Nutrena vs Agrimaster?

[Ilovemychicks08]

For those following along, that's This Stuff

I've used it myself.

Same crude protein. same fiber. Slightly lower fat (2.5%, one of the lowest of the common commercial feeds, perfectly acceptable. Better Met and Lys (0.35, 0.75 respectively) which is a definite benefit if you are hatching your own replacements, lower phos (0.45, disappointing) which can affect bone quality though its above the (old) recommended minimum. Won't affect shell quality, egg shell is one of the few calcium structures that doesn't use roughly half as much phos as calc). Salt content the same, calcium is a little higher, but still well w/i the normal range for a layer formulation. Plus some added bacteria intended to increase bioavailability of some nutrients in the feed and/or reduce anti-nutritive factors.

Overall, the Naturewise is the nutritionally superior feed - assuming both feeds are of equal freshness, of course - but is it worth the price point? That's a much more local, and more personal, decision. If you aren't hatching your own birds, those nutritional differences largely go away for most other practical purposes - and you'd have to compare incubation/hatch rates to start to do the math on cost effectiveness.

In theory, the extra Met and Lys should contribute to faster/less stressful molts and better immune response, but those factors are almost impossible to quantify.

Yes, you absolutely can mix the two feeds if you plan on switching over.


Hope that helps your decision making.

Thank you so much!
Im unable to hatch my own eggs due to living in town. I have hatched others eggs though.
So can i mix the feed and feed them both feeds daily or will that hurt them?

I have another question i see a lot of people add scratch grains daily. I only ever feed it as treats should i add it daily?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I should add that neither feed discloses their mKE (metabolizable Kinetic Energy - think "calories") or similar. CHickens will eat until their Energy needs are met. They are good at self regulating calium intake, given the option. They will try to meet their CP needs (but not necessarily with an appropriate AA profile). Its a little less clear whether a bird will preference meeting its Energy needs over its CP needs.

Why does this matter? Because the range for mKE of a typical chicken food can vary from around 11.5 MJ/kj to around 13.8 MJ/kg in my (limited) experience - numbers derived from the few labels that publish that info, a couple feed manuals, and a handful of studies. A bird eating to meet its mKE needs will eat up to 20% more of a lowest energy (11.5) feed to get as much energy as the highest (13.8) feed.

and its not a figure that can be quickly or easily calulated.

Its not even a figure scholars and feed scientists agree on. There being numerous ways to measure, each of which gives slightly differnt, and not directly comperable, results.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you so much!
Im unable to hatch my own eggs due to living in town. I have hatched others eggs though.
So can i mix the feed and feed them both feeds daily or will that hurt them?

I have another question i see a lot of people add scratch grains daily. I only ever feed it as treats should i add it daily?

Yes you can mix it, no it won't hurt them.

There is absolutely no need to add scratch. Best as treats (its essentially high energy, low protein, filler). Think of it like adding doritos, twinkies, or an ice cream to your diet. The little nutrition they do provide is easily obtained elsewhere - but its exciting to see them included on the menu.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I toss my birds a little handful of scratch every afternoon for two purposes: 1. to get them all to come up where I can get a good visual on them so I can see that everyone looks healthy. I watch for dirty bums, limping ... anything that looks "off" to me. And 2. Just to keep them in the habit of coming when I call, so I can gather them up in a hurry in case of emergency. I know they don't really need it.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Yes you can mix it, no it won't hurt them.

There is absolutely no need to add scratch. Best as treats (its essentially high energy, low protein, filler). Think of it like adding doritos, twinkies, or an ice cream to your diet. The little nutrition they do provide is easily obtained elsewhere - but its exciting to see them included on the menu.

Thank you so much for your time and answers i greatly appreciate it!

Good as i feed it as treats. My girls love it.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

I toss my birds a little handful of scratch every afternoon for two purposes: 1. to get them all to come up where I can get a good visual on them so I can see that everyone looks healthy. I watch for dirty bums, limping ... anything that looks "off" to me. And 2. Just to keep them in the habit of coming when I call, so I can gather them up in a hurry in case of emergency. I know they don't really need it.

I like to use it as treats. Mine do the same and come running as quick as possible. I have one chicken that gets a poopy bum(she will get a short bath and trim this week again).
It is good they learned to come to treats. I have a metal popcorn tin i keep my treats in a few taps on the tin and they are right at the gate