Opinions on best feed.

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Interesting to know.
I'm feeding my ducklings Dumor duckling starter and they seem to be doing well. Nestle owns Purina, and I don't trust Nestle!

Nestle had absolutely nothing to do with Purina Poultry feeds, nothing.

 

[Folly's place]

What's best depends on freshness too, so what's available where you shop matters a lot. here it's Purina's Flock Raiser, 20% protein, and available so we can feed it within two months of it's mill date.
The one local supplier of Kalmbach stores it in a three sided shed, and charges more than TSC does for Flock Raiser, so not something I'm going to buy.
Dumor hasn't been best here, and there's no quality local mill.
Mary

 

[SourRoses]

Opinion: I feed Dumor 20% Grower crumble with Oyster shell on the side.

It's inexpensive at $20 / 50lbs. Every now and then, the bags in the store are too old, so I pick up Flock Raiser instead (for $5 more). I was surprised it looks / smells exactly the same, and the birds don't think there's any difference. Which is odd, because our chickens can be fussy.
Feed can be weird in that the region it's made makes a big difference. They only have to meet the nutrition targets, the ingredients / ratios can be different from place to place.

They hated when I tried getting them on Nutrena. It smelled strongly of herbs and they barely touched it.
They love the taste of the Flock Party brand crumble feeds (mealworms ground in the mix) but it doesn't have economical sized bags.

When I've been growing out feathery breeds and during molt, I mix some 30% Gamebird crumble into the Dumor at a ratio that will yield 24% protein. Birds love that!
My main takeaway after years raising chickens is that it's not worth it to skimp on protein.

 

[Folly's place]

I've also fed Dumor's 20% chick feed, if the dating is better than the Flock raiser, and agree that it seems fine.
There's not the same 'one best' everywhere!
Mary

 

[Pollo Blanco]

Nestle had absolutely nothing to do with Purina Poultry feeds, nothing.

What is 'corn distillers grains with solubles'?

 

[SourRoses]

What is 'corn distillers grains with solubles'?

I believe that's spent grain from brewing, solubles is soluble fiber. It's not a bad ingredient, it's in a lot of animal feed.
Lazy can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

I believe that's spent grain from brewing, solubles is soluble fiber. It's not a bad ingredient, it's in a lot of animal feed.
Lazy can correct me if I'm wrong.

Seems Nestle/Purina is the only company using it.

Turns out to be a byproduct of fuel production.
I guess it makes sense because Cargill is a major chemical processing company.

 

[nuthatched]

What is 'corn distillers grains with solubles'?

Just leftover grain from brewing companies.
it was quite a normal procedure, and still is to feed live stock spent grains, lefrover mash of beets and sugar cane from the sugar industry, dried potato bits etc. It's very economical and still contains nutrients.

 

[Alagirl]

Well, the bags of feed say Purina on them, so I am assuming that they are Purina.
Most Nestle stuff says Nestle on it, so I don't buy it. They took over San Pelagrino some time back.

yes. The issue with the Purina name is a complicated one.
In the US the lifestock market does not belong to Nestle.
In Europe (and the rest of the world?) it does.
they are as bad for food as Monsanto is for food crops.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Just leftover grain from brewing companies.
it was quite a normal procedure, and still is to feed live stock spent grains, lefrover mash of beets and sugar cane from the sugar industry, dried potato bits etc. It's very economical and still contains nutrients.

My birds loved it for the most part when I had access to fresh stuff. A couple wouldn't eat it, but far more obsessed over it