What feed do you reccommend I get and why?

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OrlandoFLACoop

OrlandoFLACoop

In the Brooder
6 Years
Nov 4, 2013
74
0
29
Orlando, Florida
First of all, I am very new to BYC ( just joined today! ) and I love it already!

But anyway, I don't have chickens yet but we are planning on getting some this month. We would go to the Tractor Supply Co. here. We went yesterday and I saw brands like Purina Layena, Dumor, and some others that I don't remember. What brand do you reccommend, even not in those listed?
Thanks!
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Thanks! I know I'll get lots of help from this site and the people are friendly. I already knew to get crumbles and lots of people don't like the Layena because it only uses plant proteins instead of animal proteins, which I guess chickens need the animal proteins.
 
No, I would only use them for eggs/ pets! While doing other research I saw that many people like the dumor crumbles.

But what's the difference between mash and crumbles?
 
Mash is powder, crumbles are larger and pellets are the largest feed. Chicks will start out with crumbles and I don't see the need/use of mash though many use it. Pellets I feed as soon as they are large enough to eat them- 12 weeks. My larger birds through crumbles all about the ground then refuse to eat them so I've much less waste when feeding pellets.

The size of feed has no bearing on type. Which type of feed you use, starter, grower, layer or one of the game bird feeds, is dependent on purpose of bird or age of growth. They vary in protein, fat and calcium amounts. Then there is your choice of soy free, organic and levels of animal protein. Actual name brands are rather irrelevant if you know what you want and read the ingredients/nutrient analysis. They should have brochures or you can look online for that. It's also listed on tags on bag.
 
Okay. We would get pullets and only start with 2 of them ( the limit here is 3). We would let them forage in the back yard and give them lots of treats ( like fruits, vegetables, rice, leftovers, ect. But I have read the list of what they can't eat. ) we will also have ground oyster shell for them at all times.

Based on this, ( I can give more information that you need) what type of food do you think would be best? As in low protein, high protein, low calcium, ect. ?
 
You don't need oyster shells until near or at start of laying. Low calcium blends are used when supplying oyster shells. But it's much easier to get a layer feed if your only having laying hens. I use low calcium and supply oyster because of rooster and younger birds in summer and fall.

You can use a chicken grower from start to finish with your birds, it's lower calcium and 16% protein. I can't get chicken grower in pellet form so use game bird finisher which is low in calcium and 16% protein. When the birds are going through their molt I change to game bird grower for 18% protein to help speed up the molt time and get them back to laying more eggs sooner.

Try to limit poor nutritional quality treats. The rule of thumb is to not let birds eat more than 10% of their total daily food. But I don't put table scraps and old leftovers in the treat catagory as I feel we eat nutritionally well balanced food.
 
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