Thoughts on organic chicken feed. What is your opinion?

[NatJ]

@U_Stormcrow @NatJ I'd love your opinion on the following if you have time.

I don't personally see any red flags on either one.

U_Stormcrow knows quite a bit more than I do about feeds, so I'll look forward to seeing what he says here.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I can't tell you whose feed suppliment that Bruno's Farm's Custom Feeds is using, but both they and Nature Smart are using one to ensure the micronutrient needs are met. No red flags, both look like feeds I'd use without concern. Go with what's cheapest - and if money is no object, go w/ Bruno Farms. That recipe looks like it was dialed in nicely. Its also local, and likely to be fresher milled.

 

[arazla]

Excellent, thank you both for your input. That's reassuring. Bruno's is $16 for a 50 lbs bag which now seems incredibly reasonable. Happy to be supporting something local and hopefully freshly milled. After searching various products online, I came across Grubbly Farms Little Pecks which has a lovely variety of whole foods and good numbers, but costs $56.99 for a 30 lbs bag! That's over $40 more. From what I'm learning so far, it seems like I can trust some of the more affordable and more accessible options available.

 

[Molly77]

I don’t buy from Purina, also I avoid corn and soy as Mutch as possible. I mostly mix my own feed with really good results. Only a small percentage of my chicken feed is from pellets. Thank you for the information. That is why I created the thread to learn more on the topic

Could you post what ingredients you mix chicken feed from? I'm looking to go this way.

 

[Altairsky]

No they don't.

Yes they do. I'm a farmer. In certain climates (including us, Canada, and all eu from Northern Italy and above) durum wheat is dried by spraying gliphosate 1 week before harvest. Durum wheat need dry and hot climate to mature right so in climates that are not dry enough it is dried with roundup. We do it, and it is perfectly legal.
Edit: this is only valid for durum wheat. I don't know about any other crop treated with gliphosate before harvesting.
I personally only buy durum that was farmed in the most southern part of my country, because it's not treated this way. It's the only farming product that I don't buy locally and I never will for this reason. I've seen neighboring farmers do this gliphosate treatment with my own eyes. I'm a farmer too but I don't farm this specific cereal so I never used roundup this way.

 

[Molly77]

Yes they do. I'm a farmer. In certain climates (including us, Canada, and all eu from Northern Italy and above) durum wheat is dried by spraying gliphosate 1 week before harvest. Durum wheat need dry and hot climate to mature right so in climates that are not dry enough it is dried with roundup. We do it, and it is perfectly legal.
Edit: this is only valid for durum wheat. I don't know about any other crop treated with gliphosate before harvesting.
I personally only buy durum that was farmed in the most southern part of my country, because it's not treated this way. It's the only farming product that I don't buy locally and I never will for this reason. I've seen neighboring farmers do this gliphosate treatment with my own eyes. I'm a farmer too but I don't farm this specific cereal so I never used roundup this way.

I rode a bike on the Katy Trail through Missouri in September a few years ago, all the soy fields across the state were an unnatural dark brown, and a local farmer told me they desiccate all of it with Roundup before harvest.

 

[arazla]

I rode a bike on the Katy Trail through Missouri in September a few years ago, all the soy fields across the state were an unnatural dark brown, and a local farmer told me they desiccate all of it with Roundup before harvest.

Wow, that is truly alarming. Meanwhile there are 150,000 cases or so against Monsanto claiming round-up has led to lymphoma and many cases are being settled. Whether all are founded or not, I'd prefer not to get near it.

 

[RememberTheWay]

I want to get peoples opinions on organic feeds. I just want to know why people feed organic over non organic feeds.

I personally am not a fan of organic for the following reasons

1. The main selling point is that it is organic, but compared to the other feeds there is a lack in overall nutrition. When looking at the organic tags I see barely any vitamins or minerals, that make chicken feed a compete feed.
2. There are still pesticides sprayed on the grains, just organic approved ones. I mean isn’t pesticides, pesticides organic or not
3. The price does not seem to justify the product to me. A normal bag with better nutrition costs around $15 a bag vs the organic at $27.

I personally don’t see the point, but that is why I am making this thread to learn more and get others thoughts on the matter.

I feed my birds nutrena all flock since I have roosters, and they can’t eat layer feed. I will also soak alfalfa cubes with different grains for 2 days and give the mash to them as a treat/supplement. They also get grain free dog food as a small part of their diet as well to add animal protein/fats into their diet. Also some fish/duckweed on occasion for omega 3. I try to avoid corn and soy.

