No to Yellow Peas!!? My girls won't eat the peas in their Sratch & Peck feed.

[chickengeorgeto]

My three girls just hate the yellow peas in their Scratch & Peck feed! I give them the feed in various forms, dry, fermented, in organic Nancy's plain yogurt and they always toss out the peas or leave them in the bottom of the bowl! The meticulously avoid them... Anyone else encountered this? My girls are 15 weeks old and love all sorts of greens from the garden and forage for bugs but just loathe those dang peas!

Chunk the organic feed and buy your hens some real chicken food. Organic chicken feed is only a complete chicken feed if it has GMO soybean meal as part of the complete ration. Legumes like peas and beans are mildly toxic to chickens. That is why your hens are avoiding the vegetable protein in their ration. Its all smoke and mirrors but the smote is in your hens' eyes because the peas that your hens refuse to eat makes up a large part of the protein that is supposed to be in your feed as per the Guaranteed Annalists tag sewed onto the corner of each sack. The soybeans in chicken feed is expelled soybeans meal that has been roasted, ground up, and pressed or de-fated with a solvent to become chicken feed.. This makes soybeans palatable to chickens and has been going on for up to a 100 years.

Every flock seems to have their own individual likes and dislikes. Mine hate milo.

As for some flocks not eating milo, there is a strain or variety of milo that's widely cultivated called "bird resistant" milo. This kind of milo is repellant to birds because of its high tannin acid content. I guess it give birds the "crop burn"
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CCD/introsheets/grsorghum.pdf

Often the dust is the "pre-mix", which are the added minerals and vitamins. Don't toss it! It's lots of good and essential stuff in there, They may not eat it as quickly because the dust is more difficult for them to pick up. Matt's suggestions of mixing it with yogurt or water is one I've had success with.

As for dust in chicken feed....

The dust in most chicken feeds is the artificial man made vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.... pdirt

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/942200/what-is-the-leftover-dust-in-layer-feed

The dust in most chicken feeds is the artificial man made vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that is added to high end chicken feed so that it can be sold to the unwary as a "complete" organic chicken feed-- Chickengeorgeto

 

[Folly's place]

Beautiful birds! Mine look good too.

Mary

 

[pdirt]

Quote: As for dust in chicken feed....

The dust in most chicken feeds is the artificial man made vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.... pdirt

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/942200/what-is-the-leftover-dust-in-layer-feed

The dust in most chicken feeds is the artificial man made vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that is added to high end chicken feed so that it can be sold to the unwary as a "complete" organic chicken feed-- Chickengeorgeto

I don't buy your theory about GMO soybean meal being a better nutritional source than the nutrition in the Scratch n Peck feeds. A good chunk of protein in that feed comes from high quality Menhaden fish meal, which is not found in many feeds. I am not against soybean meal in chicken feeds, I do agree with you that it can be a quality protein, but not in the chemically-grown (Roundup) and chemically processed (solvents) form. Non-gmo soy (hard to find) that has been fermented (not available as an animal meal, AFAIK) would be better. Perhaps it is just a matter of opinion or preference. That said, I am not against the use of Roundup...I do think it has it's place, but no friggin' way do I want that stuff anywhere near my food or my animals' food.

As for the peas in the SnP feed...they are the first bits our chickens go for, after the corn, then the wheat.

The dust in chicken feed...I don't understand what your point is. That's just what I said...it's vitamins and minerals. Organic chicken feed buyers are no more being "duped" than non-organic feed buyers. It's generally very similar dust in all the feeds, from what I understand. Is there something you know of that is different or superior in the dust in non-organic feeds?

If your point is that you think people are being ripped off by the organic food movement, in some cases I would agree with you. The organic movement has been both improved and hurt since the USDA took it over. Not all organic food or feed is equal or worth the money, you have to know what to look for.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Quote:

You might want to familiarize yourself with the feed you're criticizing before you make completely ignorant statements and end up looking foolish. Scratch and Peck is Soy-free. They use fish meal, which is far higher quality than soy meal and better for the birds as chickens are not naturally vegetarian.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

I would like to give some information on the soybean comments in this thread, since I was, for 18 years, a USDA chemist and biologist. In today's world there are two types of soybeans available, yellow and black, only the black, smaller beans are Non-GMO in the USA, here all the yellow or tan skinned beans are developed as oil beans, meaning they contain around 23% soybean oil, this is extracted with Hexane, a highly volatile solvent. The way beans are extracted is that they are steam heated, put through rollers to flatten them into flakes which are then run through a bath of heated hexane, the hexane is drained off and the still wet flakes are then moved by auger to a hammer mill and turned into meal. Soy meal has a residual amount of hexane, that if not evaporated out by re heating the meal will be high enough in volume as to flame off when meal is heated and a match applied. This hexane evaporates before the meal is bagged by the process of movements through the plant to the bagging room.

Black skinned soybeans are some of the oldest on the planet and are what the Japanese use for making Tofu, Soy Sauce and other soy based food products. They have far less oil content than the fat yellow or tan skin beans. You can usually find this variety in specialty seed catalogs or seed banks, you would need to grow your own since they are not considered a commercial product here in the USA.

IF a food stuff, here in the USA, states it is Soy free (with a USDA emblem), then it will not have any soy in it, not even the Lecithin, which is a byproduct of the soy oil industry and one of the main components of Bacon Bits (the artificial ones not the Hormel real bacon bits).

