Anyone tried Agway's new soy-free feed 'hearty hen'?

[HeartyHen]

Thanks for your interest, ChickensAreSweet! To answer your question, flax seed meal is not the highest inclusion ingredient in Agway Hearty Hen. Feed tags do not read the same as human food or pet food labels where the ingredients are listed in order of inclusion. Ingredients on a livestock feed label can be in any order. The added flax seed in Hearty Hen is the source of omega three fatty acids. The hens process the Omega's and pass them on to us in their eggs, increasing the nutritional benefit.

We love that you like to shop locally, Cindy in PA! One of the aspects of Agway that we are really proud of is that we are a Northeast brand with local, independently owned in stores. Many have been a part of communities for decades! Agway feed products are manufactured in HACCP certified mills in Lebanon, PA, Albany, NY and Alexander, NY. HACCP certification is required by many human food industries but is not currently required by feed manufacturers. We are proud that we’ve taken that extra step. Our products are formulated using the most current nutrition knowledge available and produced in mills whose standards for safety, quality and consistency are the pride of Agway. We hope you’ll reconsider and at least give it a try.

Great discussion! Can't wait to share our promotions in the next week or so....

Should I take that to mean that the feed is mostly flax seed meal?

 

[Vamvakas]

I went to agway to buy this but it didint come in yet, they said soon they will have it

 

[Cindy in PA]

It's been over a month since this feed came out. Has anyone tried it? I won't have to think about it until the fall, as it is time to replace the flock & I bought their last bag of local feed last week. Won't need layer until September. If anyone has tried it, how big are the pellets?

 

[HSerChickLady]

I was looking into this today too. My local store isn't carrying it but they said they can special order it for me. I'd be curious to know if and how this might be better than the Purina, Nutrena, and Blue Seal i am also looking into locally?

 

[haemony]

Looks promising. Odd that the ingredients list has no order. I was under the impression that all ingredients list were in order by ratio. I would prefer that they were. I'll stick to H&H and Countryside and willing to pay more for now. I am just happy to see that more soy free options are becoming available and also more affordable. I didn't care much for the Agway organic layer feed and it was, of course, not soy free.. This one isn't grabbing me either. However, I will spread the word and ask my local feed store if they plan to carry it.

 

[NewBreeder]

response to a question about why needing a soy free product

it is because many people are allergic to any soy products, strange it is true

friends of ours I tried giving them eggs from my range fed chickens and they just could not take them because I feed soy products in my chicken food

it appears what makes them sick is carried on in the eggs, sad to be like this but you must do what you have to do to keep healthy if you have rare conditions

it seems there is a larger market than expected to provide soy free chicken products than you think, from what I am told by people with these conditions they go to extremes to find food they can eat without being sick

just wanted to point this out going soy free, now if we can only go without GMO's, the food does not have to be organic but GMO free
anyone have any suggestions on getting this type of food in New England

 

[speckledhen]

Too bad we don't have Agway in the south.

 

[NewBreeder]

I have been using the Agway soyfree product now all summer
I have some egg customers that are allergic to soy and no problems for them

This is the first time they could buy local pastured eggs and couldn't be any happier

I do have to say not all the birds are doing well with this food.

Some of them have not adjusted to this limited diet of flax seed and corn products.

I also think Agway needs to rethink the formula, it has great potential but IMHO it needs some additional factors for layers
not sure if I will continue to feed this next year or create a custom blend from one of the Mills

I hope they are listening and I would love to have a discussion with their product manager and help them make this into a greater product

Ed

 

[Melabella]

I have been using the Agway soyfree product now all summer
I have some egg customers that are allergic to soy and no problems for them

This is the first time they could buy local pastured eggs and couldn't be any happier

I do have to say not all the birds are doing well with this food.

Some of them have not adjusted to this limited diet of flax seed and corn products.

I also think Agway needs to rethink the formula, it has great potential but IMHO it needs some additional factors for layers
not sure if I will continue to feed this next year or create a custom blend from one of the Mills

I hope they are listening and I would love to have a discussion with their product manager and help them make this into a greater product

Ed

Hello Ed,

I hope you find this message. In respect to the comment you made about your birds not doing well with this food, could you exbound on that? I was so very excited to find this and just brought home my first bag as I am avoiding all soy products due to health reasons. What exactly were the issues with it that caused you to see changes or decline in your birds. I live in Dutchess County, NY and winter is just setting upon us. My small first time flock is 18 weeks old and I had finally finished my grower crumbles and switched over to the Healthy Hen. I didn't notice them around the feeder near as much as usual last night before heading up to roost at night. Usually they all gather around, fill their crops full, drink last water and head to bed. I don't like the thought of them not filling up in these cold winter months. I am praying this is just because of the change.

Hoping to hear back from you.
THank you,
MB

 

[redrstr29]

I just bought this product hearty hen, only comes on pellets, so i took the liberty of taking half the bag and putting it through the blender,it took 10 min ...so far they gobbled it up, it marigold extract is what really drew me in......lets see what happens

Aldo