Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[OlympicChick]

My chicks are currently on Scratch and Peck Starter, but once they get older I'd like to transition them to something less expensive. I had been thinking of doing a 50/50 mix Scratch and Peck with Layena, but I found a place locally that makes feed at a price comparable to Layena, and if opinions seem to agree that the ingredients and guaranteed analysis are good, I may just end up feeding my chickens one of the following feeds instead. The name of the farm/feed is Patriot Farm and Feed in Western Washington. http://patriotfarmandfeed.com. All their feeds are right on the main home page and have links for the ingredients and nutritional profiles.

There are 5 formulations I am looking at: 3 specifically for poultry (Poultry NCS Broiler-18%, Patriot Poultry NCS-16% and Patriot Poultry Special-16%) and 2 that are multi-animal including chickens (20% MaxGrow and 16% Grower).

The Poultry NCS Broiler and Patriot Poultry NCS are both GMO free and contain camelina meal, which I looked up and find interesting. Apparently high in omega-3.

The one thing I am unsure of in all these feeds are the amounts of fat and fiber. They seem high compared to regular chicken feeds. I like (I think) that the Poultry NCS Broiler has fish meal and kelp, but the fat and fiber in this one are a whopping 8% and 15% respectively, which seems extremely high. I don't know if this is bad or not. Can anyone take a look at these feeds and help me out?

 

[OlympicChick]

Btw, my other chicks are 2 Novogens and 2 Buff Brahmas.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I do not believe it is bad just different I am quite a bit further south east of you
and it has not reached here

 

[Hinotori]

I've not tried Patriot. I have tried Scratch and Peck. My hens quit laying altogether. Took 2 weeks back on Flockraiser to get any eggs. Problem with the birds not eating the dust that has all the vitamins. The birds will also pick out the grains they like. Corn seems to be the favorite and it's just carbs mostly.

Even Nutrena has acknowledged that higher protein is better. Their Egg Producer layer ration is 20%.

 

[OlympicChick]

Ahh. Yeah, I've been reading a lot that the hens pick out their favorite parts. I'm fermenting right now, but don't know if I'll keep up with it and if I don't then those "fines" are going to become an issue. And I just can't justify the extremely high prices of the organic feeds.

 

[Hinotori]

I have too many birds to think about organic anymore. If I was going to do it, I'd use a pelleted feed from Purina or Nutrena because it's cheaper and they do have a very long history of work on chicken nutrition

 

[Hinotori]

I need to go look at the young silkie pullets. 3 or 4 need to be sold

 

[pennyJo1960]

Nope I feed it to mine I pay 19.95 for 50# buy 4 a month

 

[Llamacorn]

My little black chicks are getting golden brown feathers on their chest and side of their neck. They are a complete mystery to me hahahahahaha

 

[pennyJo1960]

Where did you buy them are they from a breeder or hatchery?