# Anyone Else Having Problems with Layer Feed??



## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My hens FINALLY started laying so I put them on layer pellets giving them free option between fresh mash (which they eat the whole thing every day) and dry pellets (which takes them a week or better to go through.) About half the flock suddenly got thin!! I don't mean a little bit either, I mean you could tell visually, though all those poofy feathers. 

I have changed their food to a different brand, still layer pellets, and not only are they gaining their weight back their eggs are getting bigger (for a few weeks I keep getting "practice eggs.") 

Bit annoying - the new feed was bought at a different feed store which is SIGNIFICANTLY farther away from here. Going to try to find one closer but I'm in a weird area and don't think I am going to find much... the old food did have a very sour smell to it, just normally without it being moldy or wet, and I had issues with it previously not disintegrating - whatever they spilled just sat there - sometimes past the winter when the melting snow should have really done it in!


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Maybe the first batch was bad.What was the date on it.Sometimes feed sits in stores forever.Last February the freshest chick starter feed i could find was from August.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I did have a problem at the beginning of the year with getting plastic in the feed.Then i get a load of grain mites that came in flock raiser.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I would be very concerned that the feed smelled sour. Feed should have fresh clean smell, some even smells good enough to eat. 

When I was still in it, I traveled further from home to get feed because I knew my source sold a lot of it so it never sat around getting old. I also was able to see where and how it was stored and had confidence that it was stored properly. They even had concerns if a bag of feed sat around for two weeks, a bit extreme but so much better than places like NM ran across.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I use starter crumbles and layer crumbles. I check the date and also open the sack of feed inspecting it after purchase right there at the feed store. One time I found mold inside the sack growing on the sack itself, of course the feed was moldy and smelled terrible. Grain mites are unacceptable. They turn feed into dust and more importantly deprive birds of nutrients. If you ever see feed clumped together; no matter how small the clumps, that means moisture somehow affected the feed and then dried out. Dont use it, swap it out for another sack of feed and inspect it as well. Feed store workers are supposed to rotate their products, I suspect this doesnt happen as it should.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

dawg. people are told at TSC that six month old food is perfectly fine by their Purina sales reps. And it will stay on the shelf until that sixth months date is reached.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

My TSC has 7lb feather fixer bags that are over a year old.All of the Manna Pro feed is over a year old also.And they very rarely rotate stock.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Nm156 said:


> My TSC has 7lb feather fixer bags that are over a year old.All of the Manna Pro feed is over a year old also.And they very rarely rotate stock.


OK, so that is wide spread. I thought that was only occurring locally in all of the feed stores, including the co-op, where I used to live in TN. And bringing up that fact did not get it pulled and fresher ordered.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

All the feed stores around me are like that. I think that is where the problem is with people getting bags of "dust". It sat around for 6 months with 300 lbs of other bags on top of it.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No, most of the time that isn't the reason. It's setting the equipment incorrectly or not keeping the screens cleaned. 

I learned a lot when I had to return several hundred pounds of feed. I had unloaded it from my truck, opened a bag and dumped in the bin. What I found was way too many fines throughout the bag. This was brand new, just delivered to the co-op feed. 

They use the same equipment for pellets and crumbles, they run pellets then they run crumbles after but have to adjust the equipment to crush the pellets in to crumbles. The feed mill set the equipment wrong and crushed most of the pellets in to dust.

I might still have a pic of how bad it was. Even my guy here that gets his feed from a small local mill had issues. I got 20 pounds of fines out of one bag. I had been complaining there were too many fines but that one was over the top and I contacted the mill directly. The problem was fixed, especially after I carried the bucket of fines in to the feed store and they confirmed the problem. I haven't seen an issue since.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I stopped going to the local feed store because every bag turned to dust. And their Seminole brand, which is fine, came in plain bags. (Must be the sweepings).

I now buy at a place that has a fast turnover. I changed from layer to feather fixer because the minimum protein requirement of 16% is not being met if they eat anything else, like free range or getting treats. Feather fixer has 18%. I also switched to scratch from oats for treats because of the corn providing more calories.

I also have to worry about sub-clinical illnesses due to immunosuppression due to Marek's exposure. Chickens can carry illnesses like Coccidiosis, enteritis, e coli, clostridium, etc. at a low level for a long time and never really get sick but just get unthrifty. 

I think a big one is E.coli getting in the ovaries. Layer's "egg flap door" loses muscle tone as they get older which can allow e. coli to travel up to the ovary and cause internal egg laying, and funky eggs at the calcium factory. 

Free range chickens will not be fat like Perdue's.

