Current Internet Theory

[affacat]

After a lot of work, our daily egg count is now 16-18 for our 40 (up from a low of 2-3). While we changed many things trying to get the count up, I believe the top two were culling a couple roosters to reduce stress and switching to a free feed system. We also did change brands of feed, but given we went from a local mill to Payback I don't think the local mill was to blame (this was also done to lower driving distance, not to test egg count). A fair number of eggs are also laid in some new nests I put up so that may also contribute, though they never used all the old best boxes so I'm not sure.

 

[Sally PB]

culling a couple roosters to reduce stress

Stress can be a big egg inhibitor, IMO.

 

[SunnyFeathers]

One more thing.purina, nutrena, most of the major brands have a set formula for each type of feed i.e. horse feeds strategy , senior, omeleneetc. Chickens whatever..they meet the nutritional requirements at each mill with the easiest to source best cost that meets the nutritional requirements..here in la that means more rice and soy.. if it is a year with a horrible wheat harvest you see more corn oats or barley..but the nutritional output will match the tag..

Nutrena got hard to get last year or was different when cargill had a fire and lost part of a mill..been rebuilt and now no issue but for a while horse feed was limited or cane from alabama or fla mill

Unless they have changed dramatically since 1982 (yes, 40 years ago), Cargill does NOT have a set formula for each product that they follow every single day.

In fact, the feed formulas changed DAILY back then, and I would figure they still do today.

What does not change is the guaranteed crude analysis data. The MINIMUMS listed there do not change. Every bag will meet or exceed those minimums.

How do I know this?

Because when I was in graduate school in the early 1980s, I had a neat little part time job at the huge Cargill facility in south Memphis.

This was back in the days when few people outside of the PhD ranks knew how to operate a computer.

so I got a job where I would go into the Cargill office about 5:30am.

I would get on the computer and gather up all the data files - chemical analyses of the grain loads Cargill had accepted from farmers the day before, agricultural commodoties data from the day before for the grains they used in their products, etc.

Then I had mainframe batch programs I would run, to crunch all that data. When the computer had finished running those programs, it would spit out the specific day’s formulary for producing each of the many feed products Cargill manufactured.

I would then forward that data on to the specific mills where they used the data feom the “mother ship” to tweak the formula for that day.

i don’t think the daily changes amounted to a whole lot. But if, for example, they could meet the guaranteed results posted on the bag using either oats or wheat, and wheat happened to be cheaper that day than oats, then they would order the factories to use more wheat and less oats that day.

Or if there was a shortage of wheat, they might direct the factories to use more oats and less wheat.

It was that kind of changes, most days. Not something to be concerned about, as an end user. But something that mattered considerably when you were a manufacturer pressing out thousands of tons of feed each day.

 

[aynesidea]

Thus far, my theory is coming up snake eyes. That makes me happy, actually.

Yes, my mill (Harrell Milling Co) dropped Lys levels and Met levels both, and Dumor has reduced its Met level and its P level (still within "acceptable" range however, and equal to many at higher price point), but in the main, it looks like Producers have mostly stuck to targets (and in a few cases, upped Met levels to the 0.3% Dumor when down to...)

Thanks all!

That is the kind of analysis I can understand. What this tells me is that I need to be more mindful of the "snacks, extras" I feed my flock going forward.

 

[aynesidea]

I just like the name "vomitoxin."

Yeah, I had that a few weeks before I got covid! No, really

 

[aynesidea]

Starter would be fine for life. Oyster shell on the side, of course. No concern of obesity.

I know that when I switched from layer (16%) to chick (20%) my girls started laying again in the middle of winter.

 

[Rurumo]

I know that when I switched from layer (16%) to chick (20%) my girls started laying again in the middle of winter.

Honestly, that kind of makes sense. It's natural and healthy for chickens to take a break on laying during the winter, because their diet would naturally be much leaner and lower in protein at that time. I believe raising the protein content will stimulate laying because it tells the hen's body that she has a rich source of nutrition available. I think it's healthy for them to stop laying during the winter for a while, just to give their little bodies a break.

 

[aynesidea]

Give it time. I expect someone will soon come out to claim that by "exposing" the problem, the shadowy cabal of "them" was forced to end their devious plan. The people can declare victory, all thanks to the tireless work of the pundit - stay tuned for the next incredible claim they need to warn you about...

AHA!!!

 

[aynesidea]

Honestly, that kind of makes sense. It's natural and healthy for chickens to take a break on laying during the winter, because their diet would naturally be much leaner and lower in protein at that time. I believe raising the protein content will stimulate laying because it tells the hen's body that she has a rich source of nutrition available. I think it's healthy for them to stop laying during the winter for a while, just to give their little bodies a break.

True, by the time they melted, then took a rest it was 4 months, I guess I was bored too but it worked I guess.

 

[CaretakerCarol]

View attachment 3389391

This is interesting. I had switched to Flock Raiser due to availability last Fall and saw an immediate drop in laying eggs. When all the hulabaloo started with feed conspiracies, I learned about Lysine and Methionine and determined that Flock Raiser was not meeting my hens' needs based on the analysis posted with the product. I no longer have an actual label, but below is what is submitted online at TSC. Quite a difference.