What brand of feed do you give your chickens?

[bumblebeehillschickenfarm]

My friend owns a small farm and i ordered 2 tons 1 ton of scratch and 1 ton of layer and we ordered it from a local feed store and got it for 12.00 a hundred pounds. i saved 150.00 buying bulk

 

[SandraMort]

I get blue seal at the feed store for about $14 a bag and organic locally grown food for about $18. I prefer organic but it's not close to my house, sos ometimes I run out.

 

[SandraMort]

WOW, that's awesome. If I get the feed I like from the local mill, they give me a 10% discount, dropping it to 675 a ton.

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[mlmadura]

not alot of choice around here - i feed nutrena layer pellets ($12 for 50 lbs) with a lot of leftovers

 

[mlmadura]

oh i also mix in cracked corn ($7 a bag)

 

[RW19290]

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doesn't nutrena have poultry feathers in it?

 

[spatcher]

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Maybe I'm stupid but thats the equivalent of 40 50# bags right? And 40 into 675.00 is 16.87 right? Or did I figure wrong?

 

[chickiebaby]

Blue Seal here- its local to New England tho and that's why its cheap. Maybe post with CA in your title to see what those nearest you use. The smaler, more local mills are prob best for you. My birds did in fact eat organic until this past summer when theprices for all grain pretty much doubled. But Blue Seal seems reputable and safe, and I am sure there's an equivalent regional producer near you.

 

[mlmadura]

doesn't nutrena have poultry feathers in it?

This is all I find. Where does it say poultry feathers? And I feed em scrambled eggs and egg shells- lol - a few feathers cant hurt

Guaranteed Analysis
(min. amounts except where noted
Crude Protein 16%
Lysine 0.6%
Methionine 0.25%
Crude Fat 3%
Crude Fiber max. 6%
Calcium min. 3.55%- max. 4.05%
Phosphorus 0.6%
Salt min. 0.5%- max. 0.8%
Sodium min. 0.17%- max. 0.26%
Nutritionally balanced energy, protein and mineral levels to support egg production.

Fortified with vitamins and trace minerals to help maintain flock production.​

 

[mlmadura]

Ok i see it under a diff link - but i also see it is used as crude protein in alot of feeds -

Hydrolyzed poultry feathers or feather meal is produced by hydrolyzing clean, undecomposed feathers from slaughtered poultry.

The most important factor affecting the quality of hydrolyzed poultry feathers is the extent of hydrolyzation. If less than 75 percent of the crude protein content is digestible by the pepsin digestibility method, then hydrolyzation was incomplete and protein quality is reduced.

The protein in feather meal is degraded slowly in the rumen compared to most other protein sources. In research at Purdue University, a combination of feather meal and urea produced average daily gains in growing beef cattle similar to that achieved with soybean meal.

There is very little experience with feather meal in dairy cattle rations. It is not very palatable and should be introduced into the ration gradually. It may be fed to milking cows at an average rate of up to 1 ½ pounds (0.7 kg) per cow per day.

Typical Analysis

Dry matter 92 %
Crude Protein 85.0%
Fat 03.0 %
Crude fiber 03.0 %
Neutral Detergent Fiber --- %
Acid Detergent Fiber 16.2 %
Calcium 0.45 %
Phosphorus 0.31 %
Total Digestible Nutrients 63.0 %
Net energy—Lactation 64.0 Mcal/100 lbs