I need to be able to mix custom feed. I’m looking at mixing one 55 gallon barrel a month. Will a large mortar mixer DRILL with a mixing paddle do the job or will I need to look more into a small gas powered earth auger with a custom mixing bit? Anyone ever done this kind of work? Having low quantity mixed at a mill is not an option and a towable harbor freight style cement mixer will take up space and would require 2-3 batches to mix 55gal of feed.

How many small amount of items do you want to mix? By that I mean minerals, salt, vitamins, and or other small special ingredients. The more of those in the mix and the more important they are and need to be well mixed the better the blend needs to be. If you are planning on mixing several batches over time then investing in better equipment may be a wise option. 55 gallons is 250-300 plus lbs. if typical grains, too bad your local mill won't do that the one a half mile from my house will do 5-10 50lbs. bags if needed.

Bryce

A drill isn’t going to be able to mix that much, and will burn up in a hurry. For such small quantities, why custom? It would make more sense to just buy it in bags. I feed that in a week and can’t justify messing with it.
You may be able to divide it into smaller batches, maybe 100 lbs at a time, and roll around in a barrel. I’d keep the barrel at least half empty so it has room to mix.

Fill barrel half full, put on lid, roll down hill.

id use a clean concrete mixer. id assume the auger wouldnt mix well

What are you feeding Zac?

Keith

When I was young we had hogs and laying hens. I know I mixed a lot of what were smaller batches say 200-400 lbs. with cement trough or box and a hoe and then fill up sacks until done. I would not suggest that if you need to do this over time and are busy with other tasks.

Bryce

Feeding game fowl. Four ingredients mostly whole corn. I have sourced my individual amendments at best prices locally. Don’t want to travel long distances or handle large volumes at a time. Every mill I have spoken to won’t custom mix unless it’s 1000lbs a time. Also they can’t get some of the additives I can. Just wanting to barrel mix. Looking at 2cycle post augers if large mixing drill won’t work.

I think mixing in a half empty barrel would mix the best. I think even with the auger, you’ll have to do half a barrel at a time. There needs to be free space to allow mixing.

Harbor freight has an electric cement mixer for $229.00. I think I might go this route when I start mixing my own feed for my game fowl. I buy a commercial mix now from Burkman's feeds but it will get expensive feeding it to a lot of chickens.

If you have whole corn in the ration I think your probably waisting your time mixing all at once. If you want an actual mix that is consistent probably going to be better off mixing smaller batches as you need it. Mixing a feed with multiple feed ingredients of various sizes with equipment that isn't made for the job is going to be difficult and most likely not pay for it's self. The ingredients are going to separate in storage and in the end your going to have a feed that is nothing like you intended. Probably better off to stick to the 5 gallon bucket if all your needing is small amounts at a time.

We just mix by hand...

My dad is a hobby/small market farmer. He mixes custom feed for his goats, rabbits and chickens. He got Covid followed by pneumonia so I've been mixing feed for him. He buys his ingredients in 50 lb sacks, about 12 bags a week (600 lb). We mix and store in 55 gal drums. The goats get 5 main ingredients plus 3 small supplements. On mix day, I open up 5 sacks on the floor, and use a gallon scoop to measure out of the bags. 2 scoops out of each sack, plus the supplements, fills the drum about 4 inches. Then I stir with a pitchfork or shovel. It's easy to stir 4" at a time. It sounds time consuming but it goes fast. I can mix all of his feed once a week (600 lb in 3 different blends) in about 35 minutes. Maybe 40 if I have to move bags around.

His chicken feed is a 50/50 mix. Here's how I do that: open the top of a sack. Fold the top over and hold it closed, pick it up and set the whole sack in the barrel upside down. Do the same with the other sack, so they're both side-by-side, upside down in the barrel. Lift both sacks by the bottom, and you get a perfect 50/50 column of feed. When we feed we scoop out of the middle. By the time it gets dumped once in the bucket and once in the feeder it's pretty well blended.