Steer Clear of Walmart Feed.

[dramaguy11]

My chickens have increased droppings 3 fold on the stuff. It is a real mess. I will never buy it again. YUCK! I woke up to a tower of poop in the coop.

 

[StruckBy]

hmmmm....that's interesting. When I lived in NV I used to buy it occasionally because the feed store's hours were a joke (M-F, closed at lunch) and never noticed any difference with it. Of course, mine free-ranged all day so it only would have been at night. I wonder if they changed their supplier?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Well I can't help. It isn't too old.
You might want to compare the ingredient list to other brands.

 

[TwoCrows]

I used to use the Family Farm Egg Maker Crumble. Supposedly it is produced by Manna Pro. Although I am always leery of buying anything at Walmart thinking that it may be of a lower quality since they sell things far to cheap than the original manufacture would. My chickens did just "ok" on it. I didn't notice any huge differences in health, poop or feather growth. BUT....I had to watch Walmart. Especially during the summer time. They do not store their feed properly and I swear they were storing these bags outside in a hot trailer. Many times I would pick up a bag and get it home...open it up and could tell it was on it's way to being spoiled. Or it had no smell at all, which tells me it was a very old bag. And it didn't matter what the tag on the bottom said. That is only a "bagged" date. That doesn't tell me how long the feed sat in the warehouse before it was actually bagged. Many times my chickens refused to eat freshly opened bags for some reason. I finally got tired of it and moved on. (my only other choice out here in the middle of no where is Purina Layena, which I refuse to feed. So I now make my own feed.)

I would recommend that anyone buying Walmart chicken feed, dog food, horse food, or any food for that matter, always check the bags before feeding and if animals refuse to eat it, there is a good reason for it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That may or may not be a bad thing.
What is the manufacture date on the WM feed? Is it grower/finisher/layer ?

 

[dramaguy11]

It is Layer. 11/13

 

[dramaguy11]

Not sure. This is the first time I have bought it. I normally get Layer mash from the feed store here and have never had this problem.

 

[StruckBy]

I'll also throw this out there as a wild possibility... IME, animals who are only fed one thing their entire lives get very good at digesting that thing and nothing else (think dogs that are fed the same brand of food their entire lives then get sick when they are switched to a different brand or protein type). If they've been getting the same layer mash made with the same couple grain bases their entire lives & not a big variety of supplemental feeding from free ranging & kitchen scraps, and Walmart's supplier uses a completely different base (say soybeans & field peas instead of corn & wheat), they may just not be as good at digesting it. None of my animals get fed the same brand two bags in a row (with the exception of the foundered pony whose diet is super restricted). Since I started doing that I've had a lot fewer problems. But that's just my experience...your mileage may vary.

Edited to add:
Of course, a lot of feed manufacturers, especially smaller ones, change the formulation of their feed based on prices throughout the year anyway. They just have to keep the nutritional profile more or less the same.

 

[gander007]

A good healthy chick starter is best then go to Turkey Grow with 20% or more of protean for the growing cycle

 

[foreverlearning]

I used to use the Family Farm Egg Maker Crumble. Supposedly it is produced by Manna Pro. Although I am always leery of buying anything at Walmart thinking that it may be of a lower quality since they sell things far to cheap than the original manufacture would. My chickens did just "ok" on it. I didn't notice any huge differences in health, poop or feather growth. BUT....I had to watch Walmart. Especially during the summer time. They do not store their feed properly and I swear they were storing these bags outside in a hot trailer. Many times I would pick up a bag and get it home...open it up and could tell it was on it's way to being spoiled. Or it had no smell at all, which tells me it was a very old bag. And it didn't matter what the tag on the bottom said. That is only a "bagged" date. That doesn't tell me how long the feed sat in the warehouse before it was actually bagged. Many times my chickens refused to eat freshly opened bags for some reason. I finally got tired of it and moved on. (my only other choice out here in the middle of no where is Purina Layena, which I refuse to feed. So I now make my own feed.)

I would recommend that anyone buying Walmart chicken feed, dog food, horse food, or any food for that matter, always check the bags before feeding and if animals refuse to eat it, there is a good reason for it.

What do you make your feed out of?