This is what a balanced layer feed with no treats delivers

[ShrekDawg]

That chicken is not my chicken. It has come from an industrial egg unit. It is a commercial chicken. It has been raised to be a commercial egg layer. It has been fed industry standard feed to maximise its egg production. That is to say, it has been fed commercial layer feed and nothing else.

I do not understand why some of you don't get this.

Because it’s not ONLY the feed that causes that. Myself and plenty of people have fed exclusively commercial feed and they don’t look like that at all.

 

[ILoveDaffy]

I do not dispute what you are all saying about the conditions the egg industry adopts (it's at least as bad in the USA as here btw), but you are distracting from the subject of feed by looking at the environment. Yes I know both play a role.

But people keep claiming on BYC that a so-called 'complete balanced layer feed' will provide everything a hen needs, and since that is all a commercial hen gets, her condition demonstrates that it is not complete. It is merely adequate for a short life. It does not provide enough for her to thrive; it is just enough to keep her laying eggs until she is about 1 year and 5 months old, at which point she is thrown away, like the ones in the picture.

I have  never seen it claimed that chickens won't need more than just a layer feed. Most people I have seen on here feed that and free range or supplement with extras. What I do see often is that people say that generally, a layer feed is a good place to start. There are many beginning chicken keepers on this site, especially families, that cannot afford or have the time to make their own feed. Families with children generally want to also make everything easy enough that the kids can help and enjoy the chickens. Also, layer feed is not the only commercial feed option! I personally have changed my commercial feed with the needs of my whole flock. There are more options, like All Flock, Feather fixer, etc. I also take the time to look through the ingredient lists of each feed and compare, and choose based on that. Feeding a commercial feed doesn't mean that people don't know what they are feeding either. The feed battery hens are given is going to be a gigantically mass produced "feed". It will not be good quality, or come from a company that makes backyard chicken feed,, in all likeliness, it would be whatever is cheapest to make, so that they don't have to lose any money.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I will say eventually I did start letting them free range and giving treats but for a bit I wasn’t. They looked the same either way

 

[tripletfeb]

That chicken is not my chicken. It has come from an industrial egg unit. It is a commercial chicken. It has been raised to be a commercial egg layer. It has been fed industry standard feed to maximise its egg production. That is to say, it has been fed commercial layer feed and nothing else.

I do not understand why some of you don't get this.

BECAUSE THAT IS NOT THE ONLY FACTOR IN WHY THAT BIRD IS THE WAY IT IS!!

 

[Perris]

BECAUSE THAT IS NOT THE ONLY FACTOR IN WHY THAT BIRD IS THE WAY IT IS!!

You - we - know nothing about how that bird has been kept, except that it came from a commercial egg unit. What we do know is that all it ate was layer feed. I am trying to focus on the feed. I have repeatedly acknowledged that environment plays a role. Why doesn't anyone want to talk about layer feed? Why is everyone keen to speculate about anything else?

 

[tripletfeb]

You - we - know nothing about how that bird has been kept, except that it came from a commercial egg unit. What we do know is that all it ate was layer feed. I am trying to focus on the feed. I have repeatedly acknowledged that environment plays a role. Why doesn't anyone want to talk about layer feed? Why is everyone keen to speculate about anything else?

Ok, I'm dipping out. I can only handle so much

 

[ILoveDaffy]

You - we - know nothing about how that bird has been kept, except that it came from a commercial egg unit. What we do know is that all it ate was layer feed. I am trying to focus on the feed. I have repeatedly acknowledged that environment plays a role. Why doesn't anyone want to talk about layer feed? Why is everyone keen to speculate about anything else?

Keeping your focus on the feed will not work when there are obviously other factors at work here. It is biased. But, I'll go along. Staying focused on the feed, how do you know it is layer feed? Companies often feed the lowest priced feed option they can get, to keep profit margins high and production costs low. The quality of feed is often worse than you buy in stores. We do not know the ingredient list of such feeds either. I feel the need to point out that the birds in the photo are outdoors, in front of a large red shed building. On scrutiny, the ground is picked clean in the photo. So layer feed is not the only thing they've eaten. They also seem to have been feather picked.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I have an assorted flock of 13 chickens, 11 hens and 2 roosters, and their main diet is layer feed.
They do free-range all day every day, they get treats once in a while, such as a few eggs here and there and maybe melon rinds here and there.
But, I don't feed my chickens like I feed their dogs if you know what I'm saying.
They are happy and healthy without having treats every day. In nature they wouldn't be eating bread, pizza, etc. anyway. And look how good junglefowl are doing.
That poor little hen in the picture might be getting bullied, or maybe she's molting. Or maybe she doesn't have enough calcium in her diet. But all I know is that it doesn't have to do with a lack of treats.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

So layer feed is not the only thing they've eaten. They also seem to have been feather picked.

I completely agree

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Further, the overwhelming majority of the people who recommend a balanced commercial feed and no treats are not actually recommending that birds have zero access to any other kind of food.

To piggy back here, most of us aren't recommending layer feed formulations either. "All Flock" type formulations are the overwhelming recommendation here on BYC by posters active on the feed forum, of whom I am one.

and in answer to another poster, a bit back in this thread, NO, EU "layer" formulations do not much resemble US "layer" formulations - they lack for crude protein as a start, usually 13-15% CP as compared to the 16% recommended minimum on this side of the pond. And while the EU is at the cutting edge of AA supplementation to improve the quality of that CP, I lack evidence of EU commercial feeds for layers routinely providing significant supplementation in that regard. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying evidence of it happening isn't readily available. Even many EU and UK "at home" Layer formulations don't seem to make routine use of AA supplementation (based on the handful of ingredient lists I've read - their labeling requirements are much less substantial than our own).