Does anyone use soy/corn-free feed?

[CrazyTalk]

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?

What evidence do you have of the claim that soy is harmful for poultry? Remember, chickens aren't people. They're not even mammals. Their dietary needs are nothing like ours.


Soy is the source of most of the protein and amino acids in most commercial poultry food - it is extremely difficult to build a complete chicken feed without it.

 

[Cheekygreek]

If you do any research on soy you will find that it has a huge impact on hormones especially when it comes to estrogen. It doesn't matter that chickens aren't mammals, they are still animals with hormones and we are eating their eggs. Soy affects the ovaries, it gets passed into their eggs, we eat the eggs. Commercial chicken feed has been around for far less time than chickens have. They have gone centuries without corn and soy and thrived so I highly doubt that these readily available commercial feeds are the only viable option. I have been researching this and will continue to do so. You have the freedom to feed your chickens what you wish, and so do I.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

When I look at the Guaranteed Analysis of various brands of feed (DuMor, Nutrena, Layena, Scratch & Peck), they all have fairly similar numbers. Lysine is .7%-1% and Methionine is .3%-.5%. Layena and Nutrena are the lowest, S&P is in the middle, and DuMOR is the highest. They all have similar amounts of protein. Scratch and Peck (the only soy-free and soy-and-corn-free feeds I'm familiar with) is the only one I can find an actual list of ingredients for, and they state they use fish meal, so not animal protein-free.

So while it may be more expensive (which what I assume you meant by the Williams-Sonoma crack), it doesn't appear by any reasonable measure to be nutritionally inferior.

 

[Cheekygreek]

Thanks for that nutrition info! And for bringing up the Williams-Sonoma crack . Just because someone is conscious of GMO's and the like doesn't mean they are a hipster/yuppy. I live in the true country surrounded by sheep and other livestock, orchards, and crop fields. I'm building my chicken house with pallets inside an old goat pen.

 

[CrazyTalk]

HighStreet - Scratch and Peck is one of the few good ones - it's much better than most. That being said - it's 3-5 times as expensive as comparably nutritive feeds - $30ish for 40lbs vs $11 for 50lbs)

Quote: Cheekygreek - this isn't true at all. In the 1910s, commercial layers laid 35-50 eggs a year. Commercial foods have played a large part in the development of the modern chicken. The chicken before commercial food was a lot closer to the wild junglefowl than it is to the modern chicken - this is a bit like arguing about "wild cows" - there's no real wild equivalent at this point.

As to your comments about Soy affecting hormones - seriously - chickens are not people. Mammals and birds have very different hormone systems, and very different metabolisms. The fact that large amounts of soy can have issues with people does not indicate, imply or suggest that it has the same issues on chickens.

There have been literally thousands of studies done on feeding soy to protein - it's not a problem in modern chickens. People need to stop worrying about the chicken's "natural diet" - there's no such thing - chickens aren't natural animals - they've been selectively bred for health and performance with high soy diets.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/artic...r-chick-performance-and-metabolisable-energy/

 

[Alphamare13]

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?

I’m not here to argue with anyone, but I do try to eat healthy myself and also do likewise for all of my animals. So if you’re looking for a corn free and soy free chicken feed, try New Country Organics/corn free feed. I use it for my chickens and they not only love it but they all seem healthy and happy! Go to their website and research it for yourself though, you can see a visible difference in this food vs most others that claim to be organic. newcountryorganics.com (It looks and smells good enough to try yourself, lol)

Good luck!

 

[Marwhitt]

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.

Bacillic Thurigensis (Bt) is NOT toxic; it is a bacteria that is activated by the digestive systems of specific insect larvae (humans and chickens do not have the same systems). I would love your scientific literature on glyphosate being "way less dangerous than it's organic equivalents" - it has been implicated in human health conditions and is pervasive in everything, even foods that it has not been applied to.

 

[Altairsky]

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?

If you don't have a diagnosis of some terrible allergy to legumes, there is absolutely no reason to deprive your animals of extremely valuable amino acids like those found in soy.

Everything else is conspiracy theory. And I'm one that tends to lean on the conspiracy side myself.

 

[Bawkbok]

New Country Organics/corn free feed. I use it for my chickens and they not only love it but they all seem healthy and happy! Go to their website and research it for yourself though, you can see a visible difference in this food vs most others that claim to be organic. newcountryorganics.com (It looks and smells good enough to try yourself, lol)

I agree with the quality of this feed. It does look and smell unlike any other feed we've tried. We introduced it slowly by mixing it in with their regular feed; they refused to eat it. We replaced their old feed with this one entirely and it was their only choice for days on end; they still refused to eat it. The look and smell is so different I suppose that's what turned them off - don't know. At any rate, we could visually see they were losing weight without eating feed, despite running the yard every day. Without enough bugs and greens from their surroundings (extended hot dry weather) we couldn't watch the chickens starve so we put them back on non GMO Kalmbach. They love it and seem to thrive so we're sticking with what works. I don't know if it's truly non GMO or that's just a marketing / labeling ploy to charge more. How would one really know unless you test the feed content yourself? Impossible to do, so we have to assume the company is actually selling what it claims to.
On soy - if you're a live, sentient being on this planet it's nearly impossible to eliminate soy from your entire diet unless you literally organically grow your entire food supply (including beef and dairy) --- it seems to be in everything.

 

[Altairsky]

It's quite easy to avoid eating soy directly if you avoid all ultra processed food... However it's impossible to avoid indirect soy because that's what most meat animals eat.
If you go vegan though, avoiding indirect soy is feasible... But again, good luck getting a decent aminoacidic profile from a soy free vegan diet! One would end up needing supplements, so in the end what's the point? I'm not vegan but I see no problems eating some good tempeh and miso soup from time to time. It's even said to be healthy probiotic food!