Warning to the Chicken backyard farmers

[TM7]

Well, there's a rumor on Twitter, Facebook and social media that a particular chicken feed is causing chickens to stop laying eggs.  I wouldn't know because I haven't raised chickens in years.

But the feed in question is a Tractor Supply product. And wouldn't you know, Tractor Supply was purchased a few years ago by a screaming woke leftist group, that likes to sponsor trannie and drag shows.
Here's the story from a homesteader:

https://youtu.be/7DikIMopuMA

.

[gene_225]

Hm... Can't address any of that, but they had firearms for sale at our local Tractor Supply a while back. And I got a good book on cartridges there too.

[ironglow]

  I will send the info to my grandson who has a home chicken flock.  I don't know where he gets his feed, but there is a local Tractor Supply.
    Fortunately, we have a local feed mill (yes, they mill from basic grains), and this has been owned by the same
  family for more than a century. I would hope my grandson already gets his feed there.

    That family's original mill, water wheel driven..was on the creek, about 400 yards from my house, and across
     the road back then, was a cheese factory.

  Both used the water of a creek, originating with small lake up the valley.

[Dee]

Well, there's a rumor on Twitter, Facebook and social media that a particular chicken feed is causing chickens to stop laying eggs.  I wouldn't know because I haven't raised chickens in years.

But the feed in question is a Tractor Supply product. And wouldn't you know, Tractor Supply was purchased a few years ago by a screaming woke leftist group, that likes to sponsor trannie and drag shows.
Here's the story from a homesteader:

https://youtu.be/7DikIMopuMA

.

ANOTHER HOAX! JUST FAKE NEWS.Tractor Supply was notified of low egg production concerning certain brands they sold, they investigated, and are suin certain feed BRAND manufacturers. It IS NOT a Tractor Supply product, but instead, a brand they sell.

https://www.reddit.com/r/chickens/comments/102kngf/just-a-psa-about-feed-from-tractor-supply-we-had/

[DDZ]

Clayton Morris just had a lady on his show (redacted) that raises chickens for eggs. She started making her own feed, and within a week she was getting eggs. That segment starts at the 13:15 mark in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzrbmYv3zMo

[gypsyman]

Depending on where I'm at, I get chicken feed from either Family, Farm and Fleet, or TSC. 12 chickens, and average around 4 dz. eggs a week. Buy the 16% crumbles made for laying hens. Just put another dz. in storage this morning. Only thing that seems to slow down production is the colder weather. When we had the cold snap around Christmas they really slowed down, probably will again for the next week or so since our temperature drop.

[Dee]

If you watch Homesteader Doug video in Op#1 he said  the suspect feed is a Producer's Pride feed, one of TS product lines. He also said there wasn't a conspiracy theory, but a general consensus among the chicken raising sphere that this feed is negatively affecting egg production.  Farmers that have switched to other feeds have restored egg production to seasonal norms. That's what he said.
His report was confirmed by my neighbors daughter, too.
.

Well heck, a youtuber said it, and the neighbors daughter confirmed, it so it must be so. 

Tractor Supply recognized a vendor issue, and has corrected it.

[Mule 11]

Yep. Confirmed by a chicken raising neighbor and a consensus of chicken farmers as related by a youtuber homesteader... just a warning some might like to know about.

But TS corporate says they corrected the problem   _ _ so that must be true.  You can take that to the bank,  or next drag show.
All is well in Gotham, chickens sleeping peacefully.
.
.

Thanks for the laugh, I need all I can get these days...

[Dee]

And while on the topic of chickens; yet another fire broke out at a major food production facility. This time at a major egg laying farm in Connecticut.

https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/new-london-county/multiple-fire-companies-battling-fire-bozrah-egg-farm/520-5454817e-b1ee-4b4f-b221-bbedc313b854

100,000 chickens dead.
.

And also while on topic, fires at food processing plants aren't that uncommon. Especially at chicken farms. You can make gunpowder with chicken crap. Its high in NITROGEN,  and PHOSPHORUS. If its notkept wet, weeelll.

https://marketrealist.com/p/food-processing-plant-fires/

[ironglow]

I can tell you this....chicken crap is real noxious as one shovels it out of the chicken coop. A lone, small chicken coop
  isn't bad, but when you have to clean at a chicken farm, as I had to when a kid...it loses it's charm quickly.

  Ammonia is a strong substance....

[Dee]

I can tell you this....chicken crap is real noxious as one shovels it out of the chicken coop. A lone, small chicken coop
  isn't bad, but when you have to clean at a chicken farm, as I had to when a kid...it loses it's charm quickly.

  Ammonia is a strong substance....

Agreed, and when left too long can self combust.

