Layena® SunFresh® Recipe

Thru this thread no one has provided the benefits of feeding your flock animal or fish protein, could someone please explain?

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There are many benefits to feeding your poultry some source of animal proteins. The biggest one is the various amino acids. Poultry are omnivores, that means, they eat pretty much everything, meat, vegetables, all sorts of things. And there are some amino acids that are only available in natural sources from actual animal proteins: lysine and methionine are the two most important to poultry (for humans, I will not that we are unable to synthesize carnatine without sources of animal protein, so vegetarians are encouraged to take a carnatine suppliment.) But I digress.

Most "vegetarian" poultry feeds suppliment with synthetic forms of lysine and methionine. This has been the subject of threads here before, and some people have posted links to studies which "prove" that there is no difference between the natural sources and the synthetic sources. All I can go by is my own personal experience. And in my experience, when I feed my chickens feed with no animal proteins, I see a negative affect, primarily in the feather quality, but also in overall health and in the amount of feather picking.

When I first started out here in KY with poultry, I was buying Southern States feed. It had no animal proteins. My birds picked at each other a lot, some to the point where I had to cull a couple (they had more than adequate space, so that wasn't it.) Based on some research, and after a very long phone call with a feed expert at the Southern States headquarters, I changed their feed and added in animal proteins. Nothing else changed, yet the feather picking went away and hasn't come back. So despite the "expert studies" saying that synthetic sources of amino acids are sufficient for poultry health, I will never feed my birds a vegetarian-only diet. Of course, everyone's situation is different, and should anyone else choose to do so, I would not say they were doing something wrong, I just know what I do is right for me and my birds.

Some feeds that contain animal protein include: Tiz Wiz, Kent (my personal favorite, but no longer carried locally), and Buckley. Dumor used to, but I don't think it does any more, and several years ago they changed the Dumor formulation, putting something into it (molasses?) that made it much darker, smellier, and made my chickens feces smell horrible. So I don't use it except as a last resort.

I am currently using Purina mixed with Buckley, am waiting for the Buckley rep in OH to send me a shipment of their "show bird" feed for me to try. I love my TSC store, but I won't use Purina exclusively, as it is vegetarian only (and I am pretty sure it has soy in it, don't know how they'd get the protein levels right without it.)

You can add animal protein into your feed in any number of ways. Some people use fish or fish meal, but do so with care, as the taste of the eggs can be impacted if you use too much (been there, done that!)

You can buy cheap ground beef, fry it, and feed it to your birds. You can hard boil any extra eggs you have, mash them up and feed them to the birds with the shells included (they love hard boiled eggs!), or you can do what I and others do, and feed dry cat food in small amounts to your birds. I know there are some people who really hate that last option, and there are some issues with it that I will not argue. But it's cheap, it's easy, and it works really well. My birds thrive with it, and I find it works for us.

Hope that answers your questions.

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The poultry press has a monthly coupon for $5 off TWO bags... it really helps!

I started my girls on Purina Chick Starter because that's what our feed store had. Then I switched to Layena crumbles when they started to lay. They did fine on it. They also free ranged, so got supplemental protein from bugs, lizards, and salamanders. Then I switched them to Layena pellets, and they didn't make the switch well. (I waited too long. I should have given them pellets when they started laying.) They started having soft shells, and lost weight. I switched them back to Layena. (yes, the crumbles and pellets are the same formula, but they weren't EATING the pellets.) They are doing much better now.

On the Mad Cow(BSE) comment.... My son does medical research in this exact field. His comment to me when I asked him about chickens getting BSE was that they have tried to give chickens the disease, but have been unable to incite any prion disease in chickens. (However, elk are another story...) Your chickens are safe eating animal proteins, from this standpoint.

The reason "Mad Cow Disease" exists is because cows are herbivores, and are not supposed to eat other animals. Feeding cows, horses, goats, etc...animal protien is not good. You wouldn't feed a cow a hamburger patty, but a chicken would be thrilled to have it.


Chickens are NOT herbivores or vegetarian, they are omnivores and DO benefit from animal protien. Due to that, I don't purchase Purina feeds. I believe my chickens benefit from animal protiens and I feed Nutrena feed, which says right on the label that it does contain animal protiens.

In reference to the OPs original question, I just want to note that Dumor feed is manufactured by Purina in Harrisburg PA plant specifically for sale at TSC.

That would be against Federal Law. (Law, not just regulations!)

The problem with Animal BYPRODUCTS is exactly what they are: ground bone & ground feathers have been used in the past to provide animal protein. The problem with those (especially the feathers) is that they are often not readily absorbed protein sources.

Look at a grocery brand of cat/dog food and read the ingredients, then read the label of a premium cat/dog food. Chances are pretty high that the grocery brand lists various animal byproducts, but doesn't list the meat, itself. The premium brands are less likey to list byproducts, but if they do they also tend to list the meat.

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What kind of Purina are you using that has no added soy? Almost all chicken feed has soy as the primary source of protein.

I can't find anywhere the list of ingredients for Layena - specifically WHAT is in there, by ingredient volume??

Anyone??

http://poultry.purinamills.com/OURPRODUCTS/Products/Layena/default.aspx

There should be a label on your bag with the info.