4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[TAJ]

I keep seeing on the news about food price increases and livestock feed prices rising steeply. The 20kg bag of layers pellets (smaller holders free range range) has been costing me £7.30, admitadley I got the same brand from a different source this week, but it was £8.99. I wondered whether it was just the supplier charge more, but having spoken to another chicken keeper whos local supplier had gone up from 2 bags for £10 to £15 for the same thing I am thinking it is not just because I used a different supplier.

 

The other chicken keeper has a farmer friend with 2,000 chickens - he normally gets a supplier price fixed for 6 months, apparently "Ooops, word censored!"ody will quote a price to him for more than a month ahead at the moment.

 

Anyone else noticed this? It is not as though you can really stock pile it due to the use by dates being a matter of months.

 

Tracy

[Egluntyne]

Haven't given it any thought, but it is a good point that you have raised.

 

Cereal prices, especially wheat and rice have rocketed of late, so it is bound to have had an effect.

 

Will be keeping an eye on costs from now on.

[ajm200]

I've noticed the same.

 

Our local horsey shop has increased the price from 5.20 to 7.99 in a week! Up over 50%

 

The staff apologise for the increase and told us that they are embarrassed by the rise

[Gallina]

I pay more for layers' pellets every time I buy them.

 

There is one comfort: because of the rise in feed prices, the cost of eggs in the shops has gone up quite a bit too.

[Steph101]

I've spoken to two farmers in the past fortnight who have moaned that feed is going up by £50 a tonne.

[peanut12]

I have two sellers withing 5 miles of me. one charges £6.20 for 20kg, the other £8.90. Can't work out why such a difference.

[Stevie]

Layers pellets at my local animal supplies store is going up by 10p to £6.95 for 20kgs.I thik this is still reasonable.

[dogs and chickens]

I buy the Organic pellets (same ones as Omlet sell) They were £9.60 from my local farm shop, they have gone up to £10.05 for 20kg. This price rise is not bad considering huge price rises elsewhere in the market, however I am not looking forward to the next price rise, which is sure to come!

 

Have Omlet's gone up - goes off to check........

[dogs and chickens]

Wow, it's £14 now! £4 rise!

[Guest]

As I have said before layers pellets are essentially a waste by product created during the processing of human food with vitamins added (the use by date is quoted to guarantee vitamin level, which chickens need to produce eggs if they are not free ranging).

 

So really they should be paying us for recycling their waste and stopping it going into land fill...

 

Luckily my feed hasn’t gone up in price – yet! I get it from a local agricultural supplier at £5.95 for 25Kg. However I have noticed that they have saved on ink costs by not printing the bags, which I don’t mind at all, it was a waste anyway.

 

Mixed corn is slightly cheaper for the same amount at around £5, but I can't remember the exact figure.

[Egluntyne]

As I have said before layers pellets are essentially a waste by product created during the processing of human food with vitamins added

 

Have you any evidence for this extraordinary claim?

[Guest]

yes and I stated it before on a previous post... But thinking about it, I shouldn't have bothered!

 

As one of my previous posts was removed by a mod because I was apparently requesting someone else to "justify" themselves, when I clearly wasn't. But this is arguably exactly what you are asking me to do...

 

Why is it one rule for one and one rule for another, when it suits?

 

And I would hardly classify it as an extraordinary claim, merely a fact!

[Egluntyne]

I was hoping to read some facts and figures in support of your remark in order that I could reflect on the matter and consider the feeding options for my hens.

[Guest]

I can't find the post now... Typical!

 

But basically what came out of it is if your hens are able to completely free range unrestricted all day everyday, then you can feed them on just mixed corn, which is obviously less processed as it is in it's natural state (many farmers just sprinkle mixed corn ad-lib and their chooks get the rest of their diet from free ranging).

 

Otherwise you will need to provide layers pellets as their main source of feed, which is basically artificially produced from products like corn cobs and rusks ground down, dried and cut into pellets with vitamins added to provide what they need to lay.

 

Sorry, I don’t know of any internet links to “backup my claim”, but basically it is down to everyone’s own personal choice and preference as to what they feed their own chooks...

[Gallina]

I would imagine that there is some truth in the remark. Chickens are low down in the pecking order when it comes to food.

