Does anyone use soy/corn-free feed?

[Cheekygreek]

I just got 10 chicks about 12 days ago and am using an organic chick starter (Payback brand). But after reading the ingredients I've been wondering if it would be better to use a soy/corn-free feed. I realize this is personal preference, but I try to eat healthy and be conscious of my food. I want to do what is healthiest for the chickens and for my family. Has anyone tried Scratch and Peck feed?

 

[CrazyTalk]

I am not aware of any corn/soy free foods that aren't significantly inferior to corn/soy based feeds on a nutritional level.

Corn and Soy are part of a healthy diet for chickens. Chickens aren't people.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Really?

 

[CrazyTalk]

Yes Cindy, corn/soy free foods tend to have poor amino acid balances to start with - and then many of them are also free of animal protiens, which makes things worse. Corn and soy are a really good chicken food base.

There are probably some good ones out there - but most of them are catered towards the sort of people buying Williams-Sonoma chicken coops, and not towards the sort of people who actually need their chickens to be in top shape and produce.

 

[glib]

You will get the best you can out of these feeds by fermenting them. what are the grains in this feed?

 

[Vian]

I strongly disagree with CrazyTalk. I have an autoimmune disease. For 3 months I went on an elimination diet where I removed all grains, all legumes, all nightshades, eggs, all nuts and seeds, and all dairy from my diet. Then I slowly started reintroducing them. I had an autoimmune flair when I ate eggs from chickens fed corn and soy (even if they were organic/pastured) but there is a local farmer who pastures his chickens and sells both eggs and whole roasting chickens. He uses a custom blend of locally grown organic and non-gmo grains and peas to feed his chickens, plus they are out on grass so they eat bugs and grass and stuff. The yolks of his eggs are orange. All year long. Even other local, organic, pastured eggs I get from other sources have pale yellow yolks compared to these. His roasting chickens are comparable in size to any chicken you'd find in the grocery store. They are large, plump, and absolutely delicious. I eat 3 of his eggs for breakfast every single morning and my autoimmune disease is slowly but surely improving between diet, medication, and lifestyle changes.

Grains are a natural food source for chickens and all other birds. They are designed to eat them. But soy is not a grain, and 90% of the soy grown in the US is GMO. It's full of phytoestrogens that disrupt hormones, and I don't believe chickens, or humans, were meant to eat the soy we have now (naturally fermented/traditionally prepared soy products like tofu, natto, tempeh, and tamari are exceptions, since fermenting neutralizes most of the negative compounds in soy)

Most of the corn grown in the US is also GMO, and has been modified to actually produce it's own pesticide so that bugs won't eat it. So unless it's organic and non-gmo, it's full of pesticides, and at several times higher concentrations than it would have if the pesticides were just sprayed on it

I just got my chicks today and bought a bag of Scratch and Peck Starter, since the store I bought the chicks at carries it. I plan to continue to use it. The chicks are gobbling it up and it seems like a great product.

 

[CrazyTalk]

It's terrible that you have an autoimmune disease, but your specific health problems don't change the science one what is best for chickens.

You should absolutely be using corn/soy free. You're exactly the sort of person who should - but for the rest of us - there's no reason to. They're inferior feeds and they're worse for the birds.


Egg color has nothing to do with bird health. The fact that his eggs are yellow is because his birds get lots of beta carotene - they probably get lots because he knows his eggs will sell better that way.

As to GMOs having higher pesticide loads - this is factually incorrect. Use of GMO crops reduce pesticides. Yes - glyphosate usage has gone up - but this is in contrast to drastic reductions in other pesticides that are more dangerous - that's a good thing. And glyphosate is way less dangerous than it's organic equivalents, which are all over your organic foods. Stop spreading fear through ignorance.

The pesticide that's been spliced into some GMOs? Bacillic Thurigensis Toxin - Bt is organic, so you're not getting away from it by using organics.

 

[ladyearth]

Right on Vian..... YOu Go do what your heart says
I dont know why Nature or God made Soy. I used to eat it till I found out how bad it is....
I really dont believe a Chicken out in the wild would touch the stuff....
Corporations just try to dumb us down with Junk
why subject captive chickens to such... why it it I read on here chickens getting cancer??? ovarian.....seems odd..
CrazyTalk,
ever heard of the book "Seeds of DEception" ?
WE are whar we eat>>>>>.. Plain and simple.... so are our chickens.....
I found some supposedly non GMO corn from an Amish Mill .... supposedly he got it from a guy In Columbia, Ky....
Just wish I could get the Scratch and Peck stuff here.... Got the Manna Pro but it has Soy... so not happy with that. So my chickens are offered all the Grins I can find them from Boss to Millet etc,,,,,,wheat< Milo, non GMO corn, flax,barley, peas, lentils, wheat germ, fodder, millworms, and course last but NOT least free roaming in 100 by 100 area plus all property in the evening before bed...supervised....then
Realize everyone does not have such. Just do what we can to help our chickens eat semi naturally.
just a sayin. thanks yall

 

[Vian]

scratch and peck sells their products online (in the smaller bags, not big bags) and they have free shipping.

 

[Cheekygreek]

I have to agree with the opinion that soy and corn are not meant to be consumed by us humans and animals at the rate they are nowadays. Everything in moderation, right? Well, EVERYTHING you buy has soy and corn in it! Animals used to forage for food and people grew their own varieties of crops. Now people and animals eat mostly soy and corn because it's been added to everything and I can't see how that is healthy. There are other ways for people and animals to get the needed amino acids and such without using soy and corn.