Tractor Supply Strikes Again

[JohnyMac]

I have been hearing amongst local small time chicken farmers that Tractor Supply chicken feed has less protein then what they advertise. I have been hearing this since August-ish. I didn't pay it any mind as I buy my chicken feed from Agway or other locally owned feed stores.

Well, the local rumor is blossoming to not just local chit chat. Here is a video from a YT channel that I check out every so often.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DikIMopuMA&t=602s

[Jackalope]

    The guy is full of crap.  Sometimes there are natural reasons why egg production diminishes, not everything is a conspiracy.  I've been raising chickens over 40 years.  Every winter, egg production diminishes.  There are several reasons for it, shorter days, more of the chicken metabolism is devoted to keeping them warm, and age is also a factor.  We use lights to mitigate the short days and it does help.  But during the winter, egg production drops, that's a fact, it's not because the protein, or other nutrient ratio has changed in their feed.

    We allow our chickens to free range during the day, which supplements their feed.  We also give them table scraps, and meal worms, as special treats.  People raising chickens need to use common sense.  Folks need to choose breeds with good egg production, but they also need to realize there's a sweet spot as to when a chicken produces an egg almost daily. After a couple of years, egg production drops off markedly, and that chicken is now ready to be converted to soup or dog food.

     I get tired of various youtubers making outlandish statements or doing stupid things to boost their viewer numbers.

[JohnyMac]

Jackalope, he mentioned in his vieo several times that egg production is reduced during the winter months.

I have been hearing this 1:1 from local small time hobbyist egg producers since August. The hobbyist were commenting that it was due to availability of certain grains not a conspiracy. It is economics not  .

It really does not affect me, as I do not buy anything from TS that I do not have too. I typically buy farm type products from local mom & pop venders. Yes, they are expensive however, I want them to stay open. 

The only thing we buy from TS on a regular basis is dog & cat food. Specifically, Blue Buffalo and 4Heath. Oh yeah and balls for W3OOF...LOL. 

As a totally different thread, the chix I purchased in the beginning of August are laying now. I get 6-8 eggs from the 15-girls a day. 

Peace be with all...

[pkveazey]

Bwahaha...... I suppose I'm as much of a conspiracy theorist as the next guy, but the chicken and eggs thing cracked me up. No pun intended. I grew up on a farm and had to gather eggs every afternoon. Yep, there were fewer eggs in the Winter. You can hang a half a dozen reasons on it. I always figured it was because the chickens didn't want to have baby chicks in the freezing cold because then the chickens would have to spend 90% of their time sitting on the chicks to keep them from freezing to death. Yea, chickens are dumb but they're not totally stupid.

[Jackalope]

    It's interesting how rumors reproduce, like a virus.  I have heard the same rumor locally, from people that should know better.  The only thing I purchase from Tractor Supply is fencing materials, so I really don't have a dog in this fight either.  But I've seen the rumor expounded upon by folks that don't have experience with poultry or their feed, and the rumor mutates as it expands.

    I don't see businesses like Tractor Supply screwing with their feed, for lots of reasons.  Feed is a big part of their bottom line, and if they piss off poultry owners, they're going to lose a large chunk of business, and poultry owners can be touchy about their livestock/pets.  I don't think they'd like to attract attention from the USDA either.  Again, I think rumors like this start because the chickens don't produce as well as some newbie poultry owners expect, and they attribute the diminished production to feed.

    I've had some bad luck with my latest batch of hens, as one chick died the first night we had them, which isn't totally unexpected.  However, we lost two more over the past couple of months to a hawk, which is unusual.  Fortunately, that hawk succumbed due to the attack of another predator, so the flock has a temporary reprieve. I think we'll double our Spring order of chicks to compensate for losses.

[JohnyMac]

Talking about hawks Jackalope, we had a bald eagle fly past me coming down my two track dirt road a couple of weeks ago. Down by the river, about 5-miles away, bald eagles are common but up on our mountain, it is the first one I have seen 15+ years of being here. I guess the population along the river is over saturated and the younger ones are moving away to find new territory. Anyway....

The reason I bring this up is that I will shoot at anything that threatens by chickens. I know it is a federal crime to kill a bald eagle. We will just have to see how aggressive our new arrival is or even if I see him/her again. It might have just been migrating through.

[Jackalope]

Regarding, shooting an eagle: SSS

[JohnyMac]

LOL! 

[mfitzy111]

Yeah-

I had heard online that, TS food was causing the birds not to lay, and once they free ranged a few birds they started laying again...they also said that WEF members were on the TS board, idk. my take is simple, it's likely that as food plants and production started dropping the people at TS making the chicken feed used more and more filler and less and less product that what they are selling it just trash. if people are going to buy trash, they will continue to sell trash.

that to me, is another effect of over 130 food processing plants burning down, in the same way that corn is processed for bio fuels - scarcity is going to happen, or lower quality products will come out when they really don't have anything better to offer. someone in business is going to try to sell something to keep themselves from going broke. 

some things seem like conspiracies -other stuff likely is - Hunter...*cough cough*...

~MFitzy111

[Jackalope]

Last month my chickens were laying maybe one egg a week.  Now, we're getting 6-8 eggs per day.  No change in food, lighting, etc. 

Poultry owners need to check the labels on the food bags.  If the protein goes down, buy a different product.  It should be noted that some manufacturers produce different poultry feed, with different mixes and different percentages of protein.  I still think this rumor was started by a newbie poultry owner, that doesn't understand the entire process.  Tractor Supply doesn't make feed, they just sell it from different manufacturers, yet everyone is pointing their fingers at Tractor Supply.  I don't buy my feed at Tractor Supply, so I don't have a dog in this fight.  But folks do need to take responsibility for being informed, check the labels, do some research, and don't believe all the crap you see on the internet.

If you have livestock and really want to be informed regarding feed, look for Feeds and Feeding, Abridged, The Essentials of the Feeding, Care, and Management of Farm Animals, Including Poultry by Frank Morrison.  It's a college level textbook that goes into depth regarding nutrients needed for farming success.  The book is worth your time and money.

[JohnyMac]

Good advise Jackalope.

Sunday my small MAG group had our monthly meeting. In the spring we are going to look into mixing our own chix food. The goal is to reduce our outlay for food and to give them a better product.

[Jackalope]

    The Feeds and Feeding  book is considered a classic, though it is geared for larger farms, the information can be applied to homesteads.  It's one of those books that would definitely be on my bookshelf when the SHTF.