While there used to be lots of local mills that made all sorts of feed. The last one around here that I know of quit because they didn't sell enough to use up the additives before they went bad. With the ground legumes and grains, they still need to supplement the amino acids, vitamins, minerals...
Corn and scratch grains would probably dilute the nutrition from foraging. It is very low in protein, high in fiber and energy. In winter there won't be much forage available to support chickens.
There are several reasons. Some are the anti-nutritional compounds in soy. For me, I avoid it if...
I met a neighbor at the local feed store. He wanted to buy some of my hens. He said his were broken because they quit laying. I asked what he was feeding and he said 'corn'. I said, yeah but what else. He said, just corn. I said, you're starving them. I suggested he switch to chicken feed and...
I agree with not knowing but I just don't think people care to learn. The information is out there but they don't internalize it.
I teach lots of classes on poultry at community colleges, poultry conferences and green venues. A big focus of classes is nutrition. That's why I have so many feed...
Hence the reason everyone should always read the guaranteed analysis tag and not trust what the feed store employee tells you. Recently Nutrena changed the bag design, weight and formula on one of their lines of feed. The employee said the nutrition was the same. It wasn't. It went from 18%...
Fresh is great. Does your local mill have the means to assay the nutrients?
As a general rule, not only is high calcium bad for roosters, they actually do better on much lower protein. (13-15%)
That's why I buy gamebird maintenance feed (12.5%) occasionally for roosters.
You can cut a rooster's...
I usually spend about $40-$60 on new smart phones when Boost discounts them.
(they have a featured cheap one every month)
They said the only difference between an expensive smart phone and a cheap one are camera quality and memory.
It will be a good tool.
Most feed stores only carry one or two brands so some/many of these feeds won't be available to everyone depending on how many feed stores someone has to choose from.
Most scratch grains are well under 1% calcium, so quite low.
As @KikisGirls said, they should be kept to 5-10% of the diet if used. They don't enhance nutrition. Their purpose is to help satisfy a hen's innate desire to scratch the ground for food. So for that reason, they don't go in a...