Summer is hot. Vitamins and electrolytes mayhelp. 

I put weight on youngsters by giving them wet mash as a treat. They gobble it down.

All this and I still have some skinny problems. But I've gone from 1-3 eggs per day at the beginning of the year to 8-10 eggs per day consistently.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Hmmm, no the feed I bought (now from two different stores in the same chain as I moved) always smelled sour for the past three years and I looked up reviews with other people complaining it made the poop smell sour (which it totally does.) Only had mold in the bag a couple of times, never bothered to check the date. I know with my birds, mostly preferring to free range, (they only eat a quarter of a bag, 100ish birds, every day right now in the summer) they would be thinner but this was ridiculous! On the new feed they immediately plumped up - and they are Dorkings, so you can see their chests fill out! My Cornish also filled out and as stupid as it sounds I have been having a damn time keeping them the right weight from the beginning as they were always the bottom of the pecking order. However since all my other roosters turned out to be bast***s towards the hens they got eaten leaving the 3 Cornish roosters and their three hens.... who are now shocked to be at the top and doing really well! They're also the sweetest of the bunch by far. They must know I bought them to eat them. That won't be happening now.... 

I got the new feed 2+ hours away where I go two or three times a year to get bunny food... That's a bit far.... Not sure what is closer but I don't think I will going back to the local chain even though their service has been wonderful, the feed is just terrible.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I always thought Nutrena smelled sour and it made poo smell really bad. But it was just the way it was. What I've noticed with my moldy feed is it gets a sweetish smell to it, or kindof lemony or chemical-y. It's like sweet with a bite. This year has been real bad.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Haven't tried Nutrena. I was using DuMor, which was the sour smelling one. Now we've switched to Country Acres. Remarkable difference. My birds have fattened back up within a few days and are now eating less than they were of the DuMor...


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Both Dumor and Country Acres are made by Purina Mills.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I think Dumor and Purina are the same, but I thought Country acres is Nutrena. 

I emailed Purina once and asked them what grain products were? After a few emails back and forth, I was finally told that it's soybean or corn, whichever is cheaper at the time. It was like prying a secret out of them.

If Tractor supply would get their act together, they would be stocking Blue seal regularly. I've waited 10 years to be able to buy it down here. They started selling it but sporadically. Up in NY, my horse was on Blue Seal until he was 37. Good product.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Seminolewind - How much is the Feather Fixer there?Can you post a feed tag ?Thanks
Family Farm and Home has it here 40lb. bag $15.69
TSC just started carrying it for $17 on sale for $15 through Sept 27.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Grain products are corn,wheat, oats ,and barley.

Plant Protein Products: soybean meal, canola meal, cottonseed meal, pea by-products, yeast products. 
Animal Protein Products: meat and bone, animal by-product meal, blood meal, fish meal, poultry meal,
hydrolyzed feather meal, milk and whey products. 
Processed Grain by-products: wheat millrun, distillers dried grains, corn gluten meal, brewers dried grains,
malt sprouts, wheat middlings, bran products. 
Molasses Products: beet & cane molasses, molasses distillers dried solubles. 
Roughage Products: soybean hulls and millrun, cottonseed hulls, beet pulp. 
Forage Products: dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground alfalfa hay, ground grass. 
Screenings, Chaff and Dust: wheat, corn, barley, cottonseed, oats, sorghum, rice. 
Non-protein Nitrogen Supplements: urea, diammonium phosphate, amino acids. 
Fat and Oil Products: animal, vegetable, blends, restaurant grease/"yellow grease". 
Mineral Supplements: mineral blocks, premises, limestone, defluorinated phosphate. 
Vitamin Supplements: individual, multiple vitamins, and vitamin precursor mixes. 
Fermentation Products: liquid and dry materials obtained from fermentation of grains, molasses, whey and
microorganisms such as Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, Penicillium, etc. 
http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalFeed/definitions.aspx


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm142809.htm


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Dumor and Purina tags.Some Dumor in the south was or still is made by Nutrena.
http://www.cargill.com/feed/recall/...-dumor-producers-pride-product-list/index.jsp


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

http://agebb.missouri.edu/dairy/byprod/bplist.asp


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Nutrena tags in Michigan


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I feed the feather fixer. Got an obvious increase in eggs. From 2 a day to 9-12 a day and steady.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I feed my birds Nutrena layer feed, gamebird feed during molt.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

They're starting to lay eggs like crazy and the eggs are getting bigger as are the birds. I don't know why the difference in the feed if they're both the same company but I can't argue with the results!


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