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rjohns39 said:
What are your feed goals. I might be able to help you find something near you. The folks I'm thinking of generally use non-GMO and many organic, but are also price and quality conscious.
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By feed goals do you mean organic, no corn or soy, etc.? I would prefer to feed them as “healthy” within reason as possible. I would prefer non-GMO, no corn, no soy, and “organic”. The reason for putting organic in quotes is because organic doesn’t necessarily mean what we want it to. They will be allowed to free range as well.
 
Lmatt said:
The Kalmbach is actually reasonably priced shipped to my door. As far as the rooster, my wife votes no. She doesn’t like the red spec when cooking eggs. So probably won’t be a rooster unless it is mistakenly shipped.
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The red spec has nothing to do with a rooster. It is a burst blood vessel in the eggs that happens regardless of whether it’s been fertilized. Fertilized eggs have a white ring around a white dot. Unfertilized eggs just have a white dot. Both are generally imperceptible unless you’re looking for it
 
Lmatt said:
I’ve seen some people recommend feeding turkey/Gamebird feed because of the higher protein. Is this a good practice?
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No. Too much of anything can be bad. What are your issues with soy and corn? Yes, I'm well aware of what you mean by "Organic"

Meat birds (CX) are best raised end to end on a high quality 18% protein feed. Layers are best started on a 20-22% starter. I transition mine to 18% and then to 16%. There have been cases where free feeding whole grain feed has caused health problems, but folks I know who use grain based feed, feed twice per day to eliminates cherry picking.

In my opinion, the best vitamin pack (or base element for feed) is Fertrell, but it's pricey. So Fertrell based feeds will be more expensive than other based feeds, but you can still get a wonderful feed for about $16 per 50# bag. You might want to use their web-search to find a dealer near you. If the dealer doesn't make feed, he/she probably knows who does. And those folks often have distribution routes.

Next up are farmers who feed what you want, they buy in large quantities and are often willing to sell a bag or two or increase their order to add you on. If their having it shipped a few more bags to distribute the freight cost is a good thing. Farms that feed what you are looking for can be found at APPPA or SPN.

It's going to be difficult to find good feed without both soy and corn, but both get a bad wrap often without truth being considered. I prefer feed with whole roasted soy as the birds waste less of it and there's no chance of a bait and switch with whole.

Also look for Mennonite and Amish farms. They'll often have what you're looking for at very reasonable pricing. But they generally don't advertise and many won't have phones.
 
JuliB said:
The red spec has nothing to do with a rooster. It is a burst blood vessel in the eggs that happens regardless of whether it’s been fertilized. Fertilized eggs have a white ring around a white dot. Unfertilized eggs just have a white dot. Both are generally imperceptible unless you’re looking for it
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So what causes the blood vessel to burst? The majority of the eggs we used to get from my mom were like this. Were they lacking something. She has a tendency to buy local and use whatever someone recommended by word of mouth.
 
Just one more note about farmers. The larger operations get their feed in bulk without bags (bags cost money and use labor to empty, and generate waste). Don't let that deter you. A 5 gallon food grade bucket holds about 25# of feed. A 55 gallon drum 300#, sorry I don't remember what a 35 gallon drum holds. But you get the idea...
 
rjohns39 said:
No. Too much of anything can be bad. What are your issues with soy and corn? Yes, I'm well aware of what you mean by "Organic"

Meat birds (CX) are best raised end to end on a high quality 18% protein feed. Layers are best started on a 20-22% starter. I transition mine to 18% and then to 16%. There have been cases where free feeding whole grain feed has caused health problems, but folks I know who use grain based feed, feed twice per day to eliminates cherry picking.

In my opinion, the best vitamin pack (or base element for feed) is Fertrell, but it's pricey. So Fertrell based feeds will be more expensive than other based feeds, but you can still get a wonderful feed for about $16 per 50# bag. You might want to use their web-search to find a dealer near you. If the dealer doesn't make feed, he/she probably knows who does. And those folks often have distribution routes.

Next up are farmers who feed what you want, they buy in large quantities and are often willing to sell a bag or two or increase their order to add you on. If their having it shipped a few more bags to distribute the freight cost is a good thing. Farms that feed what you are looking for can be found at APPPA or SPN.

It's going to be difficult to find good feed without both soy and corn, but both get a bad wrap often without truth being considered. I prefer feed with whole roasted soy as the birds waste less of it and there's no chance of a bait and switch with whole.

Also look for Mennonite and Amish farms. They'll often have what you're looking for at very reasonable pricing. But they generally don't advertise and many won't have phones.
Click to expand...
I haven’t looked into it very deeply yet. I read where corn for chickens was compared to white sugar for humans. The bad press that corn and soy get made me easily convinced to avoid it in chicken feed as well. It sounds like you are recommending that I dig a little deeper before dismissing them.
 
Lmatt said:
I haven’t looked into it very deeply yet. I read where corn for chickens was compared to white sugar for humans. The bad press that corn and soy get made me easily convinced to avoid it in chicken feed as well. It sounds like you are recommending that I dig a little deeper before dismissing them.
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Absolutely. People compare corn digestibility to that in humans, we don't have a Gizzard.

Here are some basic numbers for the two.
Protien %/Lb%/Lb Kcal/Lb %/Lb%/Lb%/Lb%/LbUI/LbUI/LbUI/MixUI/LbMG/LBppm/Lbppm/Lbppm/LbPPM %/Lb %/Lb %/Lb %/Lb
Ingredients:%FatFiberEnergyCalciumPhosSaltSodiumVit AVit DVit DVitECholineManganeseZincCopperSelenium LYSINE METHMeth/CystineArginine
Corn Grain, Cracked
8%​
3.5%​
2.9%​
1520​
0.01%​
0.25%​
0%​
0.02%​
750​
200​
6.0​
15​
3​
0.22%​
0.22%​
0.20%​
0.39%​
Soybeans, Roasted
38%​
18.0%​
5.0%​
1500​
0.25%​
0.60%​
0.02%​
1182​
2.40%​
0.54%​
1.10%​
2.80%​
 
So it looks like some negatives to soy are that a lot of people are allergic to it. I read where eating the eggs can bother them. The soy can also cause deficiencies in their diet, but I assume the food manufacturers add those into the feed as needed. Can’t say that I found anything saying why it was positive though. Only read negative things or arguments why it wasn’t bad. But didn’t find anyone saying it was healthier.
 

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