Why is Purina feed "bad"?

[my4ladies]

Could someone tell me what people have against store brand food like Purina? I am really in the dark on this one

(and need to be enlightened!!)

I don't necessarily believe everything I read, and I know ppl on here have their opinions and their tried and true method of things, but I mean, a member of this site has "Purina = poison" as their signature. I'd go to that person directly, but I'm more interested in the general consensus vs strong personal belief. I've seen it implied here numerous times, but I've never looked into it. My chickens used to be free range all day, but recently a fox has discovered them, taken some, and i swear is now casing the place. Also, my neighbor's dog got loose and grabbed two. So now they have to be in a run and only taken out if we're with them. Now, I have more reason to be concerned about their food since they're consuming more of it and less bugs and stuff.

Thanks.

 

[yellowirenut]

I used it for several months and my hens are still alive. The only reason i do not use it is I have found a better quality brand for cheaper at my local feed store. I would use it in a pinch if i was out of feed and the store was closed and TSC was open.

I appreciate you asking those that think its poison on why they believe that. My guess and only a guess is the same reason some who believe unless beef is grass feed and free to roam with out a corn finisher and hormones that it also is poison. The grass feed may be a healthier option the other still fills our nutrition requirements.


or i am wrong...

 

[Fred's Hens]

Some people do not like ANY feed that contains GMO grains, and that includes Purina. Others, dislike Purina because of the high pricing of their sacked and shipped feeds sold in rural stores and prefer higher quality, but lower priced feeds made locally.

When you are as big and have the market dominance of a Purina, you wear a target on your back.

I don't hate Purina. I merely buy as good or better feed for half the cost of Purina's pre-bagged products.

 

[EweSheep]

I love Purina and I've used Purina over 40 years on all of my animals, won classes with them and I like the way my birds look and how they utilize the feed.

Local feed mill food, HORRIBLE!
Two store brand feeds, not awful but goodness, they have to eat MORE and poop smelled bad.
Purina, excellent! What they intake, less manure and no offensive smelly poop. They are able to keep their weight on.

The cheaper you go, the more you will spend. I hate paying Purina price but if I look at it on the long run, I've got a good deal and beautiful birds to boot.

I don't think Purina is poison.....every feed is manufactured differently and it is up to you in what you want out of your feed, how you want your birds to ulitize it and how much you are willing to spend.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

I can't comment about Purina food when it comes to poultry food because I've only had chickens a little over a month now and I've been using manapro and tsc brand. When it comes to their pet food for dogs and cats the number one ingredient is CORN. Many animals can have an allergy to certain grains. Corn is one of the cheapest grains around and with their prices on dog and cat food I feel like it's a rip-off. I started feeding my dog Taste Of The Wild dry food also found at TSC. The number one ingredient in that brand can be BUFFALO, SALMON< etc. They use no grains in their foods. It is more expensive but when you think of quality ingredient it's really not. Higher quality foods contain higher quality ingredients and my animals actually will eat less and get full faster.

 

[my4ladies]

Thanks for your opinions and input. I recently bought a huge bag of feed from my local feed mill that they grind themselves. It was a much cheaper route so I thought I'd try it. My chickens didn't seem to like it much and it was ground to almost a powder! I haven't ever bought pellets for them but I wonder if they would prefer it. Is that just a chicken preference or is there reason to feed one over the other?

So, what do you look for in a feed? I would like to avoid the high price of brand names if I can, but I also don't want to mistakingly buy them something of lesser quality either. There's another feed store that sells blue seal...haven't checked their pricing though.

 

[Chris09]

A lot of people have a lot of reasons for disliking Purina, IMO I think that there very expensive and I don't like that there chicken feed doesn't have animal protein but they still label it as, "natural" .

For those that say, "I've used Purina feed for X amount of years" you Keep in mind that the Purina Mills we have to day is not the same Purina that was around 26+ years ago. The Purina Mills today is owned by Land O' Lakes and Purina Pet Care is owned by Nestle.

Chris

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thanks for your opinions and input. I recently bought a huge bag of feed from my local feed mill that they grind themselves. It was a much cheaper route so I thought I'd try it. My chickens didn't seem to like it much and it was ground to almost a powder! I haven't ever bought pellets for them but I wonder if they would prefer it. Is that just a chicken preference or is there reason to feed one over the other?

So, what do you look for in a feed? I would like to avoid the high price of brand names if I can, but I also don't want to mistakingly buy them something of lesser quality either. There's another feed store that sells blue seal...haven't checked their pricing though.

Local ground feed varies in texture from mill to mill. Of course, all chickens balk a bit a changing their feed, but locally ground mash looks dusty at first. When you moisten it with a bit of water and stir you can see better that it is actually much coarser than what one might think. The coarseness is covered by the dust. I find it coarser than crumbles. Since I always feed it moistened, my hens prefer it over any other style, pellet or crumbles. Our local mills are different. One is Hubbard Feeds mill and the other a Kalmbach Feeds, both large feed companies. I much prefer the Hubbard Feed products. There is some trial and error, testing and experimenting involved with all this.

Again, I have no opposition to Purina whatsoever. I've used it and it is just fine. I just don't care for a purely vegetarian formula and really gag at the prices. We've got far too many mouths to feed here.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

At what age would you start feeding them mash? Mine are from 5-8 weeks old now.

 

[Fred's Hens]

A lot of people have a lot of reasons for disliking Purina, IMO I think that there very expensive and I don't like that there chicken feed doesn't have animal protein but they still label it as, "natural" .

For those that say, "I've used Purina feed for X amount of years" you Keep in mind that the Purina Mills we have to day is not the same Purina that was around 26+ years ago. The Purina Mills today is owned by Land O' Lakes and Purina Pet Care is owned by Nestle.

Chris

Yup. We've a local Mill that is a Purina mill, ie, Land O' Lakes and a TSC that sells bagged Purina feed, which is Nestle. Two different things.
The Purina mill specializes in cattle, hog and horse feeds though.