Chicken feed check

[FowlProtector]

I feed this to my chickens is this a good feed?
Nutrena Wise Layer Pellets
Ingredients
Ground Corn, Wheat Middlings, Corn Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Ground Wheat, Citric Acid (a preservative), Salt, Colored with Organic Tagetes (Aztec Marigold) Meal, Organic Dried Kelp, DL-Methionine, Dried Trichoderma reesei Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium thermophilum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Verxite Granules, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Yeast Culture, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Silicon Dioxide, Oregano Essential Oil, Thyme Essential Oil, Rosemary Essential Oil, Star Anise Essential Oil, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative)

Would you ad anything or change feed?

 

[Debbie292d]

It's fine feed, just 16% protein. Many of us wish to feed a higher protein so go with an all flock which is around 20%.

If you raise chicks too, like we do, we get it in crumbles so they all eat the same thing. Our silkies prefer crumbles anyway so it works out. It's lower in calcium than layer, so hens need additional calcium via oyster shell we feed in a separate feeder.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Agree with @Debbie292d . If you have non-laying hens in your flock, it's wise not to feed a layer formula, as the added calcium can be hard on their kidneys. By non-layers we mean: pullets too young to lay; old retired ("spent") hens too old to lay; hens that are not laying because they are molting; and male birds. If you have any of these in your flock, an all-flock formula is your answer. A higher protein like all-flock is also recommended during molt, as feathers are made of protein, and they'll get through molt more quickly. If you can't find something specifically labelled all-flock, chick starter or grower formula will do as well. Just look for that higher 20% protein and lower calcium.

 

[saysfaa]

I agree it is fine. I'm not convinced the extras like the essential oils do anything for the chickens. They make some buyers feel better, so they do that besides cost more. But I don't think they make this feed less good than feeds that are otherwise similar.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Assuming its fresh, its a fine layer formulation - and like @saysfaa above, I agree that the "extras" in quantities present, have such negligible effect as to be without any value except to advertisers as "buzz words". The dosages needed for even very mild antibiotic effects would move them higher on the ingredient list, while the marigold meal merely helps to color the yolk.

In short, its decent feed - but the marigolds and oils don't make it great feed. Nutritionally, those "fermentation products" are likely of greater benefit. I suspect that are being used to produce enzymes which make more of the core ingredients "Ground Corn, Wheat Middlings, Corn Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, Dehulled Soybean Meal" more bioavailable.

And no, I wouldn't "add" to this feed. I have, in fact, used it myself and was satisfied with the results.

Most nutritional mistakes in feeding come from someone starting with a nutritionally complete feed then trying to "improve" it.

Finally, this is a LAYER formulation. Its intended for production hens in their prime production period, nothing else. Not for roosters, not for chicks, not for that cute olive egger you picked up on a lark which produces a small green egg every 2-3 days, not for birds you want to help thru molt. Its designed to be a low cost feed for 1-2 or 3 year old Leghorns, Hybrid Production Reds, RIR, NHR, Production BSL, etc.

If that's not what your flock looks like, there is likely a better feed choice available to you.

 

[FowlProtector]

Thanks !
I live in Florida so my chickens are still laying.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Agree with @Debbie292d . If you have non-laying hens in your flock, it's wise not to feed a layer formula, as the added calcium can be hard on their kidneys. By non-layers we mean: pullets too young to lay; old retired ("spent") hens too old to lay; hens that are not laying because they are molting; and male birds. If you have any of these in your flock, an all-flock formula is your answer. A higher protein like all-flock is also recommended during molt, as feathers are made of protein, and they'll get through molt more quickly. If you can't find something specifically labelled all-flock, chick starter or grower formula will do as well. Just look for that higher 20% protein and lower calcium.

Is there any evidence of calcium hurting non-laying chickens? I'm not challenging, just seeking knowledge I've heard so many viewpoints on this, and wondering about just sticking with layer pellets when I get my next rooster.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is there any evidence of calcium hurting non-laying chickens? I'm not challenging, just seeking knowledge I've heard so many viewpoints on this, and wondering about just sticking with layer pellets when I get my next rooster.

Let me ask some of the Educators. I know some of them do their own necropsies, so maybe they can share their experiences.
@azygous
@Eggcessive
@aart
@Wyorp Rock

 

[Eggcessive]

I have fed Nutrena 16% layer feed at times to my flock. It is fine. When I have chicks or young pullets mixed with adults, I use all flock/flock raiser feed 20% protein. Young chicks and cockerels should not have layer feed, since the 4% calcium is way too much. It can cause kidney damage and gout if used. I don’t worry too much about grown roosters or non-layers using layer feed. But the chickens usually prefer the 20% all flock feed, and it only has 1% calcium, so just providing the crushed oyster shell will make sure the layers get enough calcium to lay their eggs.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Is there any evidence of calcium hurting non-laying chickens? I'm not challenging, just seeking knowledge I've heard so many viewpoints on this, and wondering about just sticking with layer pellets when I get my next rooster.

YES. I've linked it multiple times, a few sources:

Here's Merck Manual (scroll down)
Small Farmer's Journal Winter 2003
National Institute of Animal Health (Tokyo) study, 1981
Cambridge University Press, 2007
Excess Calcium and Fertility, Poultry Science 2021
Calcium Nutrition of Broilers (2023)
CA P Ratio Regulation, Frontiers in Physiology 2023
Calcium Toxicosis in Chicks (1979)
Modern Poultry Case Study (not a controlled study)

I can (and have) linked others. I'm hardly alone on this.

Here's Eggsighted back in 2019
Here's a thread w/ Ridgerunner, Shadrach, ChickenCanoe, Wyorp Rock, all weighing in back in 2018.

Here's an Xray showing the development of urates in the flock of a BYCer that allowed young birds to range w/ the adults and eat layer.

and FWIW, I process all my own birds, and for complicated reasons, my near adult and adult birds get more calcium than optimal. I can detect signs of excess calcium on the surface of the organs in some of the male birds I process at 18 months+/-, some of the time. I have complete confidence that if I cut open the organs and used something more than my eyes, I could detect it 100% of the time at that age in my Roos.

Hope that answers the question to your satisfaction?