Why is Purina feed "bad"?

[Red Barn Farms]

I can't comment about Purina food when it comes to poultry food because I've only had chickens a little over a month now and I've been using manapro and tsc brand. When it comes to their pet food for dogs and cats the number one ingredient is CORN. Many animals can have an allergy to certain grains. Corn is one of the cheapest grains around and with their prices on dog and cat food I feel like it's a rip-off. I started feeding my dog Taste Of The Wild dry food also found at TSC. The number one ingredient in that brand can be BUFFALO, SALMON< etc. They use no grains in their foods. It is more expensive but when you think of quality ingredient it's really not. Higher quality foods contain higher quality ingredients and my animals actually will eat less and get full faster.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thanks for your opinions and input. I recently bought a huge bag of feed from my local feed mill that they grind themselves. It was a much cheaper route so I thought I'd try it. My chickens didn't seem to like it much and it was ground to almost a powder! I haven't ever bought pellets for them but I wonder if they would prefer it. Is that just a chicken preference or is there reason to feed one over the other?

So, what do you look for in a feed? I would like to avoid the high price of brand names if I can, but I also don't want to mistakingly buy them something of lesser quality either. There's another feed store that sells blue seal...haven't checked their pricing though.

Local ground feed varies in texture from mill to mill. Of course, all chickens balk a bit a changing their feed, but locally ground mash looks dusty at first. When you moisten it with a bit of water and stir you can see better that it is actually much coarser than what one might think. The coarseness is covered by the dust. I find it coarser than crumbles. Since I always feed it moistened, my hens prefer it over any other style, pellet or crumbles. Our local mills are different. One is Hubbard Feeds mill and the other a Kalmbach Feeds, both large feed companies. I much prefer the Hubbard Feed products. There is some trial and error, testing and experimenting involved with all this.

Again, I have no opposition to Purina whatsoever. I've used it and it is just fine. I just don't care for a purely vegetarian formula and really gag at the prices. We've got far too many mouths to feed here.

 

[Chris09]

Thanks Fred's Hens! Seems Purina has the entire market cornered in my neck of the woods!!

Look into
Buckeye
Kent
Hubbard
Blue Seal
EverGreen
ADM

Note that Kent, Blue Seal and EverGreen are sister mills.

Chris

 

[speckledhen]

Three reasons I do not use Purina Feeds:

Expensive
Vegetarian (contains no animal protein)
Stinks like a chemical spill


I almost choke if I take a whiff inside a bag of Purina starter feed. One bag of their HomeGrown starter smelled so awful I refused to feed it to my chicks-I returned it for a refund. Blech!

I use Tucker Milling for starter/grower as well as the 16% mini layer pellets and on occasion, if I have a bunch in bad molts, their 22% Super Layer pellets. ALL contain good quality animal protein (porcine) and they smell fresh, no nasty chemical smell like the Purina feeds.

 

[Frost Homestead]

I use Purina feed. I buy it because it's really the only kind I can find without driving really far and spending a ton of money for non-GMO fancy Organic Feed. Everyone saying it's expensive must know something I don't because I can't find decent feed that's cheaper than Purina. My birds free range all day so I feed them the layer pellets as a supplement, and when there's less natural stuff to eat around the property in the winter I have to feed them about twice as much as I do during the summer. I don't think there's anything wrong with Purina, I would prefer that it be organic and not contain GMO if I was going to eat my birds, but I don't, I only eat their eggs so I figure it's good enough.

My husband recently made me buy Dumor because it was a little cheaper and you can tell the quality is decreased with the Dumor. It's powdery and the pellets aren't as big. (he's not going with me to the feed store next time!)

 

[Chris09]

Everyone saying it's expensive must know something I don't because I can't find decent feed that's cheaper than Purina.

Around here Purina Layena runs 14.99 a 50 lb bag the mill that I use sells there mix for about 7.25 and 50 lb bag.
I can get a bag or Buckeye Big 4 for 10 to 12 bucks and it makes Purina Flock Raiser look like straight junk.

Big 4

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein, min. 20.00%
Lysine, min. 1.10%
Methionine, min 0.39%
Crude Fat, min. 3.50%
Crude Fiber, max. 4.00%
Calcium, min. 0.70%
Calcium, max. 1.20%
Phosphorus, min. 0.65%
Salt, min. 0.10%
Salt, max. 0.60%
INGREDIENTS Ground Corn, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Wheat Middlings, Porcine Meat Meal,
Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Lysine, DL-Methionine,
Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Phosphate, Salt, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate,
Zinc Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3
Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K
Activity), Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine
Hydrochloride, Choline Chloride, d-Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic
Acid, Dried Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Brewers Dried Yeast.


Chris

 

[Red Barn Farms]

Now see, I'd like to try the Blue Seal. I went to the site, did a location search and none available within a 50 mile radius.

 

[Chris09]

Cheap brands, I've noticed, don't appeal to my chickens. Organic brands don't either, it was just dust. Even though it is way expensive, I care about what's in it, the quality, and if my chickens will actually eat it.

In my 30+ years of raising, breeding and showing poultry, I haven't seen a chicken that would rather starve before eating a feed that was in the feeder for them.
With that said most if not all the breeder I know myself included read there feed tag and know what is in there feed.

Chris

 

[ivan3]

Zany Chick wrote: I'm more confused than when I started reading this thread.

Ah, the beginning of wisdom Almost all commercial feeds will keep the chickens alive (if they don't go on hunger strike when crumbles are suddenly changed out for pellets...). However, over time, and trials of various `brands' of feed folks develop a sense of what works best for them. As has been mentioned, the stuff in the same manufacturer's bag in Vermont might not be coming from the same mill as another bag sold in New Mexico. One shipment might have sat too long out in semi trailer storage outside the feedstore, etc. There is no final wisdom, there is only one's senses (determining `freshness' of feed - response of poultry to feed). Any, egregious, current problems with brands can be found here: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm Anyone wishing to dig into Poultry Nutrition at the `little lower layer' should bookmark this tome (very good for the appendices, alone): http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=2114 (Nutrient Requirements of Poultry Ninth Edition). Just wanted to say that we've yet to have a problem with the Purina Mills Game Bird Line (one bag with too many fines - immediately replaced for free - was probably riding at the bottom of the pile in some truck). Both the Startena and Layena still contain animal protein. (Startena tag - always check the paper tags):

 

[Cindy in PA]

USDA certified organic can contain 30% GMO foods and still get the organic certification...the only way to avoid GMO is things that specifically say non GMO, or 100% organic...they try to trick people with the labels...so when the us gives a safety seal they are really saying its at least 70% safe...go figure

Last I saw USDA organic could be no more than 5% non organic ingredients. Where did you get this information? Tough to get 100% organic with drifting pollen etc. Love to know your source, as I don't think this is a fact.