Debate on food, free range and egg quality...

U_Stormcrow said:

Your wife is, politely, "mistaken". I would guess she has fallen prey to marketing and attractive buzz words. No disrespect - if they didn't work most of the time, for most of the people, we wouldn't have a business in "marketing".

Feeding chickens an optimal diet is COMPLICATED - and humans, as a general rule, don't like Complicated. Honestly, we are a time limited species - we don't have enough lifespan to research things for ourself, se we are forced to rely on others for much of the
information upon which we base our decisions. "Influencers".

and "Pastured" is one of those buzz words of uncertain and somewhat nebulous definition. The quality of eggs from pasture raised hens depends almost entirely on the quality of the pasture, though size can help mitigate somewhat for poor production.

As a practical matter, one can neither meet the optimum nutritional needs of one's chickens from their own pasture (in almost every case), and one can not completely feed one's flock from one's own pasture (in almost every case). That's not to say that chickens can't survive on one's own land without a commercial feed (or a home mixed feed - which I don't recommend attempting), simply that the nutritional needs of a modern bird to be most productive are much higher than is available thru nature alone.

Gallus Gallus Domesticus - the domestic chicken, has been bred by man to be far more productive than its jungle fowl ancestors - and that productivity comes with a need for man to provide support for them.

I've been at this a couple years now, my flock is in my Sig below. My birds free range around five acres, in one of the most forgiving climates in this nation. Its split roughly two acres of pasture and three acres of woods I am slowly clearing to expand the pasture. The pasture is one I've deliberately planted with a mix of greens. Best case? I save about 35% on my expected feed amounts during the most productive part of the year, and closer to 10% during the least. That's not to say it can't be done better - I hope that it can, its why I keep trying things to improve on what I'm doing. Its merely an example of what should be reasoanble expectations for what can be (relatively) quickly accomplished with limited efforts at continued maintenance.

Click to expand...

Badchickenpun said:

I think the mistake is more about terminology than about cause and effect.
The idea is that we want the healthiest eggs (and chickens) that we can get. If the feed costs a bit more, so be it. If free ranging a bit is helpful, so be it. She doesn't like the idea of corn and soy for a variety of reason, some for them some for us.
The modesto mill corn/soy free looks outrageously expensive... that is why I was wondering if there were any decent recipes to mix your own. I have a feed mill about 13 miles away... and of course, I could order online what they don't carry.
But if there isn't really any decent recipes out there, then so be it.

Click to expand...

U_Stormcrow said:

Somewhere around here, I have a "why no soy?" rant (not the link I was looking for, but it gives you the sense of the thing). For a few people, there are really good reasons to no soy. For the vast majority of people, it takes a very important, reasonably priced, ingredient off the menu in making chicken feed. Soy Meal is an excellent source of methionine which is also low fat, low fiber. There are no easy alternative sources. Yet methionine is so important to a chicken's diet (particularly young chickens), that synthetic methionine (appears as dl-Methionine on the ingredients list) is allowed to be included even in feeds bearing the "Organic" label. Synthetic lysine (the second most important of the limiting amino acids, appears as l-Lysine on labels), likewise.

Click to expand...

U_Stormcrow said:

Somewhere around here, I have a "why no soy?" rant (not the link I was looking for, but it gives you the sense of the thing). For a few people, there are really good reasons to no soy. For the vast majority of people, it takes a very important, reasonably priced, ingredient off the menu in making chicken feed. Soy Meal is an excellent source of methionine which is also low fat, low fiber. There are no easy alternative sources. Yet methionine is so important to a chicken's diet (particularly young chickens), that synthetic methionine (appears as dl-Methionine on the ingredients list) is allowed to be included even in feeds bearing the "Organic" label. Synthetic lysine (the second most important of the limiting amino acids, appears as l-Lysine on labels), likewise.

Click to expand...

Badchickenpun said:

Yeah. Not sure all the sources, but mostly doctor/health/holistic type sources I would say. The focus of the date was not from the farming perspective, but from the shopping perspective. I am trying to translate what the people said about which eggs from the store are the healthiest to doing something similar for our own...

Click to expand...

Krugerrand said:

My main reason for avoiding soy is to avoid glyphosate exposure.

Click to expand...

nuthatched said:

The fact your chicken will be able to be outside, not squished together, eating bugs and things and getting real sunshine already makes them leaps and bounds better than store eggs. A balanced feed and occadional fresh greens and fruits sowill do wonders for the health of the eggs.

Click to expand...

Krugerrand said:

My main reason for avoiding soy is to avoid glyphosate exposure.

Click to expand...