It's going to be super cold.

[casportpony]

Here's one many of us have used:






Purina Gamebird Starter 30% Protein - 50 pound
Purina Game Bird Startena (30% protein) product is formulated to promote rapid growth through bone and muscle development. Feed Game Bird Startena for the first six weeks of life. How To Feed...Feed free choice to birds as a sole ration until 6 weeks of age. Start with a small amount on paper or cardboard to make sure that all birds begin eating.

Important Considerations:
1. Plenty of clean, fresh water should be available to the birds at all times.
2. A feeding program is only as effective as the management practices followed.

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein, not less than 30.0% Crude Fiber, not less than 6.5% Crude Fat, not more than 2.5% Lysine, not less than 1.5% Methionine, not less than 0.5% Calcium, not less than 1.0% Calcium, not more than 1.5% Phosphorus, not less than 0.8% Salt, not less than 0.25% Salt, not more than 0.75%


-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Note that I used to think there was too much salt in catfood until I took a closer look at the *actual* numbers. In my case it was that I had mis-read the label on my poultry food. Label said .3% and I thought I saw 0.03%... Silly me.

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

Here's one many of us have used:






Purina Gamebird Starter 30% Protein - 50 pound
Purina Game Bird Startena (30% protein) product is formulated to promote rapid growth through bone and muscle development. Feed Game Bird Startena for the first six weeks of life. How To Feed...Feed free choice to birds as a sole ration until 6 weeks of age. Start with a small amount on paper or cardboard to make sure that all birds begin eating.

Important Considerations:
1. Plenty of clean, fresh water should be available to the birds at all times.
2. A feeding program is only as effective as the management practices followed.

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein, not less than 30.0% Crude Fiber, not less than 6.5% Crude Fat, not more than 2.5% Lysine, not less than 1.5% Methionine, not less than 0.5% Calcium, not less than 1.0% Calcium, not more than 1.5% Phosphorus, not less than 0.8% Salt, not less than 0.25% Salt, not more than 0.75%


-Kathy

Wow, my dry cat food actually contains less sodium than this one, who'd have thought?

 

[zazouse]

Yup, thanks Zaz. I don't know why everything has to turn into an argument. My vet thinks everything but one or two select catfoods have waay too much salt for cats.
But, you have to feed your animals something. Vet will also tell you not to feed the dog catfood and vice versa. There are reasons. But as you (and I think I) said...to each his or her own. Just sharing my experience.

I don't understand why you think folks are arguing here

we are not

, having an opinion is not an argument it spawn conversations cause us to learn things we may not have thought about and besides it is winter we have to talk about something to get us threw the dreary winter.

WE AGREE TO DISAGREE

ZAZ

 

[casportpony]

Note that I have not verified the data on the cat food page.

-Kathy

 

[Garden Peas]

Well, you know? Here we go again with the pages long arguments. I'm just saying. I was told by a poultry expert that catfood is not appropriate for poultry. I assume he knows what he's talking about, since he spent about the past thirty years and up to the current day in the poultry industry. I don't think he based it on a MYTH. He's considered an expert in the field by thousands of people. Am I interested enough to ask him to prove it in writing???? No. And as far as catfood itself, as I said...it does say catfood. It doesn't say catfood/ poultry food. Do what you like. Every body has their own ideas about what does and does not make their birds sick, and if you want to spend hours and hours trying to discredit common sense, I guess that's ok. I have better things to do. There's plenty of other things that can substitute for catfood. I don't intend to use it any more than I have been, and our birds don't miss it.

While speaking with your poultry expert, were you discussing nutritional requirements for poultry? As in for chickens?

Did you also happen to talk to him about peafowl? Is he familiar with their nutritional requirements? Peas have nutritional requirements that are somewhat different than the requirements for chickens. Peas require more protein, among other things.

The higher dietary need for protein is the primary reason pea owners give their peas catfood. Because chicken feeds and even turkey feeds do not necessarily contain sufficient protein to meet the dietary needs of peafowl. Adding catfood in appropriate proportions to other commercial feed products allows the peas to get the protein they need.

I am not aware of any food currently marketed specifically for peafowl. I do know that poultry food (chicken feed) alone is not enough to maintain optimum pea health. Even gamebird feeds often do not have as much protein as is recommended for peafowl. The nutritional needs imposed by growing long train feathers are very high, and actually suppress the immune systems of males while they are growing their trains. Pea owners typically have to cobble together an appropriate pea diet from multiple sources/kinds of commercial feeds. I am not aware of any knowledgeable pea owner feeding their peas a total catfood diet, even though some of our birds would like that.

Meanwhile, I am happy to feed my CHICKENS their layer pellets, with some cracked corn on the side (since it is winter) and the occasional catfood treat.

Maybe we are talking apples and oranges here....

 

[Garden Peas]

I guess my birds are in heaven twice a day every day. This morning it was 6*, the warm mash was just the thing to warm them up after a bitterly cold and windy night. Of course they spent it on the outside roost and the cover did them no good when the wind is 30 to 40 mph from the NW.

I changed up my recipe a bit for the deep freeze time of year. I start out with 1 1/2 scoop of 17% alfalfa pellets, one scoop of 18% rolled oats, one scoop of 34% cat food and 3/4 gallon of warm water. This sets until the next feeding in either morning or dusk. When ready to feed I add three scoops of 28% game bird starter/breeder and another half to 3/4 water from the hot tap and mix with a paint paddle on a drill motor. This makes about four gallons of feed in an oatmeal consistency. On alternate days I add different things to keep the mash interesting like over ripe fruit, canned mackerel, or chopped vegetables.

