I dont use scatch as feed only a treat. I use 16% crumbles and 18 or 20% protein pellets whichever I can get every morning and then in the evening before they go up for the night they get a couple of handfuls of scratch. They need the extra calories in the winter to stay warm. As far as Wal-mart goes not sure I would buy feed there. I would buy locally produced feed at co-op. Its been handled less and keeps the money in your community and not sent somewhere else.
Most of the time, I buy from a local family-owned feed store here. But my family doesn't have much money at all right now, and that store sells scratch at $17 as compared to $11 at walmart.
I feed scratch as feed for a few months a year, have been for years, and I never have anything bad happen.
I thought this would save me $4 but it was more like a waste of $7
My birds were not too fond of it, but I guess they might have just been used to their usual crumble. I suppose if I would have mixed the scratch with the crumble and gradually fed it to them, I might have had better luck.