Du-mor or don't du-mor

[BabasCoop]

Hi! My hen ate dumor layer crumbles with her former owner. And scraps, scratch grains, etc. I bought her organic dumor layer crumbles and she'd rather eat anything else. I don't think it smells too good. I think it's old. The manufacture date is printed on the bag but it's smeared.
I also bought organic dumor grower crumbles at the same time. Both were on sale. Or clearance. It smells better to me than the other, so I switched to feeding her that. She's still not into it.
I toss rolled oats, oil sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and barley in her run for her, too. She will eat up the crushed eggshells, but isn't interested in eating the crumbles.
I figure I'll get pellets next time. Organic is good, non GMO may be enough for me.

Any suggestions?

Stop giving treats. Only provide food, she will eat when she gets hungry.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ok. I understand the adding of the supplements. What about the soybeans? Is that just to add protein? Non-bug protein?

And What's the deal with fermenting the feed? Just wet it and let it sit out overnight?

Soy is added as a plant based protein. Harder to find animal based protein in feeds nowadays.

Here's a good write up about fermented feed: https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[DanEP]

I've always found that I get a lot less eggs feeding a grain diet. Unless you feeding soy with it they will be low on protein.
Dumor feed will do in a pinch but I don't use it if I can get anything else. A few years ago it changed and smells bad when you open the bag. It will also smell a lot worse after they eat it at least the feed in this area does. I like the Nutrena all flock from rural king at 18% protein the best.

 

[David61]

Warm water and make a mash. They will it the mash. You can add oats with it as well. Cut back on grain or stop it all together it they free range. I give a little grain if they don't free range that day.
80% of what they get or better is purina all flock . Oyster shell on the side. I get jumbo eggs.

 

[Birdielee]

Ok, thank you all for your input. I saw an ad for nutrena feeds. Anybody else have an opinion?

 

[GC-Raptor]

I like and feed either Purina or Nutrena, whichever is available when I'm at TSC.

Availability of one type and Brand of feed is hit or miss these days.
Fortunately I feed either a Non-Medicated Starter-Grower or a All-Flock/Flock Raiser crumble 18-20%.
So I have 3 choices.

The only time I had to go to my next closest TSC (45 minutes in the other direction) was when I wanted a 50 lb bag of Medicated Start and Grow for my recent day old Chicks. GC

 

[Painted Calls]

I also feed Purina Flock Raiser at 18% protein. My broodies and chicks get Flock Party Rising Chick at 22% protein.

As long as you provide oyster shell (or ground up egg shell), you don't need to provide a layer feed. The upside is that a Flock Raiser/Grower is also great for cockerels/roosters/chicks. It's a bit more expensive, but worth it.

 

[Justso]

I've not had a problem with Dumor, Purina, or Nutrina. They are all made by reputable companies.
My dog would love to have milk bones all day everyday and would eat only that if that was his choice. However, dog food is what has the proper nutrition. Same with scratch versus poultry feed.

 

[Iheartbirds]

Hi! My hen ate dumor layer crumbles with her former owner. And scraps, scratch grains, etc. I bought her organic dumor layer crumbles and she'd rather eat anything else. I don't think it smells too good. I think it's old. The manufacture date is printed on the bag but it's smeared.
I also bought organic dumor grower crumbles at the same time. Both were on sale. Or clearance. It smells better to me than the other, so I switched to feeding her that. She's still not into it.
I toss rolled oats, oil sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and barley in her run for her, too. She will eat up the crushed eggshells, but isn't interested in eating the crumbles.
I figure I'll get pellets next time. Organic is good, non GMO may be enough for me.

Any suggestions?

I started my two 2 year old spoiled hens on Manna Pro organic starter, then layer pellets (Petsmart). I switched to Dumor after about 1 1/2 yrs. They ate 10 lbs fine, so I bought a 50 lb bag (I have a place to keep it fresh). They wouldn't touch it. It was a much darker color than the feed in the smaller bags. The store exchanged it for two 10 lb bags, (and thankfully told me to dump the big bag out for the birds, since that's what they would do if I took it back).They told me the formula for the feed was the same, but the different size bags comes from different sources, so their consistency is way off. By the time my girls finished that 20 lbs, their shells went from very hard to very soft and sometimes laid prematurely. Dot hasn't laid for 2 or 3 weeks now and for 2 days last week she passed a lot of liquid eggs with no shell and was extremely sick. With extra calcium and back on MannaPro, she's much improved, though not laying yet. I won't blame Dumor for her problem, but the timing was mighty coincidental.

 

[Birdielee]

Thank you, Overo Mare and iheartbirds.