On evenings when I know it is going to be super cold, I will give them a bowl of cracked corn or scratch grain. I will pour it on any leftover mash to entice them to clean everything up. Any leftover frozen mash is collected and reconstituted for the next feeding.

I have no idea how much salt is in the dry cat food that @KsKingBee uses. But at the ratio of one scoop of cat food to 1 1/2 scoops of alfalfa pellets and one scoop of rolled oats, both of which probably only contain however much salt happened to grow in them (my water which is used on my alfalfa field is pumped from a somewhat brackish well, so guess?), the amount of salt in the alfalfa mix is reduced to less than 1/3 of the amount contained in the cat food itself. (Actually, it's 2 parts in 7, if you want to do the long division). So even if there were more salt to start with, as a percentage of the dry cat food, it is substantially reduced in its percentage of the finished feed.

Note that his 3 1/2 scoops of mixed alfalfa/oats/cat food is then added to 3 scoops of game bird feed. Depending on what the salt content is of his game bird feed, the salt content of the final mixture may actually go down from what is in the game bird feed, due to the dilution by the alfalfa pellets and rolled oats. The final content is 7 parts of the alfalfa mix (with whatever that salt content worked out to be) to 6 parts of game bird feed (at whatever the salt content is of that game feed), if anyone wants to do the math.

I am currently feeding this Manna Pro Game Bird Crumble (shown below) to my peas, along with laying pellets, cat food, cracked corn and various supplements and treats. This is the stuff that I wrote about the other day... the stuff they were eating like crack. The big peas seriously backed off the cat food after I started keeping this available at all times for the new wee peas. Before that, no scrap of cat food went unscathed, and they stuck their noses up at the laying pellets. My interpretation is that they weren't getting enough protein before. Once they had the game bird crumble, they went nuts for awhile, getting caught up. Now they are almost indifferent to the catfood, and they eat a lot of the crumble, but no longer behave as if they were starving to death when they get it. Now that the crumble has been there awhile, you can see them eating some of everything. So I am really, really glad that I started feeding it, because I think there was a deficiency that I had not recognized and wasn't meeting before.







I like the idea of the alfalfa pellets and rolled oats very much. I'm thinking about trying those, or maybe some mixed Timothy (grass)/alfalfa pellets to see what that does for them. @KsKingBee , have you tried the mixed pellets? I think the protein content is a little lower, maybe, but it incorporates a grass with the legume... What do you think?

 

[DylansMom]

I have no idea how much salt is in the dry cat food that @KsKingBee uses. But at the ratio of one scoop of cat food to 1 1/2 scoops of alfalfa pellets and one scoop of rolled oats, both of which probably only contain however much salt happened to grow in them (my water which is used on my alfalfa field is pumped from a somewhat brackish well, so guess?), the amount of salt in the alfalfa mix is reduced to less than 1/3 of the amount contained in the cat food itself. (Actually, it's 2 parts in 7, if you want to do the long division). So even if there were more salt to start with, as a percentage of the dry cat food, it is substantially reduced in its percentage of the finished feed.

Note that his 3 1/2 scoops of mixed alfalfa/oats/cat food is then added to 3 scoops of game bird feed. Depending on what the salt content is of his game bird feed, the salt content of the final mixture may actually go down from what is in the game bird feed, due to the dilution by the alfalfa pellets and rolled oats. The final content is 7 parts of the alfalfa mix (with whatever that salt content worked out to be) to 6 parts of game bird feed (at whatever the salt content is of that game feed), if anyone wants to do the math.

I am currently feeding this Manna Pro Game Bird Crumble (shown below) to my peas, along with laying pellets, cat food, cracked corn and various supplements and treats. This is the stuff that I wrote about the other day... the stuff they were eating like crack. The big peas seriously backed off the cat food after I started keeping this available at all times for the new wee peas. Before that, no scrap of cat food went unscathed, and they stuck their noses up at the laying pellets. My interpretation is that they weren't getting enough protein before. Once they had the game bird crumble, they went nuts for awhile, getting caught up. Now they are almost indifferent to the catfood, and they eat a lot of the crumble, but no longer behave as if they were starving to death when they get it. Now that the crumble has been there awhile, you can see them eating some of everything. So I am really, really glad that I started feeding it, because I think there was a deficiency that I had not recognized and wasn't meeting before.







I like the idea of the alfalfa pellets and rolled oats very much. I'm thinking about trying those, or maybe some mixed Timothy (grass)/alfalfa pellets to see what that does for them. @KsKingBee , have you tried the mixed pellets? I think the protein content is a little lower, maybe, but it incorporates a grass with the legume... What do you think?

Where do you buy this and if you don't mind can I ask the price? I know our TSC doesn't carry this one, and I'm not really sure who else might.

 

[zazouse]

I have seen this in our tractor supply but only in 5 pound bags for like 8 dollars

 

[DylansMom]

I have seen this in our tractor supply but only in 5 pound bags for like 8 dollars

So like 50 pounds would cost $80.00

Don't know whether to

or

. That won't work with 41 Pea mouths to feed!