Was I bamboozled by a TS employee?

[casportpony]

I just went on to Facebook, and on the chicken vet corner page someone asked about feeding layer to roosters.  This was the vet's response: 

[COLOR=1D2129]"This has been addressed several times on here, but in a nutshell, no it is definitely not got for them (yes I know lots of people do it and their roosters didn't die, but lots of people smoke a pack a day and live to a ripe old age, doesn't mean it's good for you, or that I'm going to let my kid start smoking). Dr. L"[/COLOR]

[COLOR=1D2129]Thought it was interesting that it came up today.  LOL[/COLOR]

Is that the Dr. Laura something?

-Kathy

 

[FridayYet]

Is that the Dr. Laura something?

-Kathy

Yes.

 

[casportpony]

I'm one that believes non-laying fowl should have less calcium, so I will continue to feed less calcium to my non-laying fowl until someone does a study that shows the long term effects of fowl fed diets in excess of 3%.

Someone asked if anyone had roosters over the age of five and what their diets consist of. In my flock I have several special roos that are 6-10 tears old. The old ones get picked on, so they live with a few hens in their own cages. They are fed free choice gamebird mix and some turkey, and hens with them have a bowl of oyster shell.

-Kathy

 

[junebuggena]

I'm one that believes non-laying fowl should have less calcium, so I will continue to feed less calcium to my non-laying fowl until someone does a study that shows the long term effects of fowl fed diets in excess of 3%.

Someone asked if anyone had roosters over the age of five and what their diets consist of. In my flock I have several special roos that are 6-10 tears old. The old ones get picked on, so they live with a few hens in their own cages. They are fed free choice gamebird mix and some turkey, and hens with them have a bowl of oyster shell.

-Kathy

How are the older guys in terms of fertility?

 

[lazy gardener]

I feed All-flock with oyster shell on the side. Why? Because I want to. Yep, that's it, pure and simple! Oh, it started innocently enough...had a flock of chicks and adults together and couldn't keep them out of each other's food. Being relatively new to chickens, the logical thing for me to do was put them all on one food, and "studies showed and the experts said" that layer would harm the rest of my birds. But the determining factor turned out to be my pocketbook and time. I only have to drive 50 miles one way to get the All-flock pellets as opposed to 100 miles one way to get the layer pellets. I have never been able to talk the owner of the closer store to get pellets instead of dust, er, crumbles, but he does carry the All Flock in pelleted form. So there ya go. That said, when new folks ask, I have a tendency to suggest All-flock over layer, and I should probably stop doing that since my own reasons for feeding it are vague at best.

As for studies, I have zero faith in 90% of them. Examples:

Studies show butter bad, margarine good. A couple of years later studies show margarine bad, butter good.
Studies show any kind of alcohol in any form bad....a few years later studies show red wine good.
Eggs, bad. No, eggs good.

It goes on and on, from light bulbs to crops. If you can find a study on one side, you'll likely find another on the opposite side.

Studies by experts don't trump experience because they don't reflect real life - my life.

So I feed All-Flock. My own experience, limited though that is, shows me that my birds are doing fine on it. That's all I need to know, and I don't have to drive for 4 hours to get it. If layer pellets were available at the closer store I'd be flip-flopping this entire post.

I agree with you Blooie! Studies flip flop all over the place, depending on the political objectives of the times.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Good question, and if their hens lay any eggs I'll check.

-Kathy

 

[Ridgerunner]

 
I feed All-flock with oyster shell on the side.  Why?  Because I want to.  Yep, that's it, pure and simple!  Oh, it started innocently enough...had a flock of chicks and adults together and couldn't keep them out of each other's food.  Being relatively new to chickens, the logical thing for me to do was put them all on one food, and "studies showed and the experts said" that layer would harm the rest of my birds.  But the determining factor turned out to be my pocketbook and time.  I only have to drive 50 miles one way to get the All-flock pellets as opposed to 100 miles one way to get the layer pellets.  I have never been able to talk the owner of the closer store to get pellets instead of dust, er, crumbles, but he does carry the All Flock in pelleted form.  So there  ya go. That said, when new folks ask, I have a tendency to suggest All-flock over layer, and I should probably stop doing that since my own reasons for feeding it are vague at best.

As for studies, I have zero faith in 90% of them.  Examples:

Studies show butter bad, margarine good.  A couple of years later studies show margarine bad, butter good.  
Studies show any kind of alcohol in any form bad....a few years later studies show red wine good.
Eggs, bad.  No, eggs good.


It goes on and on, from light bulbs to crops.  If you can find a study on one side, you'll likely find another on the opposite side. 

Studies by experts don't trump experience because they don't reflect real life - my life.

So I feed All-Flock.  My own experience, limited though that is, shows me that my birds are doing fine on it. That's all  I need to know, and I don't have to drive for 4 hours to get it.  If layer pellets were available at the closer store I'd be flip-flopping this entire post.    

I agree with you Blooie!  Studies flip flop all over the place, depending on the political objectives of the times.

When these corporations are paying for this type of studies they generally want information that helps them, not some predetermined answers. I’m not saying some results of some studies aren’t bought, but this kind of study? I think I’m as cynical as anyone one here, but really! How do they gain by faking these results?

These studies are almost always performed on meaties or hybrid layers. That means sometimes the results don’t necessarily translate directly to our backyard flocks. But that does not mean the results don’t ever translate. I think we can learn a lot from some of these studies, but you need to try to understand the study.

 

[j23cuevas]

Question I buy dumor layer crumble for my 11 gold sex links they seem to be doing fine. I have one the stopped laying in august but she Feds and drinks just fine she was being pecked a bit more then the others. Now that winter set in I started giving whole corn and scratch with the crumble everyday. We give empty egg shells back to the girls or no extra grit or Oystershell I've noticed the last week or two some of the eggs are much lighter in color but not everyday. We also have less eggs which I assume is from the shorter days and I'm fine with that. So is the feed I use a good Quality feed or should I look for a different brand more protein or anything else. The girls are just over nine months old. I also started adding ACV to the water last week after reading up on that as well. Today out of the eight eggs I got there were maybe five that were dirty but we have had rain the last to days and the nest boxes I think need some weather striping my girls like to play in the rain already so that doesn't help when the go in at night to keep the bedding dry and clean. Thanks
Jennifer

 

[j23cuevas]

PS I buy from the TSC

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My chickens refused to eat Dumor and it smelled off to me. You will definitely need to switch to a higher protein ration if you wish to feed corn and scratch as you are diluting your protein intake too much. I would get something with 20% protein. A separate dish of oyster shells should always be available as well as grit with corn being fed.