Good afternoon Texas. Its a popular topic around here, for those that get past brand name and the marketing descriptor, want to make apples to apples comparisons of feed labels.
and depending on where you are in TX, you might want to check out @West Feeds . Reasonably priced, generally very...
Also, while I prefer a 20% CP feed, the AminoAcid profile is more important than the CP, and the performance differences between an 18% CP and a 20% CP is minimal. The differences between 20% and 21% are smaller than you will ever notice.
Might I suggest:
National Resource Council, Nutrient Requirements of Poultry, Revised 9th Edition (1984)
Free Download. Good reading. A little behind the times, 10th edition is in the works. Most of us treat those recommends as minimums.
Jump to p20 for charts.
If you want to start with...
...and stock pellets are high fiber, low protein - either 10% or 12%.
That protein level is WAY too low to support health chickens, the aminoacid balance is wrong (methionine levels too low, often others as well), while the high fiber that the goats (with their ruminant stomachs) absolutely...
...a commercial feed - in spite of including a Met suppliment. Under no circumstances would I feed that to my birds. Met is the hardest of aminoacids to replace.
and yes, as @Ridgerunner said above, you need to offer free choice calcium as well - oyster shell is the most popular choice...
...and waste protein is excreted daily, largely in the form of nitrates and the well known compound, Ammonia. CP, of course, is composed of aminoacids. When the aminoacids are well balanced to the chicken's need, there is very little waste, and thus, fewer nitrates and ammonia compounds to...
...to perform similar purpose to widespread use of soy meal (here in the US) or a quality animal/insect/fish protein source to work with, target protein levels (and a good aminoacid profile w/i that crude protein number) can't be achieved. And that's before considering vitamins, minerals, etc.
...is used to break something down into component parts - in this case, releasing vitamins (like the B Complex), breaking proteins down into aminoacids, and freeing other nutrients into more digestible, more bioavailable, forms.
and it says "hatching" under your name based on your your trophy...
..."game birds" that is supposed to feed, but I certainly wouldn't feed it to my chickens or ducks. Crude protein is low, and the balance of aminoacids is way off - that's about 1/3 the Methionine chickens need as a recommended minimum. Lys is about half where it should be as a minimum...
Depends on Age and breed (purpose). Here are the old NRC recommends for hens and broilers p3 and 4. Metastudy for layers. and here is what Cobb says about their own broilers.
the problem being, you can't make a healthy feed with those things.
Corn is a high energy, low nutrient source. In terms of its Aminoacid balance, its across the board pretty much evenly deficient, because its crude protein is very much sub par - likely the lowest of any ingredient that isn't...
Met and Lys are both Low. Low Met is unfortunately common in Organic feeds. Its the aminoacid most associated with connective tissues - skin, digestive tract, cartilage, ligaments/tendons, etc. Because the operation of its digestive system is a substantial portion of its immune mechanisms...
...are forced to do so.
We also know that - given options - they are reasonably good at selecting from a range of feeds to balance their aminoacid needs. However, absent nutrtionally dense options, chickens wil prioritize crude protein over balanced amino intake, and can suffer nutritional...
...supposed to raise birds, mostly by people selling something, or by people who themselves have bought in to what was being sold.
The key aminoacid in membrane formation is Threonine. There are others, but almost all of them are aminoacids the hen can make on its own. Threonine, however...
...its daily protein intake for repair, for growth (if it is not yet full grown), for feather replacement, and a few other functions. The aminoacids it can't use during that metabolic cycle it excretes - that's the primary source of the nitrogen in their deposits. If they are short another...
...eaten with the grains.
There is no combination of common whole grains, which will meet a chicken's dietary needs - particularly certain aminoacids making up the total crude protein - without either requiring that they eat far more feed than they typically would consume, grossly exceed their...
I offered only because you had asked "I still need to do the math on how economical is was compared to buying feed, but I think it was comparable and they sure seemed healthy." and I had the math relatively handy.
Cat food near me is usually $1 - $1.30/lb, getting 28# for $8 is QUITE the...
I only calculated your grain mix. I didn't calculate with the meat addition because I didn't know what meats, in what quantities, and whether fresh (in which case its 75-80% water) or dried to some extent. and again, because different meats, while similar, have differing CP and AA profiles when...
...Fertrell ALSO has a pre-Mix w/ added Methionine (synthetic, dl-Methionine, allowed for use in "organic" feeds). Since Met is an Aminoacid, its both a crude protein booster AND a booster of the most critical aminoacid in chicken development. Using that product may well improve rate of...