My chicken feed experiment has a clear winner!

If you had a record of every thing that your hens ate free ranging you might be shocked too - at least you don't have to pay for those goodies directly.

I feed the chickens, layer pettets, mid south "all natural" [what-ever that realy means] , water hyacinth, apple snails, lots of garden weeds, and left over, or spoiled produce, [now they are getting wheelbarrow loads of squash], --and of course they get outside in the afternoon, and eat grass and what-ever they want, - as far as them not wanting to eat the pellets, that works for me, -- they are expensive, but they do eat a lot of them sometimes, just depends on what they need , after eating the stuff they like, -

Rabbits don't eat cabbage? Do wild ones eat it? We had planted 15 cabbage plants last fall, in the back garden, and we tough rabbits were eating them. We built cages for the cabbages, and I still have 5 left. I am just learning this country stuff.

I noticed that also. My chickens prefer "sweet" flavors.....tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupe, ...but, didn't like the steamed frozen peas I gave them one time. Now that surprised me. Peas being a seed, and sweet.....who knows.
They wouldn't touch the cucumbers or zucchini I chopped up for them. I also had some over grown radishes I had let do their thing. The chicks loved the radish tops. They were about 12" tall when I pulled them and tossed them in the coop. The also didn't know what to do with the tomato horn worms...I guess because they were green and didn't move. I went out later and saw they had all been eaten. The 6 hornworms about devastated my 4 container grape tomato plants. I picked them all off....and now the plants are thriving again.
I am learning so much about chickens online. I am so ignorant on country living. I have lived rural before, but never had the huge garden, or farm critters. Always been just small gardens.

My Chickens eat almost everything, [not oranges]-I think it depends a lot on how they were brought up, -- if they were fed lots of things as chicks, they will know what to do with it later, --if they are raised on just chicken feed from the store, they will not dive right in to some foods from the garden, -- or--waste a lot, -- I had some chickens who had never had water hyacinth before , they just picked at it, and left a lot, - but when they were put in the big coop with the rest of the girls, and saw them devouring every bit of it, -- they learned to do the same, -[just one example]
--I feed cabbage to my rabbits, --just not more then a leaf or two at a time, along with other foods like water hyacinth,grass,weeds, and garden waste, --if you suddenly give them too much cabbage they will bloat , and/or get the runs, -- but if they are used to getting a lot of fresh greens, the problem is greatly reduced.

Kind of like people? We eat too much cabbage...and the possibility of bloat increases. :))

Wild rabbits & tame rabbits are as different as a cow & a pig.

I guess my life was/is to complicated. I always fed animals & worked with feed as a profession, not a hobby.

They mark feed bags as horse, dog, cat, chicken, etc, because the food in the bags is best for that type of animal.
What is the advantage of feeding the wrong food to the wrong animal?

I've seen posts on DG where animals have gotten into something & ate it & died.
Also lots of posts about sick animals & don't know the cause.

Oh well.

CounrtyGardens wrote;"They mark feed bags as horse, dog, cat, chicken, etc, because the food in the bags is best for that type of animal.
What is the advantage of feeding the wrong food to the wrong animal?"

Profit??? Much of what is labeled for cats would be much more suitable for animals that thrive on a plant-based diet. And cattle feed has had to be regulated to prevent the inclusion of animal protein such as nervous system tissue and MBM (meat and bone meal). My cats don't graze the garden, and the cows have never been known to hunt other critters :)

Just because certain ingredients are cheaper and not immediately toxic to a species does not mean it's a _good_ or appropriate diet.

I hope someone researches what exactly is in these commercial feeds. The list is very long and very vague. Makes you wonder and worry. : (

Part of the reason it is vague is that it allows the feed companies make use of whatever produce is most readily available. For example "Grain Byproducts" could be rice hulls one month and wheat chaff the next, even the dust left over from the process of crimping oats. The only limit is the imagination! (And the guaranteed analysis label.)

