Thoughts on corn in poultry feeds.

[cottontail farm]

Disclaimer: I feed my birds a mix of grains from the local mill, layer pellets, CORN and all house scraps (including milk, spaghetti, rice etc) The geese especially love corn.
I understand the idea of a complete formulated diet but how many of US eat one of those every day? Lol.
That being said, I have also seen many posts over the years here from people "warning" others that corn will make chickens too fat leading to them not laying, having liver damage and (presumably) dropping dead. No idea where this comes from. You would think that chickens would have gone extinct a long time ago if every chicken eating corn on a farm died, but whatever.

 

[rjohns39]

I'm feeding a corn free/soy free feed now and hate it, but it's what I can get that's non-GMO. All of my recipes call for corn and whole roasted soy. I'm in the process of beefing up my storage capacity so that I can store more and then justify the freight of having a skid shipped. I prefer the polyface blends, but really like the SPN recipes for breeding. I also raise ducks and turkeys for meat, and they don't do well on the corn/soy free type of feed.

 

[centrarchid]

I do not think the problem is about nutrition. It is about making the consumer happy, the consumer that pays for the feed, not the one that eats it. It will be difficult to discredit those against use of corn and soybean products even though it gets along with inclinations for intolerance of those taking a different route. The feed manufacturer wants to sell feed and make money. The consumer wants have chickens and be happy, happiness of chickens is not always part of that equation. The consumers vary wildly in terms of what they are willing to pay for their feed. A big chunk of those parties not keen on corn / soy based feeds are not into chickens for profit reasons. They have other issues at play. The feed supplier that wants to get a bigger piece of that market needs to supply what the consumer wants which can often vary a lot from what the supplier thinks is best.

I know some things about nutrition. Less easy to digest starch is good idea to me. The typical high starch dent corn (the bulk of what is produced in the US) as the shelled but not ground product is what is used here, but I jump at the chance to use popcorn or "Indian" whenever it is available because it is not so energy dense on the starch side. It is not just about energy content for me, it is about how fast it breaks down and is absorbed as well. I LIKE COLORED PARTICLES IN THE FEED BECAUSE IT MAKES THE MONKEY IN ME THINK CANDY! BUYING THE FEED IS ABOUT ME! like a country song.

 

[paneubert]

My Rhode Island Reds don't eat much of the corn! They pick through it and let the corn sit. But my cornish hen loves it all! The corn is eaten by other birds,especially Cardinals!

It is right there in the name. "Cornish"

 

[Criticalicious]

Please don't put artificial coloring in chicken feed or ANY food for that matter, especially pet food. I wish it were easier to find pet food with fewer ingredients that are put there just to make them "look prettier", like carageenan, guar gum, etc. These things can cause cancer.

I don't look at the chicken feed to see if it's pretty and colorful! I read the ingredient list to see if it appears healthy and nutritious. And the more money I'm spending on coloring the food OR THE BAG - the less I'm spending on quality food. A hint on buying dog and cat food - the more money the company spent on advertising and pretty colors on the bag, the less they spent on making a healthy FOOD.

My chicken feed comes in plain brown paper bags with green print. It's recyclable and compostable. Love it.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

What feed do you use?

 

[cottontail farm]

I never understood why people like Martha Stewart and P Allen Smith didn't capitalize on the chicken crazy by marketing designer feed.

 

[Criticalicious]

What feed do you use?

I feed New Country Organics. So far no problems, although I know others have had issues with sour crop. When I first got chicks, I used Scratch N Peck starter, but I stopped because of the cost.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

I did the same thing. I have used Scratch and Peck, but wow $$$! I found out I was able to order New Country Organics from my local Southern States and now use that. I have been fermenting it. They seem to love it. I didn't know about people having problems with sour crop. Why is that, do you know?

 

[Criticalicious]

There was a long discussion about bags from NCO with excess pea shells possibly causing sour crop in someone's birds, and a feeling that there had been a general decline in quality of the feed over the past 2 to 3 years. I have been using it for the past 6 months and have not experienced these issues, although I had noticed pea shells. I buy direct from the Virginia store so I know it's fresh. I feed dry plus fermented.

I was excited at first when they started offering the pellets, until I learned that it's made with Texas grains and then shipped to Virginia. So I've stuck with the milled variety which is bagged locally.