Torn on which feed to go with...

[Noreaster Egger]

The scoop...

The organic feed my store provides is from Green Mountain Feeds. Right now I'm fermenting the chick starter mash (21% protein) for all of my birds (hens and pullets). I had been providing some dry layer feed on the side (some like to eat it along with their FF), but with the younger girls and young roo integrated with the big girls now I don't want them getting the extra calcium. I've put the mash in their homemade bucket feeder, but they spill it everywhere trying to pick out the corn pieces out of the feed. I'd like to go with a pellet or crumble.

So my 2 choices with this feed company are the following:

Broiler grower crumbles
Poultry Grower Pellets

The broiler grower is 19% protein and the grower is 17% protein. Ideally I'd want a crumble that is about 20% protein. Would anyone recommend one of those feeds over the other for my needs? I've looked the labels over, but don't see any huge, glaring differences in the ingredients and amounts between the two. What would stand out to make one a "broiler" feed over a "grower" feed? Also, all of my birds are for laying purposes only.

Here's a link for the chick starter mash as well.

 

[RUNuts]

Have you considered a no waste feeder for the dry feed? I made one and the girls got used to it. I don't have feed scattered hither & yon now. Even if I took the feeder away for them to clean up the spills for a day, still had a bit on the ground.

Mine are 12 weeks and I'm feeding Purina Flock Raiser (20%) to grow them with table scraps and all the grass they want. One caught a cicada yesterday. I figure the extra protein will only help. Are you planning on keeping them on high protein long term? From what I've read, that will lead to fat chickens.

To answer your question, I don't see a difference between broiler and grower. Either will be fine.

 

[barred2rock]

The scoop...

The organic feed my store provides is from Green Mountain Feeds. Right now I'm fermenting the chick starter mash (21% protein) for all of my birds (hens and pullets). I had been providing some dry layer feed on the side (some like to eat it along with their FF), but with the younger girls and young roo integrated with the big girls now I don't want them getting the extra calcium. I've put the mash in their homemade bucket feeder, but they spill it everywhere trying to pick out the corn pieces out of the feed. I'd like to go with a pellet or crumble.

So my 2 choices with this feed company are the following:

Broiler grower crumbles
Poultry Grower Pellets

The broiler grower is 19% protein and the grower is 17% protein. Ideally I'd want a crumble that is about 20% protein. Would anyone recommend one of those feeds over the other for my needs? I've looked the labels over, but don't see any huge, glaring differences in the ingredients and amounts between the two. What would stand out to make one a "broiler" feed over a "grower" feed? Also, all of my birds are for laying purposes only.

Here's a link for the chick starter mash as well.

Either will work, the only difference from the two are the protein levels. Personally I'd pick the broiler just for the extra wiggle room with treats. Which ever you choose you need to provide the layers oyster shells or other source of calcium on the side.

 

[Noreaster Egger]

My feeder is one of those food grade 5-gal buckets with the PVC elbows that they feed from. They can't kick and scratch it out, but they find a way to pull it all out with their beaks and find what they're specifically looking for. It works well for the pellets, but notsomuch for the mash.

And yes, they always have oyster shell on the side. They free range most of the day too so they're getting plant matter and bugs (or like the other day, mouse eyes and brain).

I guess I figured that a grower feed would have higher protein than 17% considering their starter feed is 21%. And with the macronutrients so close I wondered if there was some sort of difference between the broiler and the grower that I maybe didn't see.

I'm probably making it a bigger deal that it is considering 90% of the feed they eat is the fermented 21% mash. They also get occasional treats consisting of mealworms, beetles, smelt, coconut, and BOSS so I doubt a 2% protein difference within a small percentage of their diet would even be noticeable. I just wanted to toss it by the more experienced here since I tend to microanalyze everything I do.

I'd prefer an organic soy-free, corn-free crumble at 20% protein, but I've hadn o luck finding that around here.

 

[tigger19687]

Have you looked in the New country organics?
Where are you located?

 

[Noreaster Egger]

Have you looked in the New country organics?
Where are you located?

I have. No one close enough to me carries it. New Country told me they'd try to contact my local Agway wrt carrying it, but that's the last I heard of it.

 

[tigger19687]

Aw that is a bummer. I like it but since I FF I might be going to Green Mountain next. It is the same price but in crumble form if I remember correctly.
NCO is not sold locally I have to drive to Acton to get it, but that is not too far.
I guess it would depend on how far it was to get it.

 

[rebrascora]

I don't know if there is some difference between chickens in the USA and here in the UK but layer and grower here are mostly both 16% protein and chick crumble 18-19%. My chickens do absolutely fine on this and I'm pretty sure most other people's flocks here do too. I certainly get plenty of eggs from my girls (when they are not broody or moulting!) and I have a mixture of heavy fowl, dual purpose, lightweight standard birds and bantams. I still treat them to a little scratch almost daily and the odd meal worm once in a blue moon. I used to free range but that is mostly curtailed due to fox attacks at present. I don't personally feel that a higher protein is necessary or beneficial.
I would have thought that if you are into organic food you would more likely also be into non intensive farming methods and letting animals produce at a sustainable rate rather than pushing them to higher levels of production by throwing more protein at them. I appreciate that my opinion will be contentious but just want to make people pause for thought.

To my mind the poultry grower at 17% will be more than adequate.

If your chickens have been picking the bits of corn out of their mash then the chances are they have been reducing the amount of protein they ingest from the mash anyway

 

[Noreaster Egger]

Maybe. Or it's just crack to them. I mean it's not like they turn down mealworms or insect searching either. I go with a slightly higher protein since their ancestors had much higher protein diets. Granted, chickens are domesticated today and the red jungle fowl aren't consuming soy protein. Anyway...I don't go for extreme production here. I actually prefer smaller eggs with a higher yolk:white ratio. I'd love to get away from the corn and soy, but at least I ferment it.