cracked field peas - need a source

[NickyPick]

Anyone know where I can get cracked field peas for my chickens? I need to replace the alfalfa in my chickens' feed. It turns to powder and the hens just leave it in favor of picking out all the seeds. I've asked feed stores in the area, but they give me a blank look. SE Texas is my area.

Or, alternatively, does anyone have another substitution that is high in protein I could use?

 

[Percheron chick]

Soy unless you are avoiding it. You can also give them a small bale of alfalfa to peck and scratch. It will be higher quality than the fines in your feed.

 

[NickyPick]

Where would I find soybeans?

 

[matt44644]

http://www.discoverbulk.com/ food grade

 

[Percheron chick]

Where would I find soybeans?

Your feed store should have them or they can order in a bag. I use either the soybean chips or the flaked ($30/50#). 34% protein and high fat (feed to both horses and chickens). I don't like the soybean meal because I want the higher calories for the horses. If you buy from a mill, they might also have the extruded soy in a pellet form ($.42/#).

 

[pdirt]

I think it's good to also add in some animal protein. It's much trickier to mix a vegetarian formula than one that contains animal proteins, from what I have read. I've been using about 6% fish meal in my mix. I use this one:

http://www.fertrell.com/fishmealwnaturox.htm

I ordered it through my feed store. I think I paid $80 for a 50lbs bag. Lasts a long time because you only use about 5% of it in their diet. I've read higher than 10% and you can get fishy flavored eggs. We haven't noticed that at 6%.

If you don't care about natural/pesticides/etc, I'm sure you can get other animal protein meals for much less $$.

Also, I can't recall if it was more than 5% or 15%, but too much alfalfa can be rough on chickens' intestines, I think it was due to the very high fiber content.

 

[NickyPick]

I'm not worrying about animal protein - they get plenty of that. I have a good mix, just need to find a better replacement for the alfalfa pellets.

 

[Chris09]

Any good feed mill will have soybean products.
I myself use Whole Roasted Soybeans. It has about 38% proteins and 19.5% fat.