Purina

[U_Stormcrow]

Oh thank you so much for your feedback. Your story is similar to mine. That's why when I heard about Purina I didn't know if BYC knew about it either. I just wish that more of the thread replies on this post would have been more open instead of condemning me for even bringing it up. It all comes down to us taking care of our chickens and anytime there's something going on good or bad we need to be informed and make the decision for our girls. Thank you again for being so open, honest and fair.

You are just late to the party. This social media firestorm is thousands of posts over the last 10 days or so. I've posted on this topic maybe 120 times in the last 10 days, and read easily 10 or 20x that many posts, not counting my Facebook feed.

Easy for us who have been in this no man's zone for a few days to forget new soldiers are just joining us at the front lines. On behalf of myself and the community, my sincere apologies.

 

[one chick]

You are just late to the party. This social media firestorm is thousands of posts over the last 10 days or so. I've posted on this topic maybe 120 times in the last 10 days, and read easily 10 or 20x that many posts, not counting my Facebook feed.

Easy for us who have been in this no man's zone for a few days to forget new soldiers are just joining us at the front lines. On behalf of myself and the community, my sincere apologies.

Oh..I'm so touched by your kind reply. I felt I wasn't alone in questioning the feed. My five girls haven't laid since September so when I heard it in the news from other chicken raisers and then read it online from different newspapers. I came to the conclusion that I needed to see if anybody at BYC was having issues. Didn't expect some of the answers that I got but most everyone was kind and reassuring as was you. Thank you.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

You sure?
”DuMOR, in partnership with Purina Animal Nutrition, has created wholesome feeds from simple healthful formulations designed to fit all of your animal’s nutritional needs.”

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/cms/dumor

Dell partnered with Intel make my computer, it is a Dell not an Intel product. TSC is the seller of the product and responsible for the quality.

 

[one chick]

Please read other threads who are aware of what I'm claiming. You didn't have to be so mean to me in your responses. You are the one who is uniformed what is going on out there with our chickens, my main concern for posting. You don't need to respond others thanked me you didn't I'm saying goodnight. Stay well. I'm off the thread on this topic.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You sure?
”DuMOR, in partnership with Purina Animal Nutrition, has created wholesome feeds from simple healthful formulations designed to fit all of your animal’s nutritional needs.”

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/cms/dumor

It doesn't say quite as much as you are reading into it.

DuMor uses a lot of old Purina formulations, and in many cases, arranges to have their feed made in plants owned by Purina Animal Nutrition (subsidiary of Land o Lakes), who may actually supply some of the ingredients in addition to processing the final product.

But that doesn't make your Taurus revolver a Smith & Wesson, just because Taurus obtained use of the S&W patents and tooling experience while both companies were majority owned by another in the 70s... DuMor and Purina were never even that close.

 

[knotty]

It doesn't say quite as much as you are reading into it.

DuMor uses a lot of old Purina formulations, and in many cases, arranges to have their feed made in plants owned by Purina Animal Nutrition (subsidiary of Land o Lakes), who may actually supply some of the ingredients in addition to processing the final product.

But that doesn't make your Taurus revolver a Smith & Wesson, just because Taurus obtained use of the S&W patents and tooling experience while both companies were majority owned by another in the 70s... DuMor and Purina were never even that close.

I’m not reading anything into it that it doesn’t say.

”DuMOR, in partnership with Purina Animal Nutrition”

partnership​

​

pärt′nər-shĭp″​

noun​

1. The state of being a partner.
2. A business entity in which two or more co-owners contribute resources, share in profits and losses, and are individually liable for the entity's actions.
3. The persons participating in such a business entity.

 

[Aunt Angus]

This is a valid design for a study - you are using the same birds as the control. They have a period with supposedly bad feed and a period with good feed and then a period with bad.
In this particular case my hypothesis is that the birds will increase laying when they switch back to the bad feed simply because it is spring and that might reassure some folk that the feed isn't the problem.
On the other hand if hens reduce their laying when switching to the concerning feed when they enter peak laying season then indeed one could legitimately be concerned about the feed.

