Purina

[Tdenniss]

Is Purina feed a good feed for laying chickens?

 

[Fred's Hens]

It is available. It is somewhat expensive. It provides a balanced diet.

Whether it is "good" is somewhat subjective and you'll get lots of opinions- likes and dislikes.
Because of the price, I prefer other feeds which I think are better for the dollar, but yes, I have fed it and it's fine.

 

[Tdenniss]

What is a good feed brand? What do you use to feed you chickens?

 

[ChickyLaura]

I only use Purina Layena. My chickens are healthy and do quite well on it. I would use organic, but it's literally double the price and I just can't hack that - especially with the price of gas now. My extra money seems to just fly into my gas tank, and I even carpool to work. Ugh.

Anyway, I do like Purina. Do a little research and figure out what works best for you. I use the DuMor brand (the 24% protein feed) from Tractor Supply for my meat birds because of the higher protein content. The Purina Flock raiser I believe only has 20% protein, so I don't use that.

 

[Chris09]

I agree with Fred's in that Purina feed is expensive and I believe that it is no better that some of the cheaper feeds.
One of the biggest beefs I have with Purina feed is that there chicken feed has no animal protein in it, I dropped more than one feed Co. because they switch to a all soy diet mix.

If you are looking for good feed look into Buckeye Nutrition, Kent, Evergreen, Blue Seal.
I my self prefer Buckeye Nutrition.

Chris

 

[crash0330]

In my opinion Purina its great!
I used to feed my chickens the only other feed avaliable at my feed store, but switched a couple of months ago and I can really see the difference, more eggs, better plumage, and overall my hens look much happier.
But like it was said before its all about you trying whats avaliable for you at your area, you might find that other less expensive feed works better for you or you might like purina and stick with it.
Where I live we have not that many choices so my input may not be as good as other people who have tried a lot of different feeds. But for my flock it worked.

 

[crash0330]

And how much more expensive it is compared to other feeds its relative to the area you're at, down here Purina its only $1 more than the other feed and well worth it imho.

 

[MeowCluckBark]

I'm using Purena for my baby chicks. They aren't grown enough to lay yet but I will probably use Purina for them when I switch them around 18-20 weeks. They are on the Start and Grow SunFresh Recipe. I bought a 50# bag for $13 and the 50# bag of the less expensive brand was $11. My 5 week old Light Brahma's are beautiful. They have grown their feathers in well and grown them in thick. They are all really soft too. I don't have a lot to compare too honestly. I didn't do a blind study or anything. It would be interesting to see the results of a blind study or something.

Also, I like the plastic-y purina bags and loved the tote bags I've seen made out of them for grocery sacks etc. So I figured I could recycle the packaging and I'm all about that.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Around here Purina Layena runs about 20.00 a 50 pound bag at the only store that want to carry it TSC, and I can get,
Kalmbach 1044 for 12.50 a 50 pound bag (all plant Protein)
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:
Crude Protein (Min.) 21%
Lysine (Min.) 1.20%
Methionine (Min.) 0.5%
Crude Fat (Min.) 3.0%
Crude Fiber (Max.) 4.0%
Calcium (Ca) (Min.) 0.7%
Calcium (Ca) (Max.) 1.2%
Phosphorus (P) (Min.) 0.7%
Salt (NaCl) (Min.) 0.2%
Salt (NaCl) (Max.) 0.7%

Buckeye Layer/breeder for 10.50 a 50 pound bag (contains animal protein)
Crude Protein, min. 18.00%
Lysine, min. 0.85%
Methionine, min 0.38%
Crude Fat, min. 3.50%
Crude Fiber, max. 4.50%
Calcium, min. 2.70%
Calcium, max. 3.70%
Phosphorus, min. 0.65%
Salt, min. 0.10%
Salt, max. 0.60%
Vitamin E, min. 18 IU/lb

Kent High Flyer for 15.25 a 50 pound bag (contains animal protein)
Crude Protein, min 22.0%
Lysine, min 1.25%
Methionine, min 0.48%
Crude Fat, min 2.5%
Crude Fiber, max 4.0%
Calcium (Ca), min 0.8%
Calcium (Ca), max 1.3%
Phosphorus (P), min 0.9%
Salt (NaCl), min 0.15%
Salt (NaCl), max 0.65%
Selenium (Se), min 0.3 ppm
Vitamin A, min 4900 IU/lb
Vitamin D3, min 1285 IU/lb
Vitamin E, min 17 IU/lb


Chris

 

[KYChickenlady]

I am a Kalmbach person myself. I find my chickens do much better on it than they do most feeds. Cost wise about half as much as the Purina. Kalmbach has always been all natural and Purina has only just now started labeling themselves as such. I can even get organic from my Kalmbach dealer at half the cost of the other guys. Kalmbach is the way to go for me for sure.