Feeding Organic?

[ChickieBooBoo]

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All of our Round Up Ready soybeans (several thousand acres) are very clean fields with very little weeds. Actually, the only weed filled field in our area is the neighbours who grow organic crops. They don't spray for weeds or bugs.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

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Climate was just an example, resistance and yield are other examples. Is the Mexican variety hard to get? Is it more expensive? I've never heard of that variety so I'm curious.

 

[wanttobefarmer]

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Our great-grandparents didn't starve to death. To them organic was known as "food".

We buy organic because we don't like contributing to farmers spraying chemicals on the soil, which runs into our rivers and lakes and oceans. We also don't want to support the purchase of those chemicals, and therefore support the companies that make them. Your wallet is more powerful than your vote.

We buy organic because it means the farmer has to take the time to develop healthy soil, and healthy soil means crops with more nutrition. Feeding those feeds to our chickens means they get better nutrition, which means we get better nutrition from their eggs and their meat.

Buying organic might be a little more expensive but you are literally what you eat. It's money well spent.

This is pretty much how I feel. It is expensive and the real challenge is trying feed healthy chemical free products to my animals and veggies in the garden. The main reason I grow most of my own food ( which is very time consuming) is so I can afford to eat healthy. At age 40 I just started college for the first time and I am going to school for agriculture and I'm using my 1 acre to see the challenges that come up with growing food and live stock without pesticides and petroleum based fertilizers. This is not new, it's just trying to undo what our society has done to food to make it cheaper and more appealing. I too love farmers. They give us what we want. The question is what do you want? You vote when you buy, or when you don't. I live next to the mayor of my town and he said that he hadn't heard my rooster crowing. I said no because we ate him. He said I'm so Sorry, but I know people who have to do that. How weird. Doesn't he know it's alot cheaper to go to the grocery store and buy a mass produced bird for just a few dollars? It's alot of work and money to raise something for slaughter.

 

[jbs]

I feed my chickens organic feed partly because I'm not comfortable with GMO crops. 80% of feed corn is GMO, so it's hard to avoid unless you go organic. I'm also a beekeeper and have seen the effect that pesticides have on bees - it's tough to keep bees alive if you live near a conventional farm or orchard. Some conventional farmers will spray pesticides early or late in the day to limit exposure to pollinators, but many don't bother - even the orchards that depend so heavily on pollinators.

I feed my chickens Countryside Organic feed, which I like because it looks fresh, all the ingredients are listed on the label, and I can see what's in it, ie, bits of grain and field peas. I ran out a few months ago and bought a bag of Nature's Best crumbles, which is the only organic feed available near my house. I didn't like feeding that to my chickens. There was no list of ingredients and it was ground down into tan colored crumbles. My chickens free range during the day, and during the growing season they get tons of vegetable scraps, but I still like their feed to be closer to a whole food than dry crumbled bits.

I personally think that organic food is healthier, that more fertile soil will produce a more nutritious plant than something grown in dead soil with petroleum based fertilizers. But if I couldn't afford organic feed, I'd still want to keep chickens. Keeping chickens in our backyards, even if they're fed conventional feed, seems a much more natural, sustainable practice than keeping chickens in factories that eat organic feed but never see the light of day.

 

[motherhenmindy]

We feed our chickens organic. It's $15 for a 20 lb. bag, and it takes me 5-6 weeks for my 3 chickens. Honestly, the only reason I feed them organic is because I can afford to as I don't have a big flock. I wouldn't be so keen on it if I had a large flock. The other reason is that I had picked up a 10 lb. bag of non-organic, it was crumbles, it was tan or gray-ish looking. It smelled, well, weird. It looked and smelled completely unappetizing. The organic smells fresh, has a natural look and color to it. My birds don't care what their food looks or smells like. So the way I looked at it was I more likely to eat the gray matter vs the natural matter, and that's why I currently feed the way I do. I'm not opposed to the non-organic, and maybe I'll mix it in just to be economical...but raising my 3 girls is not a current strain on our budget. Convoluted answer...sorry.

 

[Illia]

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Nope, not hard to get or expensive, you just gotta go to any heirloom and/or organic sources. Seed Savers Exchange sells it in various amounts, some options enough to supply a big-time farmer. Seeds of change used to offer it too but dropped it recently, don't know why. Heirloom suppliers have a LOT of different ancient varieties of corn, all liking different climates and having different uses. Our Oaxacan Dent corn is mainly used for flour. Our Sweet corn and Popcorn mainly come from the Rainbow Inca, but also several other varieties too. Some we just do "sample" amounts in the greenhouse.

 

[LOVEIGEE]

I buy organic because of GMO......it is rampant. The nutritional percentage is so much higher....Also I have 2 parrots and a cockatoo to feed eggs to.....

 

[serenityNH]

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AlienChick- I didn't know that about Blue Seal, would you mind telling me what you pay for the organic? I currently use the non organic Blue Seal but if the price is comparable I would change in a heart beat!
As I said, I don't feed organic but if I could afford to I certainly would. I am embarrassed to say but I just 'assumed' I could not afford to feed organic to my chickens and never checked the price difference. To me it was important to feed local and support local, Blue Seal is made right here in NH about 30 minutes from me and that was my main reason for choosing them. Plus I hate to support the big box companies like Purina, I feel as though they cut corners and the bottom dollar is more important then the quality.
I spend so much money on my dog's food and supplements ( I have a dog on chemo and a dog with every allergy and ailment know to dogs) that I just can't afford to feed my chickens organic... or so I thought? I guess also my thinking was if I am being totally honest, although I love my chickens they are not family to me like my dogs( our dog's truly are our children) and I look at them more as livestock that produce a product and I want to save $ on that product. Funny no matter how big or small it seems to always come down to the bottom dollar and putting that in writing makes me feel really bad!
This discussion really has me thinking. I raise chickens for eggs and now meat so I don't support factory farming but also because it's healthier and the chickens are healthier and happier and I know what we are putting into our bodies. If I look at it that way it really does make sense to feed a product that is more natural, especially since I can have control over it. I think I am going to put a little more thought and effort into our chicken feed and really consider switching to organic. Like it was said, it's so hard for a farmer to make money being organic. Maybe if more people supported an organic way of life the farmers could actually profit. But maybe I'm just dreaming?

 

[goldfinches]

Can you guys tell me where you buy your organic feed? We have Southern States and Tractor Supply. I live in the heart of commercial chicken country, but don't know how to find a local organic supplier.

 

[kizanne]

I order Countryside organics. There is a coop here we get together and order a pallet. Makes it extremely affordable for organic. 23.50/50 lb bag.