Purina Layena Chicken Feed – 1.1 lb/week for bantams
I am running a chicken feed experiment where I am calculating the average consumption for each type of feed (Purina, Big Sky, O'Nate, and Nutrena). My goal is to determine if lower quality feeds have a higher consumption rate and are wasted more (because of the fillers). The first feed I looked at is Purina Layena.
Purina Layena
Ingredients:
- Processed grain by-products
- Grain products
- Plant protein products
- Calcium carbonate
- Molasses products
- Roughage products
- Salt
- Vitamins/trace
Purina Layena sells for $27.75 after tax here. That comes out to $0.555/lb. Bantam chickens should average 0.9 lbs/week, medium size hens should average 1.3 lbs/week, large dual-purpose hens should average 2.7 lbs/week.
Processed grain by-products are the leftovers after processing grain for human consumption. Grain products can be corn, wheat, etc. Plant protein products is usually soy. Calcium carbonate is added to layer feed to increase calcium for egg shell production. Molasses products are added for higher calories/energy. Roughage is added for digestion. Then there is salt, vitamins, and lots of trace products. My biggest problem with Purina Layena is the vague ingredients list. The other feeds tell you exactly what is in it, but Purina Layena just gives broad categories so you are not completely sure. This allows them to change the formula and not have to change the labeling. It also allows them to stay away from current buzz words like GMO corn and soy.
My bantam chickens averaged 1.08 lbs/week of the Purina Layena so it costs me $0.60/week to feed them Purina Layena.
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Are your chickens free range? Sorry if you answered that elsewhere already, I haven’t read everything here yet. If so, they are probably getting much of what they need scratching around the yard. It may sound like a scary switch from a stuff you are buying, but our free range flock has done great on corn. Just strait corn not even cracked corn. For 4 years now our adult free range hens have done wonderfully on nothing but corn and kitchen scraps. No health problems, egg shells are strong as ever, egg quality is great. I wait to put our dual purpose breeds on an all corn diet until they can eat the corn whole, usually around 4 months old. They will benefit greatly from your kitchen scraps too, especially egg shells, bits of meat and bone and fat, fruits and veggies. At8-10 bucks a bag for corn, you will save a bunch of money.