Update, Necropsy Results

[Loona]

Loona, they must give you a mill date if asked. If they won't don't buy it, and tell them why.
Mary

Yes, he did say they just delivered last Thursday to the Co-Op the freshest lot from when it was milled and bagged one week prior. They're currently delivering Lot #6830, the latest. One week prior to that they milled/bagged Lot #6800. So I guess they make it weekly. I DO wish they'd put the date on there rather than lot number.

 

[flwrldy]

I called New Country Organics to ask about the Lot #'s. He said they advise the stores who buy it to not sell bags past 3 months. Nutrition does begin to degrade. I asked what the lot number was that they delivered most recently to the store I get it from and he said 6830. So told my husband what to look for. What did they put in our cart? 6600. Nope, my husband said 6830. So of course they said they had nothing like that, but my husband walked back there and showed it to them! LOL So I don't think I'll buy from the store anymore. I am going to meet the driver at drop off points. NCO said they will always be from the freshest made that way too.
I told him about the feed from late last year and he didn't know why but he said they did have a time where they used black eyed peas instead?? I never noticed that, but maybe that's what it was? IDK, chickens were really picky. Never saw so much waste. But now its back to what it was and I was so glad to get a fresh bag. Looks fresh too.
I am very sorry to hear you lost some hens. It is heart breaking because we do what we can to take care of them and they rely on us 100%. I've lost two from our flock and almost 2 more but this board helped me out in times of trouble. I hope everything is ok now.

Thank you... They’re really nice to talk to. For me I switched to Green Mountain Organic pellets. Already I’m noticing my hens with the pale comb and waddles are getting nice and red. Also today I did some cleaning and found a lot of grains under the shavings that they had thrown out. I don’t care for pellets, but after losing two and how pale the others were, I just can’t give them the NCO. I do think mine were fresh because I’m about the only customer that buys from them at our local farm store, and they keep them inside the store part of the house and not out with all the other feed.. I am going to look at the numbers though. I have a few empty bags.

 

[Loona]

Thank you... They’re really nice to talk to. For me I switched to Green Mountain Organic pellets. Already I’m noticing my hens with the pale comb and waddles are getting nice and red. Also today I did some cleaning and found a lot of grains under the shavings that they had thrown out. I don’t care for pellets, but after losing two and how pale the others were, I just can’t give them the NCO. I do think mine were fresh because I’m about the only customer that buys from them at our local farm store, and they keep them inside the store part of the house and not out with all the other feed.. I am going to look at the numbers though. I have a few empty bags.

Yep, when it rains and we put the feed inside the coop I always have to clean it out because they make a mess of it. It's frustrating. It's def reassuring using pellets because you know they are getting all the nutrition. Glad to know you're seeing an improvement.

 

[flwrldy]

Yep, when it rains and we put the feed inside the coop I always have to clean it out because they make a mess of it. It's frustrating. It's def reassuring using pellets because you know they are getting all the nutrition. Glad to know you're seeing an improvement.

They sure are messy lol
Thank you, me too it’s so good to see them happy and healthy again.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

They sure are messy lol
Thank you, me too it’s so good to see them happy and healthy again.

Glad to hear that you are seeing improvement so quickly!

 

[Kiki]

This is exactly my thoughts. The Organic feed used by the OP and the "Scratch and Peck" feed used by @Michael Propst are both non micronized which means that they have quite large fragments of grains enabling a chicken to pick and choose between ingredients and meaning that if a particular chicken has a taste for one component of the feed, they will actively select them over others.
I think it is very relevant that both hens that were diagnosed with this fatal disorder were fed a course mix feed like this and sadly at great expense to their owners who thought they were giving them the best they could buy.

I posted on your other thread about my views on this necropsy result but assumed you were feeding scratch. I would encourage you to change to a micronized feed.... probably pelleted is best. Chickens can pick up tiny specks of things you can barely see, so it is not unreasonable that they will pick their favourite bits out of a feed where the particle size is this large...... in my opinion the feed is the problem, particularly if it is fed from a dispenser where they can clearly see all the particles or even scattered on the ground. I imagine there may be some considerable waste when feeding this product as there will be a strong temptation to all chickens to bill out and eat only their favourite bits.