I want to buy some bulk grains at the grocery store for this winter.

[bairo]

I agree ... that's my list of priorities, too. Maybe I'd add in "eliminate corn," too, but I'm not quite sure I'm wanting to go all the way with that, or just "no GMO corn."

I am wondering what kind of substitute one could use for the soy. I REALLY don't like soy, and am not happy feeding it to my chickens (or myself, even if indirectly through their eggs). I saw one or more "antique" chicken feed recipes which listed both soy and fish meal in the "protein choices" column of the recipe ... but I also assume there is a (valid, one would hope) reason a lot of chicken feeds are "vegetarian." I presume the reason soy is used in addition to the grains which all have a lot of "protein" is because soy protein is "complete," like fish meal would be ... ???

Any solid articles available which discuss this topic?

Field peas, split peas, and fish meal are fine sources of protein instead of soybeans. IMPO though I would either use field peas or a combination of peas and fish meal if you have a good source for cold water/mercury free fish meal. At the current grain cost in Eastern TN; my preferred feed formula would cost 50.00 per 100 lbs. Right now I feed 1/2 Purina Layena and 1/2 Flock Raiser as the main feed which cost 36.00 per 100lbs.
My scratch is a 5 grain from the co-op mixed with some BOSS. I feed about a cup of scratch per 6 birds per day.

 

[bairo]

Hi Bairo,
A couple of questions if you have time. Please. Ok, I have English Light Sussex. They are a white skinned bird. While most English like their birds white skinned, most Americans like their poultry with yellow skin. Thus, Americans don't mind feeding corn and marigolds, and other things which yellow up the skin, eggs etc. I am on the other end of the stick. I don't want to feed anything that Will add yellow to my birds diet. Because they are genetically white-skinned and because the Light Sussex is a Colombian colored bird. Things that "yellow" in the diet can give a yellowish cast to those lovely white feathers. Now I studied that ... historically...Sussex do very well on oats , wheat and barley. What would happen to your recipe above if I eliminated the corn and split the 15 pounds up some way between the peas, oats and wheat. Or maybe did that and added in some barley into the equation?
I know a lot of people feed corn in the winter to raise the metabolism in their birds to help keep them warm. Old time dog breeders said, corn made a dog's "blood run hot". They meant the body needed to raise it's metabolism to digest the corn.
Following this train of thought ...and thinking Not to spread the 15 lbs allotted to the corn over the other 3 ingredients.... Can you think of a white colored ingredient that will also make the birds blood run hot to keep them warm in the winter? Something I cold sub for the corn?
I really like this recipe you have created. The corn is my only hang-up.
Thanks so much,
Karen ( I also sprout "Plotspike Forage Oats" for my birds in the winter).

I agree with everything you said. However, marigold extract would be much more to blame than the small percentage of corn in my formula. Of course many commercial feeds use quite a bit more corn. If you still wanted to eliminate corn completely, you can look for a substitute grain with close to the same protein but you probably wont find a good substitute that has the fat profile (at least not for the same money) If I were to try and eliminate corn I would probably split that amount between rye and adding more BOSS. Boss is 4 times more expensive but the only other seed I can think of that will supplement the carbs lost from the corn. This will also slightly increase the protein. It might look like this?? I have not figured the overall protein on this one.


Rye 10 lbs 14.5% protein
field peas 25 lbs 25% protein
crimped oats 20 lbs 14% protein
whole wheat (red hard variety) 20 lbs 14% protein
sunflower (at least half black) 25 lbs 19% protein

 

[bairo]

18.05% protein for the above (without corn formula)

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well meijer grocery stopped selling out of bulk bins.

I let the manager know i was VERY unhappy...

and he kinda just melted into the customer service counter saying how sorry he was

... anyone know of somewhere ele in central Indiana? I keep looking online, shipping is more than the grain itself. Going to see if Sam's club has the stuff, Costco etc... geez, why can people leave the good stuff alone? Did i mention i was a lil upset? hehehe

 

[blondiebee181]

Well meijer grocery stopped selling out of bulk bins.

