I am one of those long time chicken owners that noticed something’s not right this year with egg production. Finally ran out of my tractor supply chicken feed and need to get something. What brands should I avoid? Also I’ve heard people using goat feed with success but wondering what your thoughts are?
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I heard Tractor Supply brand is the one to avoid and anything Purina
A lady I know from church who raises chickens with her homeschooled kids says the same thing regarding Tractor Supply and Purina products. She noticed her chickens were laying less eggs - sometimes zero - about 6 months ago.
She sent an email to Tractor Supply and got no response save for an automated answer claiming they were looking into the matter. I'll see her in about an hour and ask if there is more input and what she now uses to feed her hens.
Yeah everyone should start emailing TSC and Purina and giving them bad reviews about it. People near me have been going to Family Farm and Home instead for feed.
Yep, we switched to family farm and home-- kalmbach feeds -henhouse reserve also they make a crumble that is cheaper. Hens started laying again after only a few days on it. It is about 21 dollars for a 30 lb bag. But we found a local feed store [amish] and we get the 50 lb bag there for 30 bucks. The wife also started feeding rice and beans or warm oatmeal a couple times a week
Honestly I have had chickens for about 15 years now, and I live in the southwest desert, and normally always buy from Tractor Supply or Walmart when in a bind and sometimes from the really expensive feed stores out in the country where I live when I really needed food but couldn't get to town.
My experience is that the food isn't the problem. I have mostly all of the same age chickens now because I ordered a bunch online that are about a year old now (about 40 and split it with a friend of mine), and I have 4 older hens that might lay but they are old and will die soon. We have separate rooms in a large (40x40 foot pen), and can separate when needed for breeding or to find out who is laying and who isn't. Its a pretty good setup and I am working on building a fence around my property so I can let them free range in the yard during the day, but right now they are in that pen and all of the doors are open because there is only one rooster which means they aren't fighting and such. I also added lights to come on a bit before sunrise and stay on after sunset so that the chickens stay awake longer and think its daylight longer.
When we got down to one rooster, at the same time was when we added the lights, this was in November. That is when we went from getting maybe 5 eggs a day to 15 eggs a day! I think the minimal stress of extra roosters competing along with the lights, and if the hens are pecking each other get rid of the ones doing the pecking so that there is minimal stress, and you will always get a successful yield. Of course unless they are poisoning the food! But I think the food thing is either a conspiracy theory or a regional issue with a certain plant that does the packaging of the food.
Good LuckQ!
p.s. the Q was a typo but I left it because it is serendipitous!
One of the problems with some chicken feed is low protein. Laying hens need a lot of protein. I don't know the numbers, but you can look it up.
In the old days, chickens didn't get feed from a store. They ranged over the whole property, eating plants and bugs. They got protein from the bugs and worms. My mother said that, as part of government commodities they got during WWII, they got yellow grits. They'd never had them before, so they fed them to the chickens. Chickens can do a good job keeping the bugs down in your garden. You still need a safe place for them to retreat to when predators come in.
I assume you've never seen a live chicken in person.
This was posted a little while back. https://greatawakening.win/p/16aA4WQ4Wv/we-can-confirm-now-that-tractor-/c/
Depending where you live, see if there’s a local feed mill that makes their own blend. Otherwise, I’d try mixing my own or using Rural King (Cargill makes their store brand, I think) if you have one close. But local is best if you can! Make sure there’s enough protein (15% minimum) and calcium, like oyster shell. I also bake and crush their egg shells to feed back to them.
Try to find somebody local to you who mills their own. I buy direct from a local mill, 1000lb at a time. It's totally organic, soy-free, and non-GMO. It looks like real feed, because it is. No pellets here!
I also use that same feed and sprout it so my flock has fresh greens even in the depth of winter.
Lights helped my chickens produce more eggs. If there is a local feed store, check to see if they have their own brand of chicken feed.
Goat feed is working for mine.
There are so many good DIY chicken feed videos on YT !
When I had hens I would bag my lawn clippings and dump them in a pile in the run. Adding compostable kitchen scraps would attract flies and the chickens would dig through the pile to get maggots and other insects. I, of course, supplemented with laying mash, but very little. I have also seen people use meat scraps to incubate huge numbers of soldier fly larvae that are gathered using a special trap device. This is difficult in the winter I would presume. I live in the deep south so sub 40°F weather is uncommon even in the coldest days of winter. After a couple weeks of the chickens rummaging through the clippings, I would gather all the remains and let them cool prior to dressing my garden. The chickens are good at turning the compost in their hunt for critters and it would compost rather quickly. Joel Salatin has good information on this type of system.