I stopped using Purina, and Nutrina, when I had a Hog farm, --because they use what ever is cheep that month, --out west they used tomato pulp, and left overs, when it was cheep, the sudden change caused- my little pigs to get the scours, and some died, -- the older ones just went "off feed", -- and lost weight, - when something else was cheep, they just changed the formula again, -- and the problem started all over again, --I had to make my own feed so it was the same every time-- I just bought Mormans premix, and corn, [and some other stuff] --no more problems, --no more sick animals, -- -I learned not to trust the feed companys, --[the hard way, --]

Michaelp, that is my fear that the feed companies are just throwing in the mix whatever needs to be disposed of and is cheap. When chickens won't eat it there is something wrong!

I just bought a bag of soybean meal for them and will mix it with ground corn. I would love to get whole soybeans and do a coarse grind instead of almost a powder. On the commercial feed labels they have a super long list of vitamins so I'm wondering if they take the vitamins that have gone past the expiration date and throw them into the mix just to get rid of it and still make some money off of it. Just a thought, since all vitamins have an expiration date where do they go when they're old and can't be sold anymore? How can we claim that our eggs are organic if we don't even know what we're feeding them?! It's so frustrating!

Ann, you can't claim that your eggs are organic unless you're feeding them organic food, which I assume you're doing? Otherwise soybeans and corn are two of the most widely grown GMO crops in the country. I don't buy organic food because it's not available here and shipping would be prohibitive, but it does bother me!

Prohibitive! Our only organic meat grower ay our Farmers Market is quitting because he is broke. Trying to feed livestock organically is very expensive. He said if he could grow his own feed stuff, then maybe. But at $8000.00 an acre for land, (or $300.00 per acre rent), it is not possible.
The only non GMO crops in this part of the country are grown by people that are not very good farmers. Their land will soon be farmed by the farmers that know how to farm. Again the high price of land is the driving force.

Your idea that feed companies "Throw" in bad ingredients & out dated vitamins is plain bunk!
I bought layer mash this morning so tore off a tag.
It says;
Ground Corn
Dehulled Soybean Meal
Wheat Middlings, (What is left after they grind wheat for human flour)
Alfalfa meal
Diacalcium phosphate
Ground limestone
Vitamins, (Vitamins come in a premix that is for a certain animal or fowl. Then it is added so much per ton of feed.)
Is this feed label hiding any "throw" in ingredients ? I think not.
When I was mixing feed commercially 40 years ago, an inspector took samples & tested them. They had better have in there what was on the label or you would be out of business. I'm sure the way the government regulates things, they are probably stricter now.

Oh, by the way my hens have been laying the same number of eggs per day ever since they started laying in March. No slack off for hot weather or any other excuse.

Country G what feed did that label come off? I have always fed Purina feeds and been satisfied with the results, but their feed labels are much more vague: "Processed grain by-products, grain products, calcium carbonate, roughage products, plant protein products, monocalcium phosphate..." followed by a long list of minerals and vitamins.

My feed company makes their own mix, which most Co-ops in this part of the country do. Also makes it cheaper, don't need the cut for Purina or other big companies.
This feed is around $10.00 for 50 # & is 17% protein.
A similar feed from Tractor Supply Company is near $15.
Don't know where we could buy other name brands here.

I might have to go to Lewisville, Mn. to get decent feed! $10.00 for 50 pounds???!!!! That's cheap! I pay around 18.00 for 50 pounds and the girls won't touch it. Where is this feed company and what's it's name so I can come to Mn. with a pickup and get some good feed. I'm in Iowa and travel to Mn. quite often so it's no big deal to travel there.

The feed store is in Mankato. New Vision Feed, LLC. North Riverfront DR.

So when I go to New Vision Feed what feed should I ask for? Is there a name for it or do you just ask for chicken feed?

17% layer mash. They also have pellets, don't get that.