organic scratch & peck vs. purina

[Celtic Chick]

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Thank you!
And cute dog. It must be good stuff!

 

[Roosterfry]

I feed all purina because, I used to be a dog breeder and would research into the best brands even holistic brands even though from the beginning my veterinarian told me to use only big name brands such as purina or pedigree because smaller companies don't all do the same quality checks. He said that if a bad shipment of grain were to come in to purina they could afford to throw it away. He said that a company that could not afford to throw it away would maybe be more likely to try it anyway. I didn't listen to my vet for like a year and then I opened one of my premium bags of holistic dog foods, in date just like the many other bags I had fed my dogs, my dogs wouldn't touch it and I smelled it and it had a rancid smell. so long story short I know purina, according to my vet, has done the most extensive research on nutrition and safety. I don't work for purina or have any stock in them. I prefer their products because of predictability. You got week shells? Well make sure your birds have a lil crushed oyster shell bits every now and then... My two cents

 

[gale65]

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I'm not planning to get the holistic or organic food for our chickens but I don't agree with all of this either. Vets are notoriously undereducated on nutrition and they tend to push the foods that they get $$ for pushing. Usually Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc which are all crap food. Purina may have one or two varieties of dog and cat food that are just ok but on the whole, they are junk food as well. Full of corn and wheat and fillers. Just my two cents.

 

[Celtic Chick]

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I'm not planning to get the holistic or organic food for our chickens but I don't agree with all of this either. Vets are notoriously undereducated on nutrition and they tend to push the foods that they get $$ for pushing. Usually Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc which are all crap food. Purina may have one or two varieties of dog and cat food that are just ok but on the whole, they are junk food as well. Full of corn and wheat and fillers. Just my two cents.

x2!!!!
That is exactly what vets do! Whatever company doles out the most freebies & incentives is the one the vets will peddle. I have 2 cousins that worked for vets.
Iams & Science Diet both had to be recalled because their food was actually killing pets a few years back, so their quality checks can't be all that great.
I offer my girls oyster shell all the time. When I started getting shell problems, I even mixed the shell into their food, thinking they weren't eating enough of it, but it didn't help until I got my girls off the Layena.

 

[chickens friend]

Well I am going to put my 2 cents in as well. As for organic food, I have grown certified organic food vegetables in the past and have grown them the traditional way also, and do you know what the difference is PRICE and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE period. As for the problem with Purina layer pellets do some research and you will find out that you need to provide oyster shell free choice at all times, the feed does not contain enough on its own. I have fed many different brands of layer pellet and chick starter and now I will have nothing but Purina. For those that insist on going organic great for you but I cannot afford those high prices and will not fork out that much money for the same feed I can get else where for cheaper. This will probably offend many out there but this is my experiences.

 

[northerngirl]

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??? I thought the difference was the lack of use of pesticides in organic products? Did you not use pesticides when growing the "traditional way" as well? It was my understanding that the price is usually somewhat higher for organic products because some of the crop is sometimes lost due to non-use of pesticides? I'm willing to pay a little more to have food that was not doused in neurotoxins, just my 2 cents.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
I'm not planning to get the holistic or organic food for our chickens but I don't agree with all of this either. Vets are notoriously undereducated on nutrition and they tend to push the foods that they get $$ for pushing. Usually Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc which are all crap food. Purina may have one or two varieties of dog and cat food that are just ok but on the whole, they are junk food as well. Full of corn and wheat and fillers. Just my two cents.

x2!!!!
That is exactly what vets do! Whatever company doles out the most freebies & incentives is the one the vets will peddle. I have 2 cousins that worked for vets.
Iams & Science Diet both had to be recalled because their food was actually killing pets a few years back, so their quality checks can't be all that great.
I offer my girls oyster shell all the time. When I started getting shell problems, I even mixed the shell into their food, thinking they weren't eating enough of it, but it didn't help until I got my girls off the Layena.

I do offer my girls oyster shell free choice all of the time.

 

[kizanne]

While I don't think there is anything wrong with providing non-organic food to your chickens I choose soy-free organic food. I do not have enough experience with chickens to know the difference yet.

I do know the difference with produce. I can watch my daughter go to my garden and eat right off the vine without having her wash or worry about residue of pesticides or herbicides. She like most children is not very careful about washing produce before eating it. She will also eat items out of the garden that she would never ask to buy at the store and eat at home.

I do know that it is easy to sell my eggs if they are organic, soy-free, non-gmo, cage free eggs. If I sell my few left over eggs for $3 / doz I make enough to pay for my feed. If I sell them for 1.50 / doz i make enough to pay for the extra cost of the feed.

 

[gale65]

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??? I thought the difference was the lack of use of pesticides in organic products? Did you not use pesticides when growing the "traditional way" as well? It was my understanding that the price is usually somewhat higher for organic products because some of the crop is sometimes lost due to non-use of pesticides? I'm willing to pay a little more to have food that was not doused in neurotoxins, just my 2 cents.

Growing organic (especially certified organic) is a lot more than just not using pesticides (or herbicides). The ground has to be chemical free for x number of years (7 sticks in my mind but that may not be right) and also there has to be a chemical free buffer zone around the fields. Obviously this doesn't apply if you're only growing it for yourself-only if selling as certified organic (I believe there is also a "natural" category for people in the process of going organic). The price being higher is partly for loss of yield but also organic seed costs quite a bit more, organic fertilizers can cost more, and for large scale farming, there is likely more fuel used due to having to cultivate more for weeds and such.

 

[tarragon]

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Actually, I believe the difference is PRICE and TOXIC RESIDUE. It really drives me crazy when the "experts" come out and say "there is no nutritional difference between conventional and organic produce." True, a conventional strawberry and an organic strawberry are both going to contain the same vitamins, but the conventional strawberry also contains pesticides. No thanks. My sister works for a doctor in a cancer clinic. He describes it this way when people balk at his suggestion to eat organic-take your lettuce, grab a can of RAID, spray the lettuce. Now, rinse it off and make your salad. No?