best brand of chicken feed?

[sydney13]

i was wondering what are some of the best brands of chicken feeds? our feed store sells a good variety including purina, layena, blue seal, poulin grain, and some other brands. are their any brands to avoid and any brands i should stick to?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Often the best brand is "whichever one you can get."

 

[Schultz]

Quote:
We use only Kent too!!
I stay far far away from anything called Purina

 

[pascopol]

I agree with all who dislike purina. I quit feeding Purina after my quail developed Vitamins B defficiency (Purina is "proud" not to use any animal products in their overrated and overpriced feed).

Plant matter is not a complete source of group B vitamins necessary for well being of most animals and humans.

Chickens are not vegetarians, they are omnivores.

Also soy beans, major ingredient Purina uses is JUNK.

 

[seminolewind]

I have been a label reader for years. I remember buying Eukanuba or science diet thinking it was the best only to find out that they had the same crap ingredients in them than the supermarket dog food does! They all lie. And then, I happened upon Blue dog food one day. It said "Salmon and sweet potato" and glory be, that's exactly the first 2 ingredients in the bag! Finally, some company who's not saying they are the best, and you read the label and the first 3 ingredients are cereal, corn, and more cereal.

It was the same with my horse 25 years ago. All those wonderful feeds had corn as the first ingredient , and a bunch of by-products (I call them floor sweepings). Then I discovered Blue Seal horse feed and they said they were good, and by golly the first 3 ingredients were oats , rolled oats, and whole oats! Not corn!!! They got my loyalty as well.

Look at tags, The front of the bag will say "greens and vegetables" and you will find it's ingredient #26, something that might translate to a pinch of parsley in a 50 pound bag. Now Purina claims that it now has probiotics in it. But how much? Minimum daily requirement? Or a speck? How much probiotics should a chicken get per day? And how much is Purina giving them?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

It does read as racist. I should try to find a "newsier" version of the story surrounding problematic protein concentrates.

Edited: here is a 45 page congressional report on food fraud. Happy reading!

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43358.pdf

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

This is a fascinating thread. I love all the direct research you've done, Leslie. Would you mind sharing the nutshell version of your custom recipe? Thank you.

It's an all-purpose poultry pellet, 19% protein. The base is locally grown wheat, peas from the next state over, pumpkin seeds, with a bit of fish meal (local wholesale distributor) for animal protein, Diamond V organic yeast, and some other supplements like you generally find in poultry feed but with consideration for ducks, chicks, breeders & molting birds. It's a lower calcium feed, so we provide oyster shell on the side.

I think I can slightly taste the pumpkin seeds in the eggs, which is super yummy.

We ferment a portion of the feed with a bit of hay pellets. We also offer some dry. We mix the duck's dry feed with scratch to bring the protein down. We limit scratch for the chickens. I usually supplement the chick feed for a bit more protein.

The birds also have access to good pasture and bug forage areas. Providing diverse forage is a whole other thread.

 

[perchie.girl]

I just stumbled on this thread and need to read it through.... before adding in my personal 2 cents

LDJ

deb

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
When I sprout grain I just add a few cans of oats (or grain) in a bucket and add *apple juice* to cover the oats.
After 3 or 4 days I drain and top there feed with it...

Note:
* Apple Juice* Raw or Organic is perfused.
I like apple juice better than plain water. Apple juice will add vitamin C and help with the sprouting/ fermenting process.
You may have to refill the bucket with apple juice after a day or two. Oats (grain) will soak a bit of it up...

If you like you could add a Vitamin mix like Rooster Booster Poultry Cell to the drained sprouted/ fermented mix at.
With the Rooster Booster you add 1 to 3 cc per bird per day.
Rooster Booster adds:
Copper
Cobalt
Magnesium
Manganese
Zinc
Selenium
Vitamin A
Vitamin D-3
Vitamin E
Vitamin B-12
Menadione (Vitamin K-3)
Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2)
Pyridoxine (Vitamin B-6)
Folic Acid
d-Panthothenic Acid
Niacinamide
Thiamine (Vitamin B-1)
Alanine
Arginine
Aspartic Acid
Cystine
Glutamic Acid
Glycine
Histidine
Isoleucine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenyla Lanine
Proline
Serine
Threonine
Tryptophan
Tyrosine
Valine

Chris

 

[Jessiewoodard57]

We use a local farm feed store that mixes it fresh .....A 50# bag of laying mash is 9 dollars.