Is this too much to ask of my chicken feed?

[aart]

Not sure fish meal makes eggs fishy...
Seems I remember that some other ingredients in excess can make for fishy tasting eggs.
advanced search>titles only>fish meal makes eggs fishy tasting?

 

[Chris09]

Not sure fish meal makes eggs fishy...
Seems I remember that some other ingredients in excess can make for fishy tasting eggs.
advanced search>titles only>fish meal makes eggs fishy tasting?

You can get a fish smell from feeding too much fish meal but I don't think the fish meal is the problem.
Not near enough in there feed. Now too much flax (linseed) will also cause a fish smell.

 

[HennaRose]

My homemade mix had flax seed, and no fish smell or taste made it into the eggs. I'm thinking it may be a combination of flax, fish and crab, since the feed I buy now has all of those things. I know other folks don't seem to have this issue on the same feed and I can't account for our noticing it apart from higher sensitivity to the taste than others. I'm looking into other feed options that don't include crab meal but are still whole-grain and at least soy-free.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Have u thought about trying to feed them just corn or something and table scraps for a day or two just to see if it's threre food and not possibly something wrong with them as u said others have that feed and u said they don't have that problem

 

[GreenMountainEric]

You can get a fish smell from feeding too much fish meal but I don't think the fish meal is the problem.
Not near enough in there feed. Now too much flax (linseed) will also cause a fish smell.

^ This is correct. Flax meal in excess of 15%, canola meal in excess of 10%, and also large amounts of wheat (excess of 50% in the ration) can cause this.

I'm not sure about the fishmeal causing a fishy smell. Most rations won't have more than 3-5% fishmeal in them. It might be possible, I am just not sure.

My homemade mix had flax seed, and no fish smell or taste made it into the eggs. I'm thinking it may be a combination of flax, fish and crab, since the feed I buy now has all of those things. I know other folks don't seem to have this issue on the same feed and I can't account for our noticing it apart from higher sensitivity to the taste than others. I'm looking into other feed options that don't include crab meal but are still whole-grain and at least soy-free. 

Fishy smell in the eggs is not directly relative to the chicken eating something fishy. It is actually a genetic disposition in only certain breeds of chickens that can trigger this, and only with certain feed ingredients. IIRC, they designate the gene as the FM03 gene in certain breeds. Your chickens might not have that gene. The gene has been bred out of a large portion of the popular layer breeds.

The fishy smell is caused by a bacterial fermentation of choline in the chicken, that is increased with the digestion of certain ingredients. Most notably, flax and canola.

The fishy smell is not transferred by the chicken. It is actually created by the chicken.

 

[HennaRose]

EVERY chicken, though? I could agree with that if it was only one or two of them, but it's all eight, and they're varying breeds. And, I'll say once again, the homemade mix they were on before contained flax seeds, which made up about 12% of the feed.

 

[GreenMountainEric]

EVERY chicken, though? I could agree with that if it was only one or two of them, but it's all eight, and they're varying breeds. And, I'll say once again, the homemade mix they were on before contained flax seeds, which made up about 12% of the feed.

Are they all heritage breeds? If so, it is very possible that all of them would have fishy eggs on certain rations. It is mostly the commercial breeds that have had the FM03 gene removed through selective breeding.

12% flax wouldn't cause an issue, unless there was considerable amounts of other oil seeds and/or wheat in the mix. 25% flax probably would....

 

[GreenMountainEric]

Just went and looked at the ingredient listing for the scratch and peck naturally free layer..... Here are my thoughts....

Primary ingredient is wheat, and linseed meal is in the order before calcium carbonate. Based on this (and what I know about rations and levels of these ingredients based on the nutrient guarantees for the fee in question), I am assuming that wheat is roughly 40% of the ration, and linseed meal is more than 10% (because it is listed before calcium carbonate, which is typically 10% of a layer ration)

Fishmeal and crab meal are lower in the list than the oyster shell, which should only be about 2-3% of the ration. That being the case, it is assumed that there is less than about 2-3% of fishmeal and crab meal in the mix, which is a typical amount.

IMO, your fishy smell is due to the high level of wheat and flax in the ration. Maybe try the scratch and peck layer that has corn?? That might do the trick.

Other option would be to use ISA brown or Hi Line brown layers (or similar genetic offshoots of those 2). Obviously, this isn't the preferred option.....

 

[HennaRose]

I don't know if they're heritage breeds or not; I got them all from the same hatchery (except the Australorp, which I got from a feed store, who got her from a different hatchery). My MPC birds are one RIR, one EE, one white Leghorn, two Buttercups, and two Fayoumis.

I'm hesitant about the corn because we live in a hot/humid climate. I've read enough to convince me that dry corn in my climate may be detrimental to my birds.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Right now my girls are getting Scratch and Peck Naturally Free - organic, whole-grain, no corn, no soy. They seem to be healthy, they're laying well, their feathers are shiny and smooth. The problem I'm having with the feed is it has fish meal AND crab meal in it, and the eggs have begun to smell and taste like fish, which is offputting. I got chickens because my kids eat a lot of eggs, only with this fishy taste they won't eat the eggs. (And I am inundated with eggs, because I'm getting 7-8 a day and the neighbors don't want fishy-tasting eggs either.)

I was making their feed before but it was so much more expensive because I was having to buy ingredients from bulk shops (no grain mills). Homemade feed was running me about $100 a month; S&P is costing me about $70 a month. Is it too much to ask of my feed to be whole-grain, organic, free of corn, soy, and fish/crab, and be not hopelessly expensive? Are there other options for me?

When you overthink your chickens' diet then eventually you will be feeding air because everything that a chicken eats, that is good for them, and that they like to eat, offends one subset of humans or another.