Yes. And pekins need more than other breeds. The reputable,, national, brands that have been polled recently have confirmed adequate levels for adult ducks generally, and some adequate levels for adult pekins. (around 55mg/kg - recommendations vary somewhat).
and for our pure chicken keepers...
There are a few. Protein is expensive. The likelihood of someone deliberately making a crazy expensive chicken feed for commercial use is NIL - so its not studied for commercial purpose. Someone, after all, has to fund the studies.
Now, that said, chickens ARE used as human analogs for some...
@mango-o these links may help. Kindy forgive the typos.
What to feed post
Why not layer post
As @Ridgerunner noted, if you have RSL (Red Sex Link Production layers), they are female, and their purpose is egg production.
Another poster noted eggshells going faster than oyster shell. YES...
Jason
For most brands**, their chick starter and their all flock are nutritionally almost identical. So unless your preferred brand is an exception to the general rule, you can use them essentially interchangeably. However, if, for some reason, you need medicated feed, it is much easier to...
We are wandering a bit far afield here, but Mary is correct. You should listen to me.
Okay, humor aside, Mary is correct.The nutritional needs of chickens are better studied and better understood than any other critter on this planet, including us human types.
Feeding chickens extra scratch in...
SO if I glance at this:
and immediately think "that's stupid", understand that basis for my opinion is [partially] captured in the posts above. I believe it an educated and well considered opinion. Its a reasonably safe bet that whomever is sharing/reposting that on social media knows less...
As others have wisely observed above. This recipe is advertised as "keeping your hens laying all winter long". Chicken's rate of lay is controlled largely by genetics, reduces with increase in age, and affected seasonally by average light levels, NOT nutrition. Setting aside that its not good...
For our 33% increase in feed costs, plus the hassle of mixing it, and the hope that the chickens don't pick out favorites and leave other stuff behind {like red millet - disfavored by most birds, dirt cheap, and a significant component in both the mixed bird seed and many 5 grain "Scratch"...
Math. As promised. I'm going to pick on Purina in this example (BOTH Purina's) because they are readily available throughout the U.S., where this idiocy probably started, and because [at least locally] they are cheaper than Nutrena, $/#. I'm going to pick on Pennington for the same reasons -...
I will sit down at my computer tomorrow, link some samples and show the math. I see that recipe and immediately thinks stupid, but I understand it would be helpful to others if they saw why I thought that.
It's not cheaper.
It's not superior nutrition.
I can think of no rational reason for doing this.
I can only assume your mother saw this on some social media site, has not recently priced rabbit food, bird seed, or cat food, and has spared no time to critically thinking this thru.
Your gut is...
No, you hit on a key issue a lot of people are unaware of. Top production breeds have sharp reductions in productivity. A bird that produces 300 eggs in its prime year might produce 220 its second, and only 150 its third - at which point you are feeding two birds for the production of one...
It hurts to admit there are things I just can't seem to learn. Chicken genetics and Calc1 are among them. [Calc 2 was EASY! Calc 1 still makes no sense]. Mostly, I get by.