Switching Feed

[buckboy101]

Hey ya'll! I was wondering if I could swap my DuMor Layer Crumbles for just regular cracked corn and my chickens would still be fine. I think we all know that times are tough and money is tight, so I really need a cheaper feed solution. Please help if you can. Thanks so much!

 

[Clay Mudd]

If all they're getting is corn, they'll be lacking in protein, minerals and vitamins. Take a look at the nutrition tag on your layer feed and compare it to the tag on a bag of corn, and you'll see what I mean.

 

[buckboy101]

Ok, so do you think I should just find a cheaper feed?

 

[Clay Mudd]

if you can, that would be a lot better than feeding straight corn.

You might want to look back through the forum; there are a few threads on saving money on feed. If there's a feed mill near you, they'll probably beat the Dumor price. Same thing goes for an independent feed store.


Do you let them free range/forage at all?

 

[groundpecker]

Feeding just corn will surely have a great impact on your birds. They will lose weight, become more likely to get sick and even stop laying. You could do a 50/50 corn and regular feed mix.
I love my birds and they get top feed. The birds i plan to show get gamebird feed which is $16 a 50lb bag. If you cannot feed the birds, think about reducing the numbers instead of feeding cheap food.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Research and asking of questions will get you a better deal.

Here, at TSC, DuMor layer is about $14 a 50# bag. At a local feed mill, a quality, Hubbard mash is only $9.75. You local mill prices may vary, but in almost every case, locally owned mill can grind a bag of feed cheaper, at the same or better level of quality, for less than TSC can sell a fancy bag of shipped in feed.

This is how to save money. Find a local feed mill. Even if it is 40 miles away, when life takes you in that direction, stop by and stock up. Trying to save money by feeding an incomplete feed just won't get the job done.

 

[dirtsaver]

Fred's Hens :

Research and asking of questions will get you a better deal.

Here, at TSC, DuMor layer is about $14 a 50# bag. At a local feed mill, a quality, Hubbard mash is only $9.75. You local mill prices may vary, but in almost every case, locally owned mill can grind a bag of feed cheaper, at the same or better level of quality, for less than TSC can sell a fancy bag of shipped in feed.

This is how to save money. Find a local feed mill. Even if it is 40 miles away, when life takes you in that direction, stop by and stock up. Trying to save money by feeding an incomplete feed just won't get the job done.

Very good advice Fred! I found that the Southern States Coop store 30 miles away sells their 16% all-grain layer crumbles for under $13.00/50 lbs. We were paying almost $17.00/50 lbs of Layena at TSC. To top it off,the girls are doing much better on the Southern States feed. Check my post on Layena vs Southern States for more info on the differences we found.

FYI Southern States has stores in about 18 states in the Eastern part of the US now and makes weekly shipments from their mills to the stores,unlike TSC that buy pallets of feed that sits in the back of the store months at a time.​