hold the beans- please.

[chixmaidservice]

Started my flock of layers on soy- free vittles today. I had hoped to go whole hog with corn and GMO free as well, but such a feed is darn near impossible to find in the Midwest at less than a King's ransom price. I am still trying to have egg sales pay for the girls groceries, so hopefully in a few years, there will be more feeds like I want, coming to market and competition will bring down prices. I am nothing if not patient. I'm writing this in hopes of hearing any updates from folks who have previously switched to no soy- on how they like it and any improvements or problems they have experienced. My decision to go soy free w my flock came after changing my horse over to a corn/soy free food and seeing all the positive changes in her.

 

[ShanandGem]

Hi!
I grind my own soy-free feed, just because I was having a heck of a time researching soy and its benefits/risks. One website will tell you it's a superfood, and the next will scream that it will kill us all, and quickly.
In the end I decided commercial feeds had too much soy, and eating massive amounts of one food group can't be really healthy.
I use red lentils and split peas. I roast them and then ferment or boil them to reduce antinutrients. My chickens are beautiful and appear very healthy. I would say egg production is average to excellent, and people go crazy when they taste our eggs. The flavor is so complex and fresh compared to soy fed chickens, and the yolks are huge.

Edited to add: of course I don't feed my birds ONLY lentils and peas. They are part of my feed mix.
Also: I live in Canada and we can only buy vegetarian poultry feed here. Which usually means it is 100% soy as a protein source. I have heard Americans say our store bought eggs taste of soy.