 

Here is a PDF listing the contents of one brand of upmarket pellets

 

The cheap ones don't list their ingredients.... But I imagine that the "protein" in the pellets is probably meat waste. The fact that one producer of expensive pellets boasts that theirs don't contain meat waste implies this.

 

I am surprised to see from my Google search that all layers' pellets seem to contain about 14% ash!

[Imo]

Because we only have our two, and for a while we had bantams, we didn't get through much feed and the big bags would either be out of date already once we bought them, or just about to go out of date. Has anyone else had this problem?

To tackle this, our local pet shop who have also noticed the demand in chicken food since more people locally have got pet chickens, now bag up the layers pellets into smaller plastic bags, each selling at £3ish each. It's quite a reasonable amount, and means that although you have to make more trips to the pet shop, the pellets are fresh and in date.

[Egluntyne]

Ash is a term used for the inert mineral deposits left by certain substances after incineration.

[Guest]

we didn't get through much feed and the big bags would either be out of date already once we bought them, or just about to go out of date. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

The use by date is only to guarantee the vitamin level as the amount/effectiveness decreases with age.

 

The dried pellets themselves should last quite a while if stored correctly.

 

Also please bear in mind that some layers pellets are also produced using hexane, a potentially carcinogenic distilled petrol product to extract oil, as a result some residues are left behind.

 

Some layers pellets can also contain pork gelatine and/or fishmeal and artificial yolk pigmenters!

 

Here is a link to a website to “backup my claim” :

 

http://www.pekinbantams.com/layers_pellets.asp

[Gallina]

I'm beginning to wish now I hadn't tasted layers' pellets to see what they were like....

 

I have hens who wouldn't touch organic layers' pellets and I had to give them away (the pellets, that is).

 

Liquorice allsorts contain gelatine too. We are probably eating half these things ourselves without knowing it.

[Guest]

So in summary, if your hens free range completely, then it is best to stick with feed that hasn't been artificially formulated and processed. Just feed them mixed corn but still only as a treat, they should be getting the majority of their diet from free ranging.

 

Obviously if you don't have the space/time to allow them to free range then you will have to use layers pellets as their main feed and just treat them with some mixed corn.

 

I hope this helps/clears up any confusion?

[Hen Watch]

On the subject of price again, I bought a 20KG bag of Dodson & Horrel layers pellets today (standard - not organic) and they were £5.75 last month. Today I paid £7.25. But then I do understand that with the price of wheat and food prices rising generally that is to be expected.

[Willow]

I have noticed that when mine free range much of the day they eat very little in the way of pellets (and still produce plenty of eggs). Which given the cost of the pellets is a good argument for giving them a good size section of the garden...

 

I have friends from more rural backgrounds that have been surprised at the idea of buying specific food for chicken as all they ever used (and saw being used by neighbours) was kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s, what they grubbed up and the odd handful of corn

[Imo]

My girls are almost always free ranging We treat them too, but not too much, and the pellets are rarely touched, apart from first morning grub time!! They seem to be very healthy so I think their diet is doing them wonders

[TAJ]

I have to disagree with offspring and a few other things on here. Firstly for many years in the UK it has been illegal to include meat in feed and following on from BSE, etc. even pig swill was made illegal. Also the small holders pellets I buy do not have any unnatural additives - no artifical egg colouring, no hexanes and no meat byproducts.

 

Below is a quote from their website:

 

Our feeds are made from non-genetically modified ingredients: Barley, Oats, Maize (non-GM), Peas, Beans, Wheat, Alfalfa, Sunflower Seeds, Soya (non-GM), Mint and other herbs, Garlic, Vitamins and minerals.

 

We do not use :

 

Genetically modified ingredients

 

Animal products or by-products

 

Growth promoters or yolk pigmenters

 

Artificial flavours or colours

 

Drugs or medicinal additives

 

Solvent (Hexane) processed ingredients

 

I am not saying this is what is feed to many battery hens - but lets look at the ingredients before we start being so negative about pellets and making assumptions about all pellets.

 

Tracy

[kissinuk]

The cheap ones don't list their ingredients.... But I imagine that the "protein" in the pellets is probably meat waste.

 

A lot of brands state they are vegetarian on them so I doubt that is true anymore. Certainly the organic range and Dodson and Horrell anyway. The organic range have 'approved by the vegetarian society' on them and D&H have this on their site - "Manufactured to a consistent, vegetarian, natural recipe ...".

 

Only reason I look for things like this is that I'm veggie too!