First off- I'm quite shocked that anyone actually gave this post a laughing emoji? Having a hard time understanding what is funny about it?

Second- almost everything you mentioned in the post especially about the serious lack of nutrition when you compare formulas is startling to me and has made me seriously reconsider what I choose to feed my flock.

First and foremost, I think most people read "organic" and just assume the product is equal or better concerning nutrition. Not to mention most people have NO CLUE what should and should not be in their feed. They trust the company - which in most cases is a serious misplacement of trust.

I do not agree that a pesticide is a pesticide though. And I don't have the time to source why I believe so. Some pesticides are residual and last even after going through the digestive tract of an animal and do serious harm and irreparable damage to many sectors outside of it's immediate influence. Their is trickle down effect. I personally have been effected by this by bringing in loads of compost. It cost me 6,000-10,000 in 2020-2021.

But I can agree that the certified organic label and market in general is a serious fake. It is not what people think it is and just like everything else in our world has become ruled by bribes and money and not what is honest and right. it's a tragedy. The label means NOTHING these days. And the fact of the matter is that most are way better off to find a small honest farmer not willing to jump through the hoops of that circus but actually does have better quality feed available, and purchase from them. Labels are not the whole picture nor is it everything one should be considering these days.

I have spent quite a bit of time learning everything I can concerning proper nutrition for various types of poultry at different stages. And I do agree that most of the organically labeled feeds I've looked at through that lense have left me wondering why on earth I would pay the amount they ask for worse food?

I think it's a serious conversation people need to have a sit down on. While we're at it why don't we talk about the GMO issue? Or how about why a long time ago there wasn't a poultry feed on the market that didn't contain animal protein and now you'll be hard pressed to find even one that actually includes it in their formulas- but poultry never went vegan, they still need animal protein! Anyone care to guess if it will ever be put back? Especially when you consider the animal protein was the most expensive component in poultry feed- All the companies took it out but did the feed get cheaper? NO IT ACTUALLY GOT MORE EXPENSIVE THEN IT WAS WITH IT IN THERE! Make sense of that one?

And I do realize I am a little late to this conversation - but this topic was something I was considering just this week so I thought I would respond anyway in case others out there are noticing this too?

 

[RememberTheWay]

I want to get peoples opinions on organic feeds. I just want to know why people feed organic over non organic feeds.

I personally am not a fan of organic for the following reasons

1. The main selling point is that it is organic, but compared to the other feeds there is a lack in overall nutrition. When looking at the organic tags I see barely any vitamins or minerals, that make chicken feed a compete feed.
2. There are still pesticides sprayed on the grains, just organic approved ones. I mean isn’t pesticides, pesticides organic or not
3. The price does not seem to justify the product to me. A normal bag with better nutrition costs around $15 a bag vs the organic at $27.

I personally don’t see the point, but that is why I am making this thread to learn more and get others thoughts on the matter.

I feed my birds nutrena all flock since I have roosters, and they can’t eat layer feed. I will also soak alfalfa cubes with different grains for 2 days and give the mash to them as a treat/supplement. They also get grain free dog food as a small part of their diet as well to add animal protein/fats into their diet. Also some fish/duckweed on occasion for omega 3. I try to avoid corn and soy.

But-I honestly can't get on board with the "soy and corn free" hype though especially when I consider the serious lack in essential amino acids that taking out the soy does to a balanced feed. There really isnt another grain out there suitable to replace what soy offers

 

[ChickensOhMy]

​

Dumor, naturwise, Purina manufactured feeds, and a few more. are few off the top of my head for the organic. ( I am mainly talking about your main brand organic feeds not smaller brands)​

I was comparing the organic To the non organic of the same brands I noticed that there are more vitamins listed on the non organic than the organic on the nutritional percentages and ingredients. Also a better lysine, and fat percentage (within same brand and verity)​

now I know scratch and peck is a good organic brand, and is typically used For fermenting the feed, that is the only organic feed I have found that is worth the higher price in my area, but it is a steep price of $43 for a 50lb bag, especially when I go through 150lb of feed a week for my chickens.


P.S. sorry about the weird bold text my phone was getting wacky either the bold font.

How many chickens do you have that go through 150lbs of feed a week?!?