Best source of recommendations/reference for optimum nutrients in chicken feed?

[ChaosMom]

tl;dr: need a chart listing optimum mins (and maxes, where appropriate) for chicken nutrition


I'm going cross-eyed with recommendations for optimum nutrient values for chickens, including at their various stages of life. I don't see a sticky for this. I'm looking for the detailed lists with separate amino acids and so forth, not just the biggies (protein, calcium, etc.) What is the specific reference that we use?

I don't know if USDA and various county extension service recommendations are for optimum nutrients or for minimum that large-scale factory ag can get away with. I want healthy backyard hens, not barely-alive egg-popping ones.

***ALSO, I realize that true free-ranging supplies many nutrients. I have a small urban lot, and I plan to let them out into the backyard - "backyard chickens", remember? - to explore. That's all I've got, so please if possible, skip the recommendations to free-range.***

Is the Merck manual a reasonable source? https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...t-poultry/nutritional-requirements-of-poultry

At'ing BYC posters who I can remember who write knowledgeably about chicken nutrition:
@Perris
@U_Stormcrow
@Sally PB
@rosemarythyme
(I am completely blanking out on the many other helpful and informed posters; I apologize for not including you.)

 

[Perris]

The standard reference tome is this
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/c...rements-of-poultry-ninth-revised-edition-1994

and apparently it is still current; a 10th ed is in progress, or at least it was (but who knows, with the current slash and burn approach to govt funded activities). It has tables. You should read the associated text about the methods used to get the numbers in the tables; numbers seem to assume a god-like status with some, apparently just because they are precise. But when they are based on experiments with cecectomized birds, they are going to be more or less wildly inaccurate for whole birds, like yours and mine and everyone else with whole, unsurgically-altered backyard chickens.

You might find the 5th edition from 1966 more user friendly; it is certainly a lot shorter and simpler
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/20677/nutrient-requirements-of-poultry
and I don't think cecectomies were performed on birds destined for feed experiments then, so at least are based on real chickens.

If you must use commercial feed, I recommend breeder rations. They are intended to provide enough maintenance elements that the birds can produce healthy chicks, so include things that are omitted from rations that are designed just to maximise basic egg laying or ultra rapid muscle growth.

 

[ChaosMom]

…I don't think cecectomies were performed on birds destined for feed experiments then…

That is horrible! And how on earth is removing a chunk of digestive system supposed to be a good predictor of nutrient absorption?!

I’ll take a look at the 1966 version.

And I do hope to create my own feed in the future (part of the reason for asking this.) Feed without corn as the first ingredient is pricey! I’m just not ready to take that on yet, including lugging around a 20 kg bag of whole wheat.

 

[Perris]

how on earth is removing a chunk of digestive system supposed to be a good predictor of nutrient absorption?!

exactly. Because the microbiome that lives in the caeca varies so much between individuals, it complicates the results massively. So the people who conducted the experiments thought, if they are removed, the numbers will be (and are) more consistent. And Precise. But grossly inaccurate. I expect the 10th ed, if it ever appears, will recognize the role of the caeca in chicken digestion rather than pretend it doesn't exist.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't know anything about nutrition...

 

[ChaosMom]

I don't know anything about nutrition...

You’ve got everything else covered, I think!

 

[FrostRanger]

@U_Stormcrow has done a lot of reading on the subject, they should know of some good sources too

 

[ChaosMom]

Im looking forward to him posting! It’s rather maddening not to be able to locate a pdf with details (methionine, etc.) that I’m confident isn’t made for industrial chickening.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You aren't going to like my answer, but I am going to ask that you wait until saturday when I have time to post and link sources. It will only be a little bit helpful.

 

[FrostRanger]

Im looking forward to him posting! It’s rather maddening not to be able to locate a pdf with details (methionine, etc.) that I’m confident isn’t made for industrial chickening.

Unfortunately a lot of the research done on chickens is for commercial birds as that's what's profitable. There isn't much money in backyard poultry research unfortunately so you're not really going to find much that isn't for commercial poultry