The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: NethertonSH on May 03, 2016, 11:00:11 am
-
Hi everyone,
We've started feeding our hens organic layers pellets but are paying around £16/20kg bag. I've seen that HiPeak sell organic layers for £8.24/20kg bag. Its £58/tonne delivered so that works out that each bag costs £9.40.
Having not shopped around too much is that a good price for organic feed? Thats around what I've been paying for non organic.
If it is a good price would anyone in the central Scotland area like to share an order on a tonne? I'd happy to make and receive the order then the bags could be collected from me. Would probably need quite a few people to split it between. HiPeak informed me that the shelf life of the pellets is 3 months.
-
Hi
Same here. I am looking into buying Hi Peak, too, in order to save on organic feed expenses.
HiPeak looks great to me, the only thing though being that it also contains Soy like all other feeds I have been looking at. Can't seem to find any chicken feed without it.
I live in the Borders wherabout are you?
Cheers
Shari
-
HiPeak are the best I could find organically - works out cheaper to have a 1 tonne tote bag delivered. I spent a lot of time researching this and couldnt find an alternative of the same quality. My birds thrive on it. I made a mistake of ordering without checking the ingredients of a mix from B&W Dorest and it was packed to the hilt with Soya and the birds didnt do well at all and stopped laying and lost a few - I was not happy.
Saying the shelf life - Mine is perfectly fine as inside a dry shipping container and it has to be 3 months I cant see a problem with this as after all its grain.
Yes there is a small % of soya (annoys me too) but it is organic (lets hope so) and GMO free. I like Hipeak very helpful and knowledgable.
We have various local farm and animal FB pages where people sell animals and machinery I would try this as an option. Otherwise just bite the bullet.
-
Pardon my ignorance, but what's wrong with soya? ???
-
Soy has to be roasted or cooked to make it safe for chickens. Using soy is a personal decision. Many don't like it because in regular feed it is GMO. Some don't like it because of the estrogen like compounds.
I prefer having no soy, or at least organic soy. But it is not so much soy per say, but rather the overload of soy in all products - and the chickens eat it every day!
I am sure someone else could give you a more scientific answer. :)
-
Pardon my ignorance, but what's wrong with soya? ???
Soya is an american invention, was a fermented product but the yanks decided to make it into a protein product. Now grown in vast amounts in S America etc however it is a serious GM product unfortunately forests are decimated on vast scales to grow it for animal foods and even though GM it requires endless herbicide spraying. For many years we were having cattle feed delivered with GMO in it which is a serious concern as we are get to know the ending consequence of using it. Is it necessary? I dont know why feed producers insist on packing it into feed unless it is a cheap filler to get the % protein.
The reason we have gone organic is to get away from this GM product. The problem is that it is in organic feeds which state 'organic' and to the best of our knowledge GM free however with prevailing winds etc I am not overly happy with Soya being in my feeds. Also the importing of these feeds - is it necessary?
I am fed up of seeing Soya in so many products the worst being soya lecithin (byproduct which is chemical filled) which is used a lot in chocolate and gets in our bread!!!
Sorry to bark on but I dont see why a product that is gm, sprayed and shipped around the world needs to get into our feeds.