So what's so bad about soy in feed?

[jmc]

I know ducks need animal protein, but what's so bad about soy protein, besides its not being animal protein. i have heard that soy products are not the best for certain humans...........but..........

 

[Kedreeva]

I went browsing for a little bit because I'd never heard of this before. It's not, apparently, going to kill your ducks or anything. From what some say, it seems to make them lay more, even when laying would be stressful (hot weather, etc). Something to do with estrogen. It also changes the flavor of the eggs.

 

[katharinad]

It's the natural estrogen in the soy. Obese people/animals should avoid soy, because they already have extra estrogen from their own fat cells. The extra estrogen can cause cancer and all kind of other problems. Its not an issue for normal weight people/animals. There is an illness effecting almost 10% of woman called PCOS (also called PCO, PCOD, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), if you have it you need to avoid soy. In this case the estrogen will cause more cysts to build. Bad news is many don't know if they have it. Otherwise soy is a healthy product.

 

[joeyg4583]

Also 75% of the worlds soy is genetically modified. That may not bother some but it certainly bothers me. I buy organic soy free feed local to me to avoid it.

 

[toadbriar]

Is the soy estrogen hormone passed on into the eggs?

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
That is a good question and I don't have any answer to this. My far fetched guess is yes, but how much who knows. Estrogen is usually stored in in/with fat cells, which would be the egg yolk.

 

[H04]

I will probably be purchasing two muscovys females. Im starting my research now on the best to feed etc. Our entire family and pets currently stay CLEAR of any soy and also majority of products with corn.. Majority of corn is GMO and so is soy. The cleaner pets are fed the healthier and longer they live. I feed our pets real food ( dogs etc) and the vet always states we have looooooong lifespans for pets

Michele

 

[H04]

medications and soy along with other preservatives etc are passed through eggs just like when factory farm cows are given antibiotics and other meds right before slaughter that is going into humans also.

 

[H04]

some may be interested in a product called coco feed .

http://www.cocofeed.com/cocofeed.htm

 

[H04]

I found this from a farm site:

"Is there a reason that you do not feed your ducks any soy?
Yes. I was asked to stop feeding soy by a couple of my customers who were following Weston Price dietary guidelines. They consider soy to have "aggressive" estrogens. (see www.westonprice.org/soy/index.html) After I stopped feeding soy, I noticed that the roasted soybean flavor was actually a dominant flavor in most eggs. I used to like the taste, it has a nutty flavor, but I started wondering if people who were allergic to soy might be affected by that. Many of our duck egg customers have allergy issues and are buying our duck eggs for that reason. Once I stopped feeding soy, I noticed that the ducks didn't seem as forced to lay. Whenever the weather was stressful for their bodies (too hot or cold) they would lay less and resume when the weather was more comfortable. With soy they were laying everyday no matter what, and at times, they seemed rather worn out by that. In my experience, it seems to be true that soy does have some kind of an aggressive estrogen and it seems to increase egg production. So non-soy feed costs more and you get less eggs, but it seems more natural for my ducks. "