Natures Best and Changing Feeds

[LadyVictorian]

So I have been feeding my chicks DuMor chick starter 20% since they were about a week old and they are now 2 weeks old and somehow I am just not happy about the feed. It's dusty and they don't seem to really want to eat it unless I have hard boiled egg yolk in it to soften it up a bit and I am sure add flavor and probably actual nutrition. The crumbles are too big and I have to crush them up and all in all I am just not that happy with this stuff. I seem to throw more out than my chicks eat since the dust gets sneezed about, the larger chunks get ignored, and once the pick as many little pieces out as possible they cry to have their food dish refilled. So I have been shopping my work (I work at TSC) and have been looking between Organic Naturewise and another brand called Natures Best. They are both organic feeds which I intentionally wanted to start with but they only come in 40lb and 50lb bags and with only 4 babies I just couldn't justify buying that much feed.

Now that my chickens seem to be eating more I wonder if it is worth buying it. Has anyone tried Natures Best? Anyone like it? Hate it? It's certainly on the pricey side but the ingredients seem sound enough.

These are the ingredients in that particular brand:

Organic Corn, Organic Soybean Meal, Organic Wheat, Organic Wheat Middlings, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Diatomaceous Earth, Sodium Chloride, Sodium sesquicarbonate, Methionine Supplement, Calcium Carbonate, Manganous Oxide, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Product, Choline Chloride, Vitamin.

It also has 18% protein Is USDA Organic certified, Non GMO Project certified, and Safe Food Certified.

Also when changing food can you just do a complete switch over or like with dogs do I need to mix the feeds half and half and slowly ween them off their original food?

 

[Pork Pie]

So I have been feeding my chicks DuMor chick starter 20% since they were about a week old and they are now 2 weeks old and somehow I am just not happy about the feed. It's dusty and they don't seem to really want to eat it unless I have hard boiled egg yolk in it to soften it up a bit and I am sure add flavor and probably actual nutrition. The crumbles are too big and I have to crush them up and all in all I am just not that happy with this stuff. I seem to throw more out than my chicks eat since the dust gets sneezed about, the larger chunks get ignored, and once the pick as many little pieces out as possible they cry to have their food dish refilled. So I have been shopping my work (I work at TSC) and have been looking between Organic Naturewise and another brand called Natures Best. They are both organic feeds which I intentionally wanted to start with but they only come in 40lb and 50lb bags and with only 4 babies I just couldn't justify buying that much feed.

Now that my chickens seem to be eating more I wonder if it is worth buying it. Has anyone tried Natures Best? Anyone like it? Hate it? It's certainly on the pricey side but the ingredients seem sound enough.

These are the ingredients in that particular brand:

Organic Corn, Organic Soybean Meal, Organic Wheat, Organic Wheat Middlings, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Diatomaceous Earth, Sodium Chloride, Sodium sesquicarbonate, Methionine Supplement, Calcium Carbonate, Manganous Oxide, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Product, Choline Chloride, Vitamin.

It also has 18% protein Is USDA Organic certified, Non GMO Project certified, and Safe Food Certified.

Also when changing food can you just do a complete switch over or like with dogs do I need to mix the feeds half and half and slowly ween them off their original food?

Better to wean them off gradually.

 

[song of joy]

Hi. I just ran across your post. In the past I've used a variety of feeds, including Dumor and Purina. However, I switched to Nature's Best Chick Starter Grower last year because it is organic and non-GMO. It's pricey, but in my opinion it's worth it. For a year now, I've fed it to chicks, pullets, cockerels, and mature hens and roosters. They have all done very well on this feed. The low calcium level means it can be used as an all-flock feed. I provide crushed oyster shell in a separate dish, and the pullets and hens take what they need as a calcium supplement.

To reduce or eliminate the waste you can get from crumbles, empty residual feed (e.g., from the bottom of the feeder) into a shallow dish and mix water into it, stirring it up to the consistency of oatmeal. The chickens love it.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Hi. I just ran across your post. In the past I've used a variety of feeds, including Dumor and Purina. However, I switched to Nature's Best Chick Starter Grower last year because it is organic and non-GMO. It's pricey, but in my opinion it's worth it. For a year now, I've fed it to chicks, pullets, cockerels, and mature hens and roosters. They have all done very well on this feed. The low calcium level means it can be used as an all-flock feed. I provide crushed oyster shell in a separate dish, and the pullets and hens take what they need as a calcium supplement.

To reduce or eliminate the waste you can get from crumbles, empty residual feed (e.g., from the bottom of the feeder) into a shallow dish and mix water into it, stirring it up to the consistency of oatmeal. The chickens love it.

Yeah I have switched to this official and I must say their droppings smell less nasty and are not as watery and the food itself is not super dusty like the other stuff. I also loved the low calcium making it safe for my roosters to eat more long term. My April babies coming in will be feed Natures Best from the start. Wish I would have gotten this from the get go. I wouldn't have wasted so much money on food that smelled nasty and made my chicks sluggish. Threw out 2 bags of food prior to getting this stuff.

 

[NaturesBestOrganic]

Yeah I have switched to this official and I must say their droppings smell less nasty and are not as watery and the food itself is not super dusty like the other stuff. I also loved the low calcium making it safe for my roosters to eat more long term. My April babies coming in will be feed Natures Best from the start. Wish I would have gotten this from the get go. I wouldn't have wasted so much money on food that smelled nasty and made my chicks sluggish. Threw out 2 bags of food prior to getting this stuff.

Hello, LadyVictorian!

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