Will my flock get the right nutrition?

[Ricognyze]

This is the feed I am hoping to give my new girls once they start laying. I wanted to do non-gmo, soy free. Are there any nutrition gaps? I’ll also be supplementing with sea shells.

Thanks for any info!

 

[Perris]

A complete feed for laying hens has everything a laying hen needs to live and lay eggs. You don't need to supplement with sea shells; it includes as much calcium as they need in a form they can metabolize it.

The best addition you can offer them is as much time free ranging in a diverse habitat as you can manage.

 

[NatJ]

I’ll also be supplementing with sea shells.

The seashells will be available separately, not mixed into the feed, right?

That way the hens can choose to eat them or not, depending on their calcium needs.

 

[Ricognyze]

The seashells will be available separately, not mixed into the feed, right?

That way the hens can choose to eat them or not, depending on their calcium needs.

Yes, separate.

I’m hoping the feed I found is well rounded enough to.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Looks fine at a glance, decent protein level for a layer feed.

 

[Iluveggers]

The methionine and protein are the two things I always check before anything else. This feed looks good to me!

@U_Stormcrow any thoughts?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The feed is adequate, fat levels are unusually low. That's to your benefit, it means you can suppliment with nutritionally dense sources to make it a superior feed without pushing fat to potentially dangerous levels.

Particularly if you have young birds, or want any size to them (dual purpose birds), you would benefit from higher levels of Lysine and Methionine, though 0.7 and 0.35 meet (or slightly exceed, in the case of the old recommends) the minimal needs for adult layers.
I see you are avoiding soy, and I'm guessing you would want to avoid peanut meals, so I'd recommend inclusion of a small amount of soaked, steamed, or boiled cowpeas to increase Lysine levels and preserve Met levels. Chickpeas, Lentils, Winter Peas (yellow if possible) would be the next best options, but cow peas ("black eyed peas") should be both cheapest and readily available. Inclusion rates between 1 part in 20 and 1 part in 10 are fine.

In the alternative, a tiny amount of fish meal (1 part in 50) would be better still (or crab meal, or porcine blood meal), but I don't know if you are trying to avoid animal proteins entirely. You could also use earthworms, meal worms, BSFL, etc since you have so much "room" in that recipe for additional fat.

OR, you could do nothing at all, and have a perfectly adequate feed for adult layers which is better than many on the market.

 

[Ricognyze]

The feed is adequate, fat levels are unusually low. That's to your benefit, it means you can suppliment with nutritionally dense sources to make it a superior feed without pushing fat to potentially dangerous levels.

Particularly if you have young birds, or want any size to them (dual purpose birds), you would benefit from higher levels of Lysine and Methionine, though 0.7 and 0.35 meet (or slightly exceed, in the case of the old recommends) the minimal needs for adult layers.
I see you are avoiding soy, and I'm guessing you would want to avoid peanut meals, so I'd recommend inclusion of a small amount of soaked, steamed, or boiled cowpeas to increase Lysine levels and preserve Met levels. Chickpeas, Lentils, Winter Peas (yellow if possible) would be the next best options, but cow peas ("black eyed peas") should be both cheapest and readily available. Inclusion rates between 1 part in 20 and 1 part in 10 are fine.

In the alternative, a tiny amount of fish meal (1 part in 50) would be better still (or crab meal, or porcine blood meal), but I don't know if you are trying to avoid animal proteins entirely. You could also use earthworms, meal worms, BSFL, etc since you have so much "room" in that recipe for additional fat.

OR, you could do nothing at all, and have a perfectly adequate feed for adult layers which is better than many on the market.

Thank you so much for this reply. I will research each of these options you provided to see which will work best. Thanks again!

 

[Ricognyze]

@U_Stormcrow Regarding peanut meals, I am not necessarily opposed to them if you had any recommendations. Thanks again!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@U_Stormcrow Regarding peanut meals, I am not necessarily opposed to them if you had any recommendations. Thanks again!

If you have a source for peanut meal, snap a picture of the nutrition tag. Then we can do the math. If you don't have a source readily available, no point in the effort.

I'm just south of peanut country, and oddly enough, I don't have peanut meal available - but because peanuts are so good at converying almost everything they come in contact with in terms of pesticides, etc I tend to avoid peanuts anyways, and I'm pro soy, so...