[nw_hunter]

I've been raising chickens for about 20 yrs on a reg basis. I raise mostly layers, or combo layers that make fair stewing hens after they slow way down in production. Several things slow egg production. The main reason is short days in the fall and winter, with less daylight hours. It's a hormonal thing. Then they start the molt,usually in the fall and early winter, that will halt egg production. I feed a lot of table scraps to mine along with their laying pellets, and I let them out for a couple of hours a day before dark to eat grass, bugs and what ever they find. Makes the egg yoke a darker yellow. Stress will also slow egg production. Mine are happy chickens  I talk to them and they squawk back! We have a tractor supply in town, but the prices at TS are down right criminal. I can buy a better and cheaper feed from any other store in town that carries it. There are several. I don't know what TS supply thinks their Chinese products are better than others, but their prices show it. I try to stay away from them if possible.

[DDZ]

Things are happening to more than backyard farmers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkYeOxWiVzs

[Dee]

The price of diesel has a lot to do with our problems. Companies are cutting operating costs trying to stay solvent and in business.

As a kid I raised chickens as a hobby, and a lot of these "new and improved" chicken feeds didn't exist back then. Nw_hunter is right. All sorts of things have always  decided on egg production.
When you start cutting quality ingredients to save money on production you get things like this.

There isn't anything dark or diabolical about cheap ingredients. Its like the difference between "ole Roy" dog food, and "Science Diet". You get what you pay for.

[Ranger99]

Some of the people I've corresponded with
don't provide a calcium source to work
toward egg shell production. I used to buy
bags of oyster shell for practically nothing
when I had hens. Feed store was less than
a mile away

Just me-  tsc has become a yuppie store
with designer horse tack and semi urban
yellowstone copycat apparel more so
than a true farm supply store

[Dee]

Some of the people I've corresponded with
don't provide a calcium source to work
toward egg shell production. I used to buy
bags of oyster shell for practically nothing
when I had hens. Feed store was less than
a mile away

Just me-  tsc has become a yuppie store
with designer horse tack and semi urban
yellowstone copycat apparel more so
than a true farm supply store

I don't disagree, but in reality, every story regardless of their name, stocks what sells. You can't really blame them for that.

When I go into a store, I'm looking for what I need, and see a lot more of what I don't need, but somebody will buy that to.

[oldandslow]

We had a rather large chicken population when I was growing up on the farm and sold eggs to a local grocery store. Guess who had to help shovel his dad out the hen house onto a cotton trailer and then throw it onto the fields for fertilizer. Like Dee said, It's strong stuff and is spread thin. You really pay attention to wind direction when doing the spreading.
 

[ironglow]

Ranger said;
   " Just me-  tsc has become a yuppie store
with designer horse tack and semi urban
yellowstone copycat apparel more so
than a true farm supply store"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

 Yup! Wasn't too long ago when our local TSC had a practical nature about it! ..But it is fast- becoming as Ranger stated?

[Dee]

Ranger said;
   " Just me-  tsc has become a yuppie store
with designer horse tack and semi urban
yellowstone copycat apparel more so
than a true farm supply store"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

 Yup! Wasn't too long ago when our local TSC had a practical nature about it! ..But it is fast- becoming as Ranger stated?

Its called commerce. You stock what's selling. 

[ironglow]

  I went up to my grandson's house tonight...time for a haircut. He keeps a home flock of chickens for his family of 6. a    I posted I posted that video on my FB page.looks like..
  Taking Gramp's advice, he drove past TSC, and went on to Pierces mill. Pierces mill is the one  spoke about back in post #3.

 At Tractor supply, his laying hen feed was $27 for 30 pounds.  He picked up 100 pounds at the local mill, and it cost
  him just $27...same price for 100 lbs as he was paying for 930 lbs.

  Now that mill, in the same family for over 100 years, buys their grain, corn, wheat, oats, etc. ...from local farmers.

  For you guys who have only a feed store to deal with, here's what a regular, home grown feed MILL looks like..

    https://piercemilling.com/

   Here are their current 2023 prices...   https://piercemilling.com/animal-feeds/

[Bob Riebe]

Chickens are tough birds, they can take very cold weather as long as they have a place to roost away from direct weather, but in cold weather they stop or greatly reduce egg laying.

My cousin has 8 hens and lets them out in daylight but gets very few eggs.
There is loose hay in the hen house and many abandon their summer roost and borrow into the hay at night.

[gypsyman]

Picked up 2 bags of crumble's at the Farm and fleet yesterday. Switching the feed from the TSC store I bought last week. Will see if production goes back up, they slowed down, but with the cold front here in the next couple days, not sure if that will make much of a difference. Will see in the next week to 10 days.

[DDZ]

Just never know what might be going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzeQJVlFGoc

[Dee]

THE GREAT CHICKEN CONSPIRACY

[ironglow]

  I have more confidence in John Pierce, than I have with TSC...

[Dee]

We're not even out of the "baby formula  crisis", and now we have a chicken  egg crisis.  Feedin babies didn't use to require "baby formula, and feedin chickens didn't use to be that complicated. 

My, look how helpless we've become. 

[Bob Riebe]

I wonder how many farmers , whose flock is in double digits not four figures, still grind their own chicken feed?