Using whole grains to avoid commercial feed?

[ams3651]

Just found this thread, Ive been thinking about grains as I have access to cracked corn and grain. I just wonder how old they have to be to add this. Sorry If it was asked and I missed it, I wont have time to read the articles till later.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I find this quote from the Modern Homestead link given on the first page sums up my gut feeling about most poultry feeds:

"The truth is, if you are feeding commercial feeds, you are taking part in the most radical feeding experiment of all, one designed to answer the question: Just how unnatural a feed can we get away with?"

Right now I drive way out of my way to buy organic feed that has visible and identifiable grains in it. Everything else seems like junk food to me.​

 

[Davaroo]

"The truth is, if you are feeding commercial feeds, you are taking part in the most radical feeding experiment of all, one designed to answer the question: Just how unnatural a feed can we get away with?"

Frankly, my opinion is that is a lot of claptrap. The folks whose mantra is "Don't Panic, It's Organic" spread as much hoodoo as anyone else. In the end they come off as sounding piously self-serving or simply silly with such stuff. Like most progressives, the'yre best at telling you how miserable you are - and of course offering the solution. All you gotta do is trust in them and forget that there are two sides to every issue.
Can anyone say pogrom, David Koresh or Oprah?

Repeating that little ditty above is like saying you are going to start a chicken diaper business, but plan to use the cheapest materials possible, until someone finally notices. By then, it would be too late for your diaper business.

The feed producers have the same stakes and motives as schools, restaurants, churches, factories, organic food producers and flea market egg sellers: to prosper and grow. Call it making money if you like.

If their "experiments" didn't pan out, if what they have produced was so horribly misdirected then the common practice of keeping chickens at home (or anywhere else, for that matter) would not have grown to where it is today. There would be no competition and few alternatives to what they offer, either. Im curious to know how many of us, here, have used commercial feed to good benefit. If the feed industry fails, then so do we all, on some level.

The truth is, not everything commerial or big is bad, to be shunned and reviled. WE should count our blessings that this industry exists at all.​

 

[ams3651]

im kind of sorry I asked a question, seems I just riled up the controversy and still didnt get an answer.

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
I don't think you riled up the controversy. It was going before you posted your question. As far as controversy, it is part of the way we gain and share knowledge and it gets us thinking about alternatives to the way we do things.

I throw scratch out in the late afternoon and my little chicks which are with a momma hen eat it without any apparent problems. They roam all day eating whatever they find and in the evening make processed feed available until I let them out in the morning. The chicks are 3 and 4 weeks old.

I'm thinking you would want the corn and other grains partially ground or cracked. It would make it a little easier to digest.

Hope that helped.

 

[Davaroo]

I'm with dacjohns - whats wrong with controversy? You
dont get traction without friction, after all.

This is how we learn, by facing what is there and making decisions.

Simply out, cracked grain is only one part of the diet chickens should have. If you have access to it, then feed it as part of a larger plan. If you follow dacjohns advice, then you are well along.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
Ooo, I like that!

-Kim

 

[ams3651]

i dont have anything against the discussion, I just ment sometimes questions get over looked. Talk amoungst yourselves......

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Now I'm hurt, sniff sniff. When I saw your overlooked question I tried to answer it as did elderoo. We have PM to talk amongst ourselves.

Did I not answer your question satisfactorily or did I entirely misunderstand your post?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I buy layer mash, whole corn, cracked corn, and wheat and oats from my local feed mill. They sell it for about half of what it costs in a feed store. I do supplement with layer pellets and calcium chips.