Question about Protein.

[jjdward]

I have noticed that almost all the chicken feed I have seen says "no animal protein". I know for a fact that chickens will eat anything that moves, including small animals. I am wanting to give my girls some more protein and was wondering what are your thoughts about feed that contains animal protein. I feed Layena pellets and that is 16%protein and I, and the chickens love the feed. Is there some kind of suplement(sp) that is good for extra protein? I have looked into calfmanna, anybody use it? Is it easy to feed? Any suggestions would be great!!!!!

 

[digitS']

I asked a question like that about calfmanna about 4 or 5 months ago, jjdward. There wasn't a response . . .

My chickens get a no animal protein feed that they really like - Flock Raiser. They probably don't find many bugs in my backyard but I'm not uncomfortable with the idea that they are nearly vegetarians.

Tell you what, tho': they are going to get a little ground beef that I wasn't quite sure about from the fridge. Cooked it up special for them. There's also some beef roast in there that I can't quite finish . . . they'll probably start getting that tomorrow.

If one of the hens looks to be under the weather - one of the first things I do is to start feeding their eggs back to them. Boiled and crushed, shells and all, I can't think of any protein that would be more complete . . .

Steve

 

[jjdward]

Thanks. Im really happy with the layena, except for the protein.

 

[Nige97]

The use of animal protein in feedstuffs was banned in the UK after the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) outbreak. It was shown that the animal protein, spines and nerve material from animals were responsible for putting mad cow disease into the food chain where it was delivered to humans.

Nige

 

[cgmccary]

Because of scare of mad cow disease, U.S. manufacturers stopped putting animal proteins in most chicken feed (the danger not being to the chickens but that your cow would eat the chicken feed, etc.). However, most poultry breeders will tell you that with the exclusion of animal protein from feed, fertility rates dropped and feather quality became poor.

I use a feed that contains both animal and plant protein. The animal protein is non-ruminant, but I don't have cows anyway. I have also fed mine bait fish.

 

[jwchicklady]

Animal protein can also mean chicken and some folk don't like the thought of their chickens eating chicken in their feed. why not just give them your meat scraps?

 

[jjdward]

Quote:
What kind of feed do you use?

 

[cgmccary]

I use Purina's Game Bird Chow : (Startena 30% protein until they are 14-16 weeks old; then the Conditioner 19% and the Layena 20% when they are all laying & breeding season). It is a high quality feed.

The Game Bird Chow bags will all look the same. You have to look at the tag to determine if Startena, Conditioner or Layena.

 

[cgmccary]

And mine is made at the Gainesville, GA Purina plant too!

 

[speckledhen]

I purposefully buy a feed that contains animal protein (porcine). ADM Alliance, Tucker Milling and Faithway Feeds still have it. They are all 16%, I believe, but they are quality feeds, IMO. I also use Purina Flight Conditioner ( a grower feed for game birds) and Purina Game Bird Breeder/Layena, both of which have the animal protein, like Chris said.