whole farm. Want the full picture including grain, labor, and equipment? Map it out with the farm budget planner and browse the other farm finance calculators to keep every cost in check.

One more bonus that rarely makes the spreadsheet. Chicken manure is excellent for the garden. Turn it into compost and you offset fertilizer costs too. The organic fertilizer calculator shows how much that waste is really worth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it cheaper to make your own chicken feed?

Yes, in most cases. When you buy grains in bulk and mix your own, you skip the markup on bagged feed. Many backyard keepers trim their feed bill by 20 to 40 percent, especially once they add fermenting or grow part of the ration themselves.

What is the best homemade chicken feed recipe for layers?

A solid layer mix runs about 60 percent grains for energy, 24 percent protein from sources like soybean meal and peas, plus free choice oyster shell for calcium and a poultry mineral blend. Aim for 16 to 18 percent total protein for laying hens.

Can chickens live on just kitchen scraps?

No. Scraps are a nice bonus, but they do not give balanced nutrition on their own. Treats and scraps should stay under about 10 percent of the daily diet so your birds still get enough protein and calcium.

How much protein does homemade chicken feed need?

Chicks need roughly 18 to 20 percent protein, growing birds around 16 percent, and laying hens about 16 to 18 percent. Broilers raised for meat do best on 20 to 22 percent early on.

How do I store homemade chicken feed so it lasts?

Keep it in a sealed metal or heavy plastic container in a cool, dry spot away from sunlight. Mix only what your flock will eat in three to four weeks so the feed stays fresh and the oils do not go rancid.

The Bottom Line

Learning how to make chicken feed at home is one of the most practical skills a poultry keeper can pick up. You control the quality, you keep every batch fresh, and you cut a bill that never seems to stop climbing. Start with the simple layer recipe above, weigh your ingredients, and store the mix well.

From there, add fermenting and fodder to squeeze out even more savings. Your hens eat better, your wallet feels lighter in a good way, and you know exactly what goes into every scoop. Ready to crunch your own numbers? Head over to the poultry and livestock calculators at FoodsFarming and build a feed plan that fits your flock and your budget.