Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

What are you guys and gals feeding?

I have a TSC, a Purina, and another I haven't visited yet, near by. Is one brand of feed better than another? I wouldn't feed my cats the crap TSC sells , so wondering what their chicken feed is like... Not to mention the customer service at our TSC SUCKS . I don't mind paying a little extra for quality, but I wouldn't feed my kids garbage, so I wont feed my chickens garbage either.

BTW is there a difference between "shell rock" and oyster shell? Which is better?

Thanks

Sounds like you've already eliminated one . I feed Shur-Gain from my local Co-op. Luck

There's not much difference to the chicken between shell rock and oyster shell other than as a source of calcium. I understood oyster shell was largely out of use for environmental reasons.

TSC feed is from a mill near London and though technically decent my birds don't "like" it and will dump out a lot and will almost starve before eating it.
Purina stores sell some locally milled mixes and their crumbles and pellets are well received by my birds. They are the only source I know of "game bird" feed with 28 or 30% protein.

A lot of TSC 's feed problems is because it's stored in store & drys out real quick . There scratch grain is real good basically no dust , if you use at all but I find their prices are more than my co-op .

pipes wrote:QR_BBPOST What are you guys and gals feeding?

I have a TSC, a Purina, and another I haven't visited yet, near by. Is one brand of feed better than another? I wouldn't feed my cats the crap TSC sells , so wondering what their chicken feed is like... Not to mention the customer service at our TSC SUCKS . I don't mind paying a little extra for quality, but I wouldn't feed my kids garbage, so I wont feed my chickens garbage either.

BTW is there a difference between "shell rock" and oyster shell? Which is better?

Thanks

You are in the Ingersoll area, a quick web search came up with Oxford Feed Supply, it looks like a good place I would check out. they sell Shur-gain, plus I would not be surprized it they sell a locally made poultry mash as well.

I feed my birds once they are at least 8 weeks old grower and layer mashes from several local feed stores in my area, all are at least decent quality and my birds readily eat anything I give them.

I feed most of my poultry a locally milled laymash, its a really high quality with almost no dust in it and its always pretty darn fresh. I also feed whole corn and black oil sunflower seed (boss) in the winter.

I feed purina gamebird startena (30%) protein to quail chicks and turkey poults. purina gamebird layena to my adult quail, (I cant remember off the top of my head what the protien level is) I feed masterfeeds chick starter and pullet grower to the chicks. I'll feed masterfeeds turkey finisher and whole corn to birds destined for the freezer.

most of my birds have the ability to free range outside of a 3500 square foot run, all they have to do is jump the fence but most of them dont. however the couple dozen or so birds that do sure love almost anything in the garden, grass hoppers, frogs, grass, clover, dandelions pretty much anything edible everywhere.

I deal exclusively with my local mill here, they are great people, know me by name and usually know what I want. they will order in anything and answer all my questions. we have lived at this place and been using them for a year now. at the old place I really didnt like the quality of feed I was getting, it was like 30% dust. so I would drive out of my way to an outlet store that this mill has in another town to buy their laymash. I was so happy when I realized that they were now my local mill when we moved.

Its well worth it to drive out of your way for good quality feed.

I like Purina and shur gain. I don't like TSC feed. We don't buy much in the way of bagged feed. We buy a bit of rabbit pellets, gamebird feed, and duck starter. We have a hammer mill and buy whole grains out of the field and we use Bio-Ag premix. I love Bio-Ag products. I believe critters need variety in their diet, just like us. None of our animals get just one straight complete feed. Regardless of the brand you choose, really look at and watch your critters. They will tell/show you what they need. If they are happy, active, and look great they have what they need:)

My local feed store brings in from Hensall feeds and its wonderful. pelletted, not dusty. A lot of it is actually made at the shurgain in st.marys, which is not that far north of there.....
I got a bag of TSC layer pellets one time that i ran out of feed and needed a bag to get me through the weekend that was literally an entire bag of dusty white powdery stuff. there wasn't anything recognizable in it! last time i bought there-it was supposed to be layer pellets.....

Hensall Co-op is my feed store in Parkhill . Feed stored in out bldgs not inside store . Luck

my feed mill keeps all the feed in an attached unheated warehouse. Ross are you thinking when its kept inside it drys out too fast? I think im having a dejuvue (sp?) here. did we have this conversation before? LOL.