new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[Perris]

I can’t. I don’t want to know!

But it might surprise you. Most of the time action needs to be taken is because of *aesthetic* rather than health reasons. Oddly enough, people don't like to find hair or poop or insects in their food

 

[U_Stormcrow]

There are good threads on BYC with that info. I think @U_Stormcrow is the guy who has done the most to codify that kind of thing for chicken feed.
Similar principles apply to people feed.

Methionine and Lysine appear on guaranteed feed labels here in the US.

The next two limiting AAs to be concerned with are Threonine and Tryptophan. They are NOT required to appear on guaranteed feed labels here in the US. You might wonder why?

I can't answer with certainty, I wasn't in the room. But having tinkered around with feed calculators "a bit", I'll offer that if you make the typical corn/soy based feed so very popular here in the US< it is almost impossible to "miss" on Thre or Tryp if the get Met and Lys right, as a consequence of the ratios in which those AAs are found relative to Met and Lys in those two ingredients. There are similar [not identical, but similar] ratios in the more common substitutes for soy [lentils, peas, legumes generally, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds] and corn, so by the time you get Met and Lys where you want it, again, you've probably hit your Tryp and Thre numbers.

About the only time I don't see those numbers hit, its a "home brew" recipe, and it usually misses at least the Met number as well, so...

I don't sweat their absence from the tag.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I listen to the poultry keepers podcast sometimes and whenever they talk about nutrition… they almost always say it’s not about protein % it’s about the amino acids. I haven’t heard them go into detail about where to source the important aminos. Methionine is one, but I can’t remember the others that are fundamentally important.
Edit: Lysine is the other important amino acid they look for in feeds

Good afternoon Texas. Its a popular topic around here, for those that get past brand name and the marketing descriptor, want to make apples to apples comparisons of feed labels.

and depending on where you are in TX, you might want to check out @West Feeds . Reasonably priced, generally very good numbers on those guaranteed nutrition labels. Don't know what you are feeding now, but if you've given thought to making a change, you should look into their options. (I spent 11 years outside the Austin area, so I'm more familiar with the local brands in that area of the country than almost anywhere else, apart from Northwest Florida).

 

[TexasBlues]

I use the Texas Natural brand chick starter crumbles and Layer Pellets.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^ also good numbers.

That said, this isn't the thread for discussion of available local mill feeds that check off various nutritional boxes. I apologize for my part in this detour.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

No apologies necessary! There was me thinking it was just me, and feeling like an old fogey on the topic of modern media... and now it appears that a preference for the written word is common amongst those on this thread!

Podcasts are good when cleaning out the chicken coop, driving, etc. During what would otherwise be down time. You can still hot the skip button during commercials. Otherwise the written word always wins out for me too.

 

[TexasBlues]

I listen to them while driving or working on the computer. The poultry keepers podcast is the only one that I have found worthy. But even then, the 3 or 4 hosts all keep penned birds and feed commercial feeds. They don’t free range to my knowledge.
I figured there’s 1 big obstacle to me raising chickens sustainably here and that’s beating the feed system and not having to buy prepared chicken feed.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

I'm unfortunately someone who is prone to addictions and food is no exception. For me at least, chocolate, sugar and coffee cravings are exactly that : plain addictions. I had at some points in my life problems with alcohol and cannabis (I got in control before those became serious problems) and the way it worked both physiologically and psychologically is the same. You just need more, and more often, until a day without makes you feel depressed or sluggish or dazed.
Processing may have to do with initially perverting a sense of satiety, but not with the addiction itself. I have to refrain myself from eating a whole jar of honey ; and I can eat a whole bag of roasted cocoa beans like a whole dark chocolate tablet after dinner. For the last five years I ate ultra-processed food no more than four or five times a year ; it hasn't helped in that regard.

I managed to regain control of my addiction to coffee by doing a month without, and then switching some of that coffee to teas and other warm drinks. Sugar, I'm just not ready to do that, I need something less drastic. Chocolate...prices have skyrocketed here and will continue to go up as world cocoa stocks have reached low records, so I'm also going to have to do something. I'll try your grownies, @Sally PB. But I think I need a real theobromine fast to get my life under control !

There is a real emotional and social component to how we eat. When I only have a 20 minute lunch break, and often spend that 20 minutes working on my computer, I'm quite likely to eat ultra processed food (with a large salad to make it better haha). When someone realizes I need gluten free food and goes to the trouble to provide it, i will eat it - often far more than I should. When I come home from work exhausted physically and emotionally, I eat stuff I know I shouldn't sometimes, and sometimes keep going.
A couple of years ago, I read a book on taking a fast from sugar and tried it. I made it 7 weeks. When I broke that fast, I threw away caution for a few days before I pulled myself together.
Sorry this is long - I just think emotions play into our cravings.

 

[Perris]

I figured there’s 1 big obstacle to me raising chickens sustainably here and that’s beating the feed system and not having to buy prepared chicken feed.

would you like to share what precisely is the obstacle, since your posts higher up this page indicate you're still buying it?

 

[TexasBlues]

Well, I’m still learning. To be honest I’ve been too lazy to work on providing all the food for the chicks.
I would like to grow some of the staple crops like corn.
I would like to set up a black soldier fly bin.
I would like a bigger space so the chickens could have more fresh grazing.