Finding fresh & nutritious Commercial Feed

[CrazyTownChick]

I think that shopping locally will be the only way to make sure you get fresh feed. You have no control when it's shipped to your door.
Complete feeds will have the proper mix of amino acids that your birds need, because the so common all vegetarian feeds are supplemented to meet that amino acid blend that the birds require. Animal proteins are more expensive, which is why so many feeds don't include them.
Check some of your local feed stores, and read labels to find something that has the 18% to 20% protein you are looking for. Here our best choice is Purina's Flock Raiser, always available within about one month of milling.
Mary

Thanks for the response. We have checked all the local feed stores. We started out getting Flock Raiser at Tractor Supply for the first year or so, but when we started looking at milling dates they were older than we wanted.
Isn't two or even three months+ old, too old, stale for chicken feed? We had read up on it and were trying to get feed no more than one month old.

That's why we started checking other options, Flock Raiser at our Tractor Supply was older. (In fact the workers there had no idea what we were talking about, in terms of mill date) Guess we'll go back there and check again.

Kalmbach is a really good, nutrient balanced 20% feed so we were happy to find it, but not locally, in Ohio. Had to be shipped.

We were told that Country Road from our Rural King in Winchester was made right across the street. Mill dates are always fresh. But it's only about 15% protein. So we've been mixing Kalmbach (20% but not fresh) with Country Road (15% but fresh).

Would LOVE to find a local feed store that has better options. There is another one I'm going to check again, but when I looked before they had the lower protein feed.

How important is 20% protein to you?

 

[CrazyTownChick]

I'm not in Kentucky, but as far as feed has gone even with my 4 month old bags of Kalmbach my birds have done better on then some of the more "fresh" bags of other brands. On Kalmbach I've had no health issues and everyone has never looked better. I empty all bags as soon as they arrive in metal trash bins when I get it so I can check for mold on the bottom, but as long as there is no mold and it smells good I feed it to them. If you look at the dry goods food you buy from the grocery store for yourself, most of the time that food is months old by the time you buy it. Don't even get me started on any "organic" human or pet foods. They often can be even older because they don't always grow it in the US with the strict regulations on organic growing. So the mill date might be "fresh" but that doesn't mean the ingredients used at the time of milling were fresh. I stopped caring so much about the mill date as much as actually opening the bags up to inspect the quality from top to bottom when I kept getting supposedly "fresh" bags of Purina that were disgusting.

Great information and personal experience. Maybe Mill Date isn't as crucial as I thought. Although I did get that info from BYC, to make sure it's not older than about 2 months. Maybe that was personal preference.
So where do you get your Kalmbach feed? Online or locally?

 

[Apis mellifera]

The 2 amino acids that are used to supplement animal proteins are L-Lysine and DL-Methionine. L-Lysine is made by a fermentation process. The DL-Methionine however is synthetic and is in most animal feeds like dog, cat, chicken, and pig. The people I know that seriously compete with their sport dogs internationally include a raw diet to keep dogs healthy and competitive. Im sure there are plenty of arguments for and against synthetic additives, but I like to add some real amino acids to my flocks diet (and my dogs). Purina Flock raiser with 20% plant protein and Methionine is $20.99 at my local TSC. Hudson Multi Flock 23% with plant, animal protein, and Methionine is $20.95 delivered to my door.

 

[Folly's place]

'Synthetic' lysine and methionine are the same chemically as the amino acids found in animal products. I'm glad you've found a diet that works for your flock, for a competitive price through a mail order company, and I do care about mill dates on the poultry feed I buy.
Flock Raiser costs $19.49 here, more than a year ago, but less than other choices available locally. And there isn't a local mill here any more.
We all have to find what works for our flocks, and is available where we live.
Mary

 

[backyardfeedco]

At our feed company, Backyard Feed Co., every bag is milled fresh to order for our online customers and shipped straight from our feed mill to your door. Unlike most commercial feeds, it’s never sitting in a warehouse.

Our formula was made by poultry nutrition expert Jeff Mattocks and contains the best ingredients possible for your birds.

 

[Apis mellifera]

At our feed company, Backyard Feed Co., every bag is milled fresh to order for our online customers and shipped straight from our feed mill to your door. Unlike most commercial feeds, it’s never sitting in a warehouse.

Our formula was made by poultry nutrition expert Jeff Mattocks and contains the best ingredients possible for your birds.

In the 20% chick starter ingredients what percentage of the protein is fish meal?

 

[CrazyTownChick]

I started out being picky with mill dates because of what I saw on here too, but when I also saw there were other members buying fresher bags of feed with the same issues just like I was I realized I needed to base my decision on my birds health and actually inspecting the bags myself. That's actually how I found Kalmbach when I was searching for new brand after the Purina fiasco. I buy mine from chewy or if we drive to the next state over. They have a feed store that carries it there so I'll pick it up when I'm in the area. I also have been looking at a more locally milled brand mainly because it's local, but since I also have ducks and there was no niacin analysis I haven't tried it yet. I'm not against switching feed if I see better results, but I guess at the end of the day for me if I see quality feed when I open the bag and my birds do well on it that's the feed I buy.

Makes sense, thanks for that.