Hi, I'd like to see what people use. Most regular layer feed (Dumor, Purina) have almost 60% corn which is most-likely genetically modified. They also sell organic feed at most stores. What do you prefer? Regular feed, or organic? What do you see as the health benefits? Pros, cons? Thanks! I'm curious to hear what y'all think. PS Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
We use organic. Too many chemicals used in conventional farming. Unfortunately the Certified Organic process is quite expensive and time consuming for farmers which is part of the reflection in the higher price tag. We just found some sorta local feed that isn't certified organic, but the grains are grown organically. They just don't bother with the certification so they technically can't call it organic nor will you see the word organic on the label. You just have to trust the folks from the feed miller to the farmer that they are being honest. Anyways, the price is $5 less per bag than the organic brand we like. The feed store gave us a sample, so we might switch. Corn I hear is tricky. Pretty much all conventional corn is GMO and unless the organic corn was grown far enough away from the GMO stuff (where can you find that on the label!?), it will be cross pollinated and also contain GMOs. Our current organic feed does have corn in it but my guess its only about 10% of the mix. We certainly don't eat 100% organic ourselves, but there are a lot of crops that tend to be full of pesticides, let alone inferior nutrition, that we eat as much of it as we can. Top 50 pesticides on wheat: http://www.pesticideinfo.org/DS.jsp?sk=29139
I buy organic feed, and am sprouting organic wheat for them, but most kitchen scraps are not organic. I don't eat organic but my wife buys organic for our 19 month old. It's certainly more expensive but we only have 4 chickens at the moment.
A slight tangent... We don't eat 100% organic, but my guess is probably about 75%. Yeah, it's more expensive but we've made a commitment to it and choose to spend our money there rather than on other things. We also rarely eat out, so this helps keep the monthly food costs down. Both my wife and I get comments that we look years younger than we really are, I have no idea if organics have anything to do with it or if it's other lifestyle factors. We've learned there are some fruits and vegetables that are consistently best avoided unless organic due to pesticide residues that can't be washed off. Blindfolded, I can smell (the pesticides on) a conventional apple from an organic one. The Environmental Working Group has been producing the "Dirty Dozen" list for years now and two fruits we eat regularly every year have consistently been on this list (apples and strawberries). The dirty dozen list is the top 12 foods that show high levels of pesticide residues. They also have the "Clean Fifteen" list which shows the 15 foods that rate lowest in pesticide residues. We eat a lot of homemade sauerkraut and are happy to find cabbage on the clean list. There are far more reasons from nutrition to environmental to choose organic, but pesticides is our #1 reason, followed by GMO and then nutritional density. Will we turn our nose up when eating out or at a friend's house when presented with strawberry shortcake or apple pie? Heck no! Not only would that be rude, but we don't worry about the occasional likely-pesticide-laden food but we don't buy these things ourselves. Here's the list (they update it every year): http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php