Except it ignores variables. In order for a study to be truly valid, all other factors must remain state c and only the feed can be changed, that includes temperature, light, etc.

A lab test of the feed would be far more reliable because all other considerations would remain constant.

You could switch feed, and your birds could start laying again. Awesome! But maybe their hormones fluctuated. Maybe the temps rose. Maybe the rooster has calmed down. Maybe those hawks that have been making them nervous moved on. Maybe they got more forage time and ate more insects.

So then you switch them back to the "bad" feed and they stop laying. Maybe it rained. Maybe the neighbor is having tree work done and the noise is causing them stress. Maybe a fox started stalking them.

Point is, there are too many variables to make it reliable as a test.

But, seriously, if you want to change feed and you feel that's what is best for your flock, then do it!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Hi. My girls eat TSC feeds (Dumor, Purina, and others - whatever is available). They never stopped laying. They slowed down when they molted, but they never stopped. I have 11 layers, and I get between 7 and 9 eggs a day.

If anyone has the "bad" feed, I would greatly appreciate it if you could send me 2-3 cups, a pic of the lot number and mill dates. I'm still waiting for some of the suspect feed so I can send it off to be Analyzed for guaranteed analysis as well as mineral content and for mold/toxins.

 

[NatJ]

Except it ignores variables. In order for a study to be truly valid, all other factors must remain state c and only the feed can be changed, that includes temperature, light, etc.

A lab test of the feed would be far more reliable because all other considerations would remain constant.

You could switch feed, and your birds could start laying again. Awesome! But maybe their hormones fluctuated. Maybe the temps rose. Maybe the rooster has calmed down. Maybe those hawks that have been making them nervous moved on. Maybe they got more forage time and ate more insects.

So then you switch them back to the "bad" feed and they stop laying. Maybe it rained. Maybe the neighbor is having tree work done and the noise is causing them stress. Maybe a fox started stalking them.

Point is, there are too many variables to make it reliable as a test.

But, seriously, if you want to change feed and you feel that's what is best for your flock, then do it!

I think it tells more with some results than others.

If you switch foods and the chickens start laying, I agree about all the other things that could affect it.

But if you switch back and they KEEP laying, I think that would be pretty strong evidence that the feed is NOT the problem.

If you switch back and they stop again, I agree it's not conclusive proof, but I think it is a good reason to look into the feed in more detail.

And the more people do the same kind of switching test, the stronger the evidence becomes. Either it shows something consistent (all hens keep laying when switched back, or all hens quit), or it shows something inconsistent (which means there is some other important factor, whether that be batches of feed or daylength or something else.)


Lab tests are good too. They can even be happening at the same time. There's no reason to choose just one method or the other, when it's easy to do both.

 

[RoyalChick]

Except it ignores variables. In order for a study to be truly valid, all other factors must remain state c and only the feed can be changed, that includes temperature, light, etc.

A lab test of the feed would be far more reliable because all other considerations would remain constant.

You could switch feed, and your birds could start laying again. Awesome! But maybe their hormones fluctuated. Maybe the temps rose. Maybe the rooster has calmed down. Maybe those hawks that have been making them nervous moved on. Maybe they got more forage time and ate more insects.

So then you switch them back to the "bad" feed and they stop laying. Maybe it rained. Maybe the neighbor is having tree work done and the noise is causing them stress. Maybe a fox started stalking them.

Point is, there are too many variables to make it reliable as a test.

But, seriously, if you want to change feed and you feel that's what is best for your flock, then do it!

I have no issues with my flock or my feed.
My suggestion was to help people who are concerned with their feed come to a view on whether it is an issue without needing to test the feed or rely on experts they may not trust.
A lot of these people have already done the first half of this test: 'my hens weren't laying so I changed food and now they are laying'. And they are concluding that the issue was the feed.
If they just took the next step which is to put those hens back on their original feed a bunch of folk will feel more confident in the feed because the hens will continue laying.
I am not trying to submit for an NIH grant, just trying to help people who have got alarmed to fairly rapidly get some evidence that the issue was or was not the feed.