27 Gone Over night. No Explanation

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I don't have any 5 week olds that I would call tiny, not even the laying breeds. I think either somethings wrong with your batch of chicks or your feed. I get that you said you gave them one feeding of whole grain indstead of rolled, but they shouldn't have died from missing one feeding. have you been feeding this custom mixture for long (like before this batch of chicks)? lets see a pic of these guys . . .

 

[Tdub4chiks]

Were all 27 in the same hoop or in different ones?

 

[SteveH]

I can't understand why you have whole soybeans in your mix . Raw soybeans are toxic to humans , hogs , and chickens so they are processed to remove the fats then the meal left from the processing is used as a protein booster to our foods and livestock feeds .
ETA : Even feeding ground mash along with vegetation and bugs , I let mine have grit to aid digestion when they were young and unable to scratch for it . Chickens can't chew , they swallow things whole , including intentionally eating rocks , which are held in their gizzard to grind what they eat . If I were feeding whole grains I would offer them some grit just in case they're not finding enough in their pens . The limestone I offer my breeders [ for calcium ] is straight from the quarry and not fine-screened so has bits of rock that they actually look for.

 

[anthonyjames]

The 27 were mixed between the hoop houses.

As side note: I start all my birds for the first 3 weeks on Gamebird feed that is 27% protein to help feather growth. Then on week 4 I switch them over to my feed and there has never been any issues)

As for the feed I have been using the same mix all year for all my broilers and nothing has gone awry until I this past weekend.

I will try to get some photos of them tonight.

As for the mix:

It is roasted soybeans. I never said raw.

Corn (cracked or med rolled)
roasted soybeans (med rolled)
crimped oats (med rolled)
Kelp
Poultry Pellets (Poultry Pellets are lime chips or calcium carbonate)
Egg Innovations (The Egg innovations is a vitamin premix consisting of

Vitamin A 2,000,000 IU/lb.
Vitamin D3 670,000 IU/lb.
Vitamin E 2,660 IU/lb.
Vitamin K 400IU/lb.

Choline Chloride, Managanese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Diatomoaceous EArth, Vitamin K Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin E Supplement, Organic Soy Oil, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Thiamine, Cholecalciferol, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Biotin, Calcium Iodate, Pyridoxine, Folic Acid.)

That is my mix and has been great. And on occasion I throw in hulled sunflower seeds from the mill. Couple of handfuls a week to have them scratch.

 

[SteveH]

It is roasted soybeans. I never said raw.

Yes , I saw what you wrote , but due to the fact you found whole or uncrushed beans was wondering if a mistake had been made . I'm guessing the added fat content in roasted beans makes great feed ; I'm not up-to-date on current livestock feed formulations in this area and not familiar at all with yours . This area has always had an abundence of soybean meal because its processed here ; feeding roasted soybeans was very uncommon around here but storage of raw beans at the elevators very common . My first two thoughts were raw beans getting accidently added to your mix or aflitoxin [sp?] in the corn .​

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

anthony Since now I know you are getting your feed in bulk at a feed mill let me tell you a little bit about a feed mill as thats where I have worked for years. lets say the farmer before you wanted hmmm rolled oats cracked corn molassas and Corid 9% added to his feed. well the molassas gets hot in there with the corn and clumps up sticking to the machine, they do not clean out there machines after each and every last batch if they did how would they make over 30000 lbs+ of feed per day its is intirely to time consuming and nothing would get done ever. make sure you wake up really early be at the Co Op before the doors even Open make 100% sure your batch is the first to be ran threw the machines as clean out occures after closing time or in the Am before the feed mill is opened. lots of time if not careful you will get moldy feed and products intended for cattle and pigs and such. if you ever and I mean EVER see clumpy particals in your feed or left over molassas from a previous batch before you. return it asap. Just some down to earth info. Hope it may help you resolve the issue. Good luck to you sir.