Now about yellow peas, they are a source of protein, lecithin and even a tiny amount of oil. If you're chooks are free ranging, they most likely are getting plenty of protein and other nutrients from their insect intake and so would by pass an excess of protein which is what the yellow peas represent to them. Chooks and other animals are very good at knowing what their bodies need in the way of nutritional needs.

 

[Madison-Jamil]

Bryant,
Thanks for all the info on the soy industry Very educational! I avoid almost all soy products except organic soy sauce and I also avoid GMO foods. I would be interested in trying out growing black soy beans in my garden. I strongly believe that soy being in so many (almost all) processed foods is a contributing factor to girls reaching puberty so early now. What you shared reinforces my belief/desire to avoid soy entering the diet of my family (humans and animals).

I am a pharmacy tech and have worked in a compounding pharmacy and seen firsthand the effect prescription hormone cream made from soy on estrogen levels. It really makes you think, do I want my child or male family members eating this? No! Yam is used to raise progesterone levels in HRT creams, it's amazing what the power of a plant can do. There is no way I want soy feed affecting the eggs of my gals and being ingested by my husband. Do you want your baby drinking soy formula or milk?? I will have to pass and that is based on scientific data that I have personally witnessed, not read in a journal. Much as Bryces direct knowledge of the of industry. As a side note for you guys almonds are great for testosterone levels!

As someone who has a science based background and been exposed to many Naturalpaths and Medical Doctors I search for balance. My primary care is an ND who started his carrer in Western Medicine and I feel very blessed to have his wisdom and knowledge in my life. He has mentioned the healing powers of gently cooked chicken eggs if sourced well. An organic egg, (no soy feed!), actually has the ability to lower bad cholesterol and raise good. Maybe that's why people before all these commercial feeds and GMO's we able to eat 2-4 eggs every morning and live long lives! I saw this proven through his care and many blood draws when dealing with my Godson's health issues. He was young, overweight and his cholesterol and triglycerides were through the roof. Part of his Rx for treatment was 3 eggs a day. Also Braggs ACV and psyllium. within a year he was down to a healthy weight and his cholesterol/triglyceride levels were fantistic, it was an amazing transition.

I know a lot of people feel Organic is a scam or some yuppee movement but food can heal, and food that heals needs to be healthy itself.

Pdirt, your tough love approach worked and my girls eat the peas if I just hold out on refilling

To the other folks dealing with the finer ingredients falling to the bottom: fermenting, mixing with yogurt or just making a quick mash with water solves that issue and the girls get the bonus of better hydration this has been working very well for me as I noticed the same issue when I started them on Scratch & Peck. Last time I had chickens many years ago I feed pellets and crumbles but since in the last 15 years I have changed my diet I decided to go with a more natural diet for my chickens. It is more work but I hope to see worthwhile payout in the quality of my eggs and the health of my flock. The changes I have made in my diet were well worth it for myself and the members of my family I cook for.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

hau, kola Madison-Jamil, Like you we do not use soy products at all not even the oil. We use olive oil and sunflower oil for our oil needs they are much healthier for the body. I used to use western medicine but it has failed me, I now use my herbal knowledge and have a holistic healer that I go to, much better results for my body. We are building our homestead farm, Heca Asnikiye (Buzzard's Roost) so we will be growing all our own food and medicines, this is going to take some time but will be well worth our efforts.

I have problems with the label Organic, especially if it is the USDA labeling, just because it says it is doesn't make it true as one would think of it. The USDA does not actually monitor those "Organic Farms" they have instead set it up so independent companies do the monitoring and approving of organic farms, this to me allows far to much opportunity for missteps. Not that the USDA would do better, but if you are monitored by an independent contractor there is always room for bribery or head turning so as not to see.

We grow our crops with no chemicals what so ever, all fertilizers are from animal and plant materials or pure minerals. We are more in the permaculture, holistic rehabilitation mode of growing things. I prefer to make our chicken feed rather than purchasing from a manufacturer or feed mill, it takes a bit of effort and time but for us it is well worth it.

Food is medicine all you have to do in this day and age is to be sure it is food you grew or know exactly how it was grown. Like in the old days.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

Honestly I don't like soy feeds either. Not because of how it's processed or it's nutritional value or whether or not our birds will eat it, because our birds WILL and do eat just about anything and everything if they can get their beaks on it

The main reason I don't like it is because of the smell,,, it has an almost sour smell compared to the nice sweet smell you get from corn wheat and oats, etc. This "smell" gets into the birds and permeates the meat and eggs,,, most people can not taste the difference,, but I have a fairly sensitive pallet and can taste it

. So no soy product based feeds for our girls here

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

Soy containing feeds have that sour smell because of the way the feed is processed, the soy meal is not cooled before being shuttled to silos where it steams off and as we all know, moisture in the presence of protein and carbohydrates equals mold growth and fermentation.

Not all sour odors are bad though, purposely fermented feeds are actually good for chooks, helping their gut adsorb more of the nutrients.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

Oh, that I do know,, I feed my birds fermented mash regularly,, but it does not seem to permeate the meat and eggs like the soy does. I don't know why. I have had customers tell me the same thing when I tried switching to a soy based feed (it was cheaper at the time) and they had also mentioned that the eggs tasted different.