I'm Sending Feed to be Analyzed

[PapaCharles]

Every year my chickens almost or completely quit laying from November to January, and I just assumed that's what chickens do. Who knew it was THE MAN trying to screw me over all along.

Don't waste your time or money. If it turns out the feed is exactly as stated on the label with nothing nefarious added, they will just come up with reasons why your test wasn't accurate or applicable to them.

As long as the feed causes the birds to self generate sweet n sour sauce, I don't care.

Way back in the 1980s we had about 30 layers. I always felt like the shorter days caused it, so I put a light in the coop. Conspiracies are fueling things these days. It's easier than thinking. A hen's age will slow her down too.

 

[Aunt Angus]

lizzards eat bugs, so…? (insert nonexisting mind- blown emoji here)

NanaK tells jokes, so...? (insert whatever emoji you want to insert here)

 

[PapaCharles]

Like @Aunt Angus , has said variables, there are environmental, weather, age, health, conditions of chickens coming out of molt, and how there housed.

That will affect when they lay or there ability to lay consistently in any season.

Yup. Unless all those variables are controlled, testing feed seems silly to me. One data point does not a conclusion make. Even variability within batches. Why don't people just buy another feed?

 

[igorsMistress]

Short answer, IMO is yes.
The production of vegan eggs being less expensive to produce than commercial chicken eggs. One would need a cost comparison analysis breakdown. Do you have some data?

I would tend to disagree. BSFL are a fantastic source of protein and fat for chickens. They eat just about any kitchen waste including meat, so they can serve double duty as waste management and food. It’s cheap enough that someone here in AZ produces enough to feed their entire flock with them plus any garden waste and that’s all. No commercial feed is used. The biggest part of the cost is the environment, ie maintaining that perfect temp and humidity for them to reproduce. They use far less of our water resources than vegan options, no chemicals are needed to control them, and adults have no mouth so they don’t eat. Escapees won’t damage crops or bite people.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Maybe it's not the feed, maybe It's CHEM TRAILS

 

[NatJ]

Yup. Unless all those variables are controlled, testing feed seems silly to me. One data point does not a conclusion make. Even variability within batches. Why don't people just buy another feed?

Some people do just buy a different feed. And if their birds start laying better, they still don't know whether the feed caused the change, or the daylength, or something else. If the feed is just as good, it doesn't really matter. But if the new feed is more expensive, or harder to get, or has some other disadvantage, then it would be helpful to know whether the original feed really was the problem or not.

If there really is a contaminant in the feed (like when melamine was found in pet foods), then a test might find it, and then the company could recall the affected feed, and everyone's flock would benefit.

And, if the feed is not the problem, then something else IS the problem. It's a waste of time and money for everyone to try several brands of feed every year, if what they really need is supplemental light. Or if their hens are molting and nothing will make them lay until they finish. So what we learn this year can be helpful in later years too.

I think testing feed to get one data point, or a few data points, is a good idea.
And I think people changing feed to see if their flock lays better is also a good idea.
And if changing the food seems to help, I think changing back to see if the laying continues can be a good idea too.

There's no need to pick one "best" method and cut down the others. Different people trying different ideas, and all sharing the results, can be a good way to figure out what things help, what things hurt, and what things have no effect.

 

[Bhubbard]

the new feed I’m giving my hens is lasting longer also. I know there is obviously a lot of back and forth on this topic and I understand both sides in this. I wanted to point out that a higher quality of feed and proper macro breakdown will get your dollars spent lasting longer as well. I’m not sure I have seen this topic come up yet with multiple threads and back and forth on this.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

the new feed I’m giving my hens is lasting longer also. I know there is obviously a lot of back and forth on this topic and I understand both sides in this. I wanted to point out that a higher quality of feed and proper macro breakdown will get your dollars spent lasting longer as well. I’m not sure I have seen this topic come up yet with multiple threads and back and forth on this.

Its a harder subject to discuss intelligently because so many free feed - and thus don't measure how much they give their birds (or free range, like I do - adding a huge question mark to anything feed related), and because almost no feed bags list an mKe value or similar which can be used to compare disclose metabolizable energy values. Though it is often commented that switching from a lower quality, "minimal" ration to a more nutrient dense feed results in reduced consumption, "how much reduced" and "is it worth it" are largely individualized assessments.

tl;dr Yep. you are right. That is often the case

 

[Geena]

As someone who does not free feed, but portions their food out each and every day, I can attest to that being true. I use that as one of my gauges as to the quality of the food I'm feeding them. They will eat up to half again as much of a cheaper feed with lesser quality ingredients, even though as per label it supposedly has the same nutritional value.

 

[Sally PB]

And if changing the food seems to help, I think changing back to see if the laying continues can be a good idea too.

That was the entire point of my (very small) experiment.

For 6 days, I switched to a Purina Flock Raiser feed that had the same protein, methionine, and lysine numbers as my usual Kalmbach Flock Maker feed. (20%, .55%, and 1.1%, respectively.)

For the 6 days previous, I got 3 eggs. (Kalmbach, Jan 28-Feb 2)

For those 6 days, I got 8 eggs. (Purina, Feb 3-8)

Today is the 6th day of back to Kalmbach. It's too early today for anyone to have laid, but so far, I have 7 eggs. I expect I'll get one or more today.

I personally think the causative factor was the weather. January was GLOOMY. We had more hours of sunlight in the first 4 days of February than the entire month of January. I have no control over that; I don't use supplemental light.