Current Internet Theory

So, a relatively fair report stating it was not the feed causing reduced lay?
Personally, I wish Mike had tested for other common toxicities that accidently end up in food, like rat poison/Warfarin. A few pellets of rat poison or even a poisoned rat may have gotten ground up in the process of making a large batch of feed and would be a perfectly good explanation for an egg reduction issue - Warfarin (used in some rat poisons) is known to cause just that.

My neighbor had issues with a brand new bag of Producer's Pride. However, he did not experience reduced egg laying, his chickens simply wouldn't eat it. I smelled the feed myself and couldn't detect anything off, I also raked my fingers through the bag looking for clumps and/or mold and found nothing. After which, I gave him a bucket of my feed and his chickens immediately went to town on it. At that time I didn't know anyone was having issues with TSC feed, I just figured my neighbor got a bad bag. It happens sometimes - even with human food. :idunno
 
Personally, I wish Mike had tested for other common toxicities that accidently end up in food, like rat poison/Warfarin. A few pellets of rat poison or even a poisoned rat may have gotten ground up in the process of making a large batch of feed and would be a perfectly good explanation for an egg reduction issue - Warfarin (used in some rat poisons) is known to cause just that.

My neighbor had issues with a brand new bag of Producer's Pride. However, he did not experience reduced egg laying, his chickens simply wouldn't eat it. I smelled the feed myself and couldn't detect anything off, I also raked my fingers through the bag looking for clumps and/or mold and found nothing. After which, I gave him a bucket of my feed and his chickens immediately went to town on it. At that time I didn't know anyone was having issues with TSC feed, I just figured my neighbor got a bad bag. It happens sometimes - even with human food. :idunno
It seems like the Producers Pride is just an overall lower grade feed. It's a cheap feed that meets the minimum standards but that's about it. Probably why the chickens don't find it particularly appealing. It's the Kibbles and Bits of the chicken feed world.
 
It seems like the Producers Pride is just an overall lower grade feed. It's a cheap feed that meets the minimum standards but that's about it. Probably why the chickens don't find it particularly appealing. It's the Kibbles and Bits of the chicken feed world.
I've never bought Producer's Pride myself and definitely never would now that I know the amount of Glyphosate that's in it. I eat organic, so I feed organic and I stay away from using any pesticides/chemicals on my land. My neighbor had been buying Producer's Pride for a long time, so his chickens were eating it until he got the bad bag. Now he feeds his chickens the exact same thing I feed mine.
 
Here are Mike's lab test results on the chicken feed he purchased from TSC:

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-03...ctor-supply-producers-pride-chicken-feed.html
At least I don't have to listen to the guy again.

– Purina Layena Layer Crumbles
– Flock Party Egg Maker Pellets
– Nature’s Best Organic Egg Layer Pellets
– Producer’s Pride 16% Layer Feed Mini Pellets
– DuMor 16% Egg Maxx Pellets
– DuMor Organic 16% Layer Crumble


So, in summary:

Aflatoxins (won't reduce rate of lay before causing a host of more severe symptoms, not reported): All feeds w/i legal limits, most 1/10th of legal limit +/-

Glyphosate (reduced rate of lay is NOT a known consequence of Glyphosate poisoning, other symptoms are - reduced fertility, for instance - but they still lay, hatch rate drops due to reduced sperm motility)

Heavy Metals: All Pass (Producer's Pride had lowest levels of lead and cadmium, Dumor brand generally had the most). Again, heavy metal poisoning is progressive, can't be "fixed" with a feed change, and is not known for reducing rate of lay.

Microbiology:
Both Purina and Flock Party failed their Colony Forming Units test, but no results were given (just Pass/Fail) and no standard was offered. Without numbers, I can't contextualize this. They also make no effort to identify which organisms were present in the colonies, or to offer any suggestion as to whether they might have originated in the factory or from storage at the retailer. Both samples passed for Coliforms, E. Coli specifically, and Salmonella, leading me to suspect it was likely yeast of some sort.
and again, none of these things are associated with reduced rate of lay except perhaps as consequence of other, more severe, symptoms.

Also, Mike was good enough to admit he doesn't know a damned thing about birds, though of course he did so in a way to suggest that a passing test might not actually mean that the tested "thing" wasn't the cause of the anecdotal claims.

Hope that helps.
 

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