Talk to me about poultry mash vs commercial feed

[FarmerMama7]

This is our first year with chickens, and we're still learning. I just came across an article about poultry mash and that many farmers prefer it because it is cheaper and closer to free range than the commercial feed.

Thoughts?

 

[Den in Penn]

Mash is just a form that feed comes in. When the ingredients are mixed and ground it is mash. The feed mill then extrudes it through a pelettizer to form pellets. To make crumble the pellets are partly broken down. If the article you read was talking about farmers who make their own feed, then that is usually cheaper and fresher then buying commercial feed. Even buying it in mash form straight from the mill is cheaper, fresher then from a farm store. As for it being close to pasturing them I don't see how, the ingredients in the feed aren't as fresh as what they can find out on the range.

 

[Fred's Hens]

At our local mill, I can buy the identical feed in mash, crumbles or pellets. It is merely a difference in texture, not content.

 

[FarmerMama7]

The article I read was referring to a mash made of cooked veggie scraps, as I continued looking around, most 'poultry mash' meant soaked chicken food. Maybe there's another name for a cooked veggie meal as a more natural addition to the diet?

Mash is just a form that feed comes in. When the ingredients are mixed and ground it is mash. The feed mill then extrudes it through a pelettizer to form pellets. To make crumble the pellets are partly broken down. If the article you read was talking about farmers who make their own feed, then that is usually cheaper and fresher then buying commercial feed. Even buying it in mash form straight from the mill is cheaper, fresher then from a farm store. As for it being close to pasturing them I don't see how, the ingredients in the feed aren't as fresh as what they can find out on the range.

 

[Den in Penn]

Cooked scraps... I seem to remember that in World War II in England they collected all the food scraps and cooked them to feed to pigs and chickens. The program died after the war. If my memory is correct there were some studies that showed some benefits. I don't recall that the resulting feed was called mash however. I wasn't there or even alive then or read the studies, so I can be positive I'm remembering right.