What does the percentage on the chicken feed bag mean?

[becstalls]

Hi all. I've been having some trouble with egg pecking and I've read on here that one of the problems might be either lack of protein or lack of calcium in their diet. I give oyster shells, so they should have plenty of calcium, but I went to look at my feed bag to see what the protein content is, and there is just not a darn thing on that bag.

I've been feeding Kalmbach feeds and the bag I have now is a 20% layer crumble. I was hoping for an analysis like on dogfood bags, but no such luck.

Could someone tell me what that percentage means?

I've noticed that all feeds seem to have it.

Also, are Kalmbach feeds good? They're what our local feed store sells, and I'd like to give them the business rather than going to TSC.

Thanks!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

On chicken feed bags, that percentage on the bag or in the name is the percentage of protein in the feed.

They do it that way, because with chickens, people want particular percentages of protein in the food for chickens of different ages or for different uses. It just makes it easier for people to tell the feeds apart, if they put it right in the name of the feed or in big numbers on the main part of the bag.

I'm not familiar with that brand of feed. Most of the time, feeds have a white label sewn into the top or bottom seam of the bag, that has more information on it. That's where it will list the ingredients.

You can always do a search on Google.com for the feed company and ask them for more information, if you ever need or want to know the ingredients and it's not listed on the bag or label.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

If you do a search on here you might find some tips for egg eating. Someone posted that they filled an egg with a mixture that was unpalatable and put it in the nest- once they pecked it it tasted bad.

Hmm....looking for it...here's one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=381181