I let the manager know i was VERY unhappy...

and he kinda just melted into the customer service counter saying how sorry he was

... anyone know of somewhere ele in central Indiana? I keep looking online, shipping is more than the grain itself. Going to see if Sam's club has the stuff, Costco etc... geez, why can people leave the good stuff alone? Did i mention i was a lil upset? hehehe

Well...can't say I know of anywhere in Indiana unless you have a WinCo....but....here in Boise, natural grocery stores are popping up like crazy and alot of them sell sprouting seeds/grains because they are supposedly really good for human consumption as well. Also try garden stores, sometimes they will sell winter wheat and such

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well...can't say I know of anywhere in Indiana unless you have a WinCo....but....here in Boise, natural grocery stores are popping up like crazy and alot of them sell sprouting seeds/grains because they are supposedly really good for human consumption as well. Also try garden stores, sometimes they will sell winter wheat and such

no winco, but very good ideas, thanks very much!

 

[BeccaSmith]

Well...can't say I know of anywhere in Indiana unless you have a WinCo....but....here in Boise, natural grocery stores are popping up like crazy and alot of them sell sprouting seeds/grains because they are supposedly really good for human consumption as well. Also try garden stores, sometimes they will sell winter wheat and such

I'm in the Meridian/Boise area as well! How do you know when you buy seed/grain for sprouting or fodder if they are non-GMO? If you buy organic, will it be non-GMO?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm in the Meridian/Boise area as well! How do you know when you buy seed/grain for sprouting or fodder if they are non-GMO? If you buy organic, will it be non-GMO?

Just did a quick google of GMO Crops.

Here is a link: http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/crops/

Here is a link to a PDF with slightly more information, but I'm not sure how recent it is: http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/GMonMarketUS.pdf

There's lots more info out there.

What is interesting to note are the types of grains NOT appearing on these lists at all, right?

 

[blondiebee181]

I'm pretty sure it has to list "non-GMO" on the packaging. At WinCo, I have no idea because you would have to request to see the original packaging of the bulk bin stuff but at other grocers or garden stores I'm pretty sure it has to say.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Here is a better source for GMO information. It is more recent than the other lists.

http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/what-is-gmo/

As far as food for human consumption goes, there is NO national (US) requirement to label GMO products one way or the other. Several other countries require the labeling of food that contains GMO, but AFAIK, they do not label foods without GMOs as "GMO Free." I haven't heard of a company volunteering to label anything as "Contains GMOs", but some do label things as GMO free (different ways of doing this) for MARKETING purposes (the same way "new" might be on the package of a "new" cereal). As far as I know, "Certified Organic" is supposed to mean it contains no GMOs -- and that's about as good as it gets for consumers. But big business is throwing a LOT of money around to stop regulation on the labeling of GMOs. In the most recent election, California had an initiative on the ballots to require GMO labeling, and big businesses contributed over $1 per day to advertise against it. Some of their advertisements were pulled off the air as they were not truthful. As of the current count of the ballots, the initiative failed.

It is also important to consider that food for animal consumption is even less regulated than food for human consumption. But the optimist in me is willing to believe that if animal feed is marked as "organic" or "GMO Free" then the manufacturers are being truthful and diligent.

Most commercial chicken feeds get their protein from soy, so they probably contain GMOs. Most chicken feeds contain corn, so most probably contain GMOs. I found a commercial chicken feed with Canola as the protein source, most probably that contains GMOs. And anyone feeding their flock commercial alfalfa is likely feeding them GMOs with that.

But do note the absence of things like "wheat" and "rye" and "oats" and "barley" from the GMO crops lists. At least for now.

Oh, fooducate has an app that lets you scan barcodes of grocery store products to see if they contain GMOs. Of course this doesn't work at the bulk bins or the feed store.