Protein for diet advice

[Axalea]

Hey yall, my wife and I are newbie chicken owners but we wanted y'all's input on protein... we currently feed our 19 chickens the following

16% protein layer feed (country companion 50 LB)

Cracked corn (country companion 50 LB)

Scratch grains (country companion 50 LB)

Black oil sunflower seeds (50 LB)

black soldier fly larvae (10 LB)

Oyster shells (50 LB, we feed them free choice separate)

All of this is mixed together in one bucket evenly and fed daily from the bucket

My question for yall is we're interested in ditching the mealworms if we can supplement that loss of protein by shifting from a 16% layer feed to 21% layer feed and what the implications might be if we take the mealworms out of their diet (I'd also like to begin transitioning them away from crumble and to pellets as pellets tend to be cheaper and unfortunately it is hard to find decently priced 21% crumbles where we live)

This would save us $39 every time we get feed for our gals.

Any advice is much appreciated !

 

[U_Stormcrow]

As you are new to raising birds, please don't take this the wrong way.

You taking a feed intended to barely meet their nutritional recommended minimums (for adult layers, whose needs are lower than growing birds), then adding a bunch of stuff which further reduces its nutritional value (corn, scratch, BOSS), then trying to "fix" the problems introduced by adding BSFL, a high cost, high fat (BOSS, Scratch, Corn are ALSO high fat). High fat is its own problem. BOSS is also often more expensive than a nutritionally superior complete feed.

Whomever gave you that advice is someone whose opinion you should discount in the future.

Find a good All Flock pellet, buy it, feed it to your birds. Offer oyster shell on the side. No muss, no fuss.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Also, while I prefer a 20% CP feed, the Amino Acid profile is more important than the CP, and the performance differences between an 18% CP and a 20% CP is minimal. The differences between 20% and 21% are smaller than you will ever notice.

 

[Axalea]

As you are new to raising birds, please don't take this the wrong way.

You taking a feed intended to barely meet their nutritional recommended minimums (for adult layers, whose needs are lower than growing birds), then adding a bunch of stuff which further reduces its nutritional value (corn, scratch, BOSS), then trying to "fix" the problems introduced by adding BSFL, a high cost, high fat (BOSS, Scratch, Corn are ALSO high fat). High fat is its own problem. BOSS is also often more expensive than a nutritionally superior complete feed.

Whomever gave you that advice is someone whose opinion you should discount in the future.

Find a good All Flock pellet, buy it, feed it to your birds. Offer oyster shell on the side. No muss, no fuss.

Thank you for the advice, like I said very new to this and everywhere I look on the internet all I see is PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN, didn't realize it was also including so much fat with my homemade mixture.

My only question is why all flock? Dont hens need layer feed to lay constantly and healthy? (Also they are ISA brown)

Also any recommendations on the best way to wean them off of the crumble and into the pellets? (I also feel like pellets would reduce food waste but maybe that's just in my head)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

One way I see you could save is to eliminate the cracked corn, as you are already giving them corn in the scratch grain. They just don't need that much corn.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I defer to Stormcrow. He is the authority here.

 

[Axalea]

So in essence what you guys are saying is find a good reliable pellet for them, make that be the "base" of the feed. And if I wanted to I could add some of the other ingredients here and there every time I feed almost like toppings on a pizza except do away with the huge quantities of 50 lb's of each ?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you for the advice, like I said very new to this and everywhere I look on the internet all I see is PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN, didn't realize it was also including so much fat with my homemade mixture.

My only question is why all flock? Dont hens need layer feed to lay constantly and healthy? (Also they are ISA brown)

Also any recommendations on the best way to wean them off of the crumble and into the pellets? (I also feel like pellets would reduce food waste but maybe that's just in my head)

Common Misconception

Referring you to one of my older posts. Break is over, need to get back to work.

Welcome to BYC, btw! Wishing you every fortune on your chicken keeping journey.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sorry, that post doesn't answer your question.

THIS ONE should answer your question (which is a good one). Again, apologies.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My only question is why all flock? Dont hens need layer feed to lay constantly and healthy? (Also they are ISA brown)

Welcome to BYC!

Your oyster shell free choice on the side will meet this need.