I need a better scratch option from TSC.

[AllenK RGV]

My hens and the wild birds are saying the majority millet/milo ones suck. So we have turned to this stuff lately https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/value-mix-wild-bird-food-35-lb the wheat seems to be the only thing anyone wants as summer is here. The cracked corn is a small percentage too and gets consumed. Lately the BOSS we add is getting ignored.

Is there a good alternative source of 50lb bags of the wheat? I am thinking of trying oats next as nothing eats the majority of this stuff. I hope @Kiki can chime in as she has experience in feed. My chicken still have 20-24% flock feeder on demand all day.

Trust me the milo base is so bad rats do not eat the billed out food overnight, just my food centric dogs. This years rat census(according to my cats) has been very low so it is probably good to apply milo around your foundations as a repellent.

 

[gtaus]

If you have a TSC in your area, you probably have other options too. I get my scratch in 50# bags for less than $10 per bag from my local ACE hardware store which also is a farm supply store. They are less expensive then our local Fleet Store and our local feed mill. The scratch mix they sell is about 50% cracked corn, 25% barley, and 25% oats. I have been mixing in a bit of whole corn, BOSS, and wheat. So the end result of the scratch I give the chickens looks pretty good and they eat it up. Well, not so much the whole corn which is the last thing they will eat.

I went through a phase thinking I would save some money and bought 100# bags of grain and mix my own scratch. In the end, I don't think I saved much money, if any, and I just ended up taking up a lot of space in my garage to store the grains. Come winter, I'll have to get both cars back in the garage and will only buy a 50# bag of scratch as needed.

Even in my small town, there are 3 places where I can buy chicken scratch and each store carries a different mix of scratch. If in doubt, read the tags for the ingredients and mix ratio. In my case, I just looked for the lowest cost scratch, the chickens love it, so I'm good with it.

 

[Pghelp]

During time of pandemic I've been ordering from Chewy.com. They have several different brands and mixes. A new bag was delivered yesterday so I'll see if my girls like it better than the stuff we've been getting from TSC.

 

[AllenK RGV]

@gtaus I still have 15 or so pounds of BOSS on hand, and really appreciate your input. I am thinking I'll just stop by the horse food section and pick up some oats to mix with my Wild Bird Feed. I'm looking at 15 for whole and 20 for rolled on the TSC site. I wasn't able to find whole wheat to add or that would be high on the list online.

We are expecting some weekend weather so I'm reloading all my feed bins so they will be at max capacity and highly wind resistant this morning. I hope the oats are a hit.

 

[Pghelp]

@gtaus I still have 15 or so pounds of BOSS on hand, and really appreciate your input. I am thinking I'll just stop by the horse food section and pick up some oats to mix with my Wild Bird Feed. I'm looking at 15 for whole and 20 for rolled on the TSC site. I wasn't able to find whole wheat to add or that would be high on the list online.

We are expecting some weekend weather so I'm reloading all my feed bins so they will be at max capacity and highly wind resistant this morning. I hope the oats are a hit.

Are the oats like the plain old rolled oats for cereal or are they processed differently? Forgive my ignorance. My little hatchlings got warm oatmeal when I had to add medication but I haven't tried mixing oats with my scratch. I don't see it specifically for chickens so what would I look for? In horse feed? Thanks! They loved the oatmeal when they were tiny so I'm thinking oats might be worth a try.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Are the oats like the plain old rolled oats for cereal or are they processed differently? Forgive my ignorance. My little hatchlings got warm oatmeal when I had to add medication but I haven't tried mixing oats with my scratch. I don't see it specifically for chickens so what would I look for? In horse feed? Thanks! They loved the oatmeal when they were tiny so I'm thinking oats might be worth a try.

Cereals are rolled cut ones, these are only rolled to produce dust and crack the shells a bit for better absorption. No verdict yet from the chicken I'll see at the end of the day how they voted.

 

[centrarchid]

I have been using a mixture of shelled corn, oats (as a unmodified grain), and milo in equal proportions by volume with the final mix being about 10% BOSS (black oil sunflower seed). Make certain adequate grit available.

 

[RebelChief]

Have you tried what Loop farms sells? They have 2, 3 and 4 grain mixes.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I have been using a mixture of shelled corn, oats (as a unmodified grain), and milo in equal proportions by volume with the final mix being about 10% BOSS (black oil sunflower seed). Make certain adequate grit available.

In my personal case the chicken are ranging all day and on the ground so no need for me to stress that. They have always rejected it and the Oyster shell. OS is still on offer untouched in a sun damaged and leaky 3 year old bag that is falling apart now. This year we repurposed the grit into a soil amendment.

But yes very good advice.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Have you tried what Loop farms sells? They have 2, 3 and 4 grain mixes.

Where are they? That the place near the Courthouse? Hope you have your hatches battened as the winds are supposed to start tonight at 1AMGoogle found em I see they are near the airport I'll give em a look over after the first.