MOLD - yes, mold. Could this be the culprit? Aflatoxin is a common problem with grains that get stored. Pretty much all grain has mold but, of course, some batches have much more than others. That's why when people go on grain-free diets that their allergies get better. Even their cancers go away. Most of our dry foods have mold and all of us consume mold. And, it's yummy (think sourdough bread.) However, getting exposed to way too much of a bad batch of (pick your favorite...peanut butter, corn, chocolate, coffee, wheat,...etc...) can make you sick. Some of us more than others. Then, after that your body will not tolerate even small amounts of these mold toxins. Causes inflammation in your body. Well, it does the same to our animals more or less. Yes, weather is a factor. If stored grain (or chocolate, coffee) gets exposed to moisture at a certain temperature...boom...you have more toxic mold in the end product. Here's the theory here: weaponizing mold is a thing. In fact, it's been proven that Big Pharma produces some drugs that purposefully have synthetic mold. Anyway, look at the world through the lense of MOLD and everything starts to make sense. I've learned you can test if your grains have mold by using a black light. The mold glows. (Did you know that cancer glows too?) It'd be interesting to have everyone's feed get tested for mold.
I have 30 total amerikaners and easter Eggers. Prior to switching to a feed brand of 16% in October I was getting 20 to 24 eggs after switching to the producers pride that is a Purina produced feed. It reduced almost immediately to 8 to 10 by dec 01st. As of jan 01st zero egg production including my 4 African geese stopped. On Jan 15th I switched to a local feed producer and my chickens are back up to 16 to 20 and 2 geese are laying. So take this info how you will
I had the same experience. Producers Pride ruined egg production. I switched to a locally-made feed of 19% protein, oyster shells, etc. After 7 days of this feed, my chickens began laying 18 eggs/day. It was not because of molting or lack of winter sun; this happened before that time.
I just told my brother about this. Not sure where he was getting feed. But his chickens hadn't laid for 3 months. After I told him, and showed him articles, he decided to make his own feed, with corn and wheat. His chickens laid 7 eggs, the very next day. I can't even believe it was such a quick change. They really are trying to kill us.
MILITARY PERSONNEL BETRAYED AMERICANS, THEY CREATE NO $$$$WEALTH FOR AMERICA NO DIESEL NO GASOLINE NO FOOD NO ELECTRICITY NO MINING NO TIMBER NO STEEL NO COMMERCIAL PROPERTY NO COMMERCIAL FISHING NO BEEF NO EGGS NO ETHANOL NO SOLAR NO NUCLEAR NO SOFTWARE NO TIRES NO AUTOMOBILES NO MOTORCYCLES NO MTN BIKES NO BOATS NO ENTERTAINMENT NO MUSIC NO ART NO TRAINS NO LOGISTICS NO WAREHOUSE NO NOTHIN FROM SHORE TO SHORE EXCEPT HYPERINFLATION, DEBT AND DEATH OF AMERICANS, PATHOLOGICAL LIARS, TRAITORS HIDING OUT FROM 2008 ECONOMIC DEPRESSION
@@containedmyself5300 Ok. My brother replied. He said he used a bag of 'high priority sweet feed', a bag of cracked corn, a bag of wheat, and mixed them all together. He also said he threw on a little oats, that he had extra. But there wasn't alot of oats. Anyways, I hope that helps. Seemingly just don't use the stuff specifically made for chickens. The sweet feed is sort of universal, for many animal types.
I was on TSC 16% layer feed for years. Last July my chickens were producing daily till one day they totally stopped. My chickens are Barred Rocks So they produce even in the winter but they totally stopped in July. My brother gave me a bag of local made Feed around Early December and they actually started producing again until I ran out of that bag. Because his local grain producer was so far away from me I switched to another feed chain and my chickens stopped laying the next day. The chain store is Kahoots. They are all in on it. And we as Americans are standing by watching. UPDATE: Switched back to the local feed store food my brother recommended, two days later the chickens started laying eggs again. We are still in freezing temps and forcasted snow. I switched to a brand called Kelly’s out of Perris California.
The contaminant is mRMA. The offending company is Cargill Industries (may not be the only one). They sell to a lot of retailers under 12 different brand names. Tractor Supply is one of the retailers. Must buy or make your own organic!
Free range foraging was the key for my chickens. They started laying within a week of starting that. I totally agree with everything you said. Thank you so much.
Excellent video and breakdown! I wouldn't put it passed the WEF and it's cronies to try and do something to not only our food directly but also with our chicken's food indirectly (eggs) too. Keep up the great videos, brother!
I've had chickens most of my life. I'm 60. I have a good number of chickens and was getting 3-4 dozen eggs a day. Last fall, still warm and sunny here in south Texas my production suddenly went to zero. Talk light, talk variations in production, talk weather... I get it, been through many, many seasons and weather changes. I have 6 different breeds. Birds all all healthy, they are cared for daily. But no eggs. 2 days after switching feed, I have eggs. There was no weather change at that time, no light changes as I control it. ONLY change was feed. I don't wear a foil hat, I'm an old timer (by some definitions) but I know better. People can say oh, they slow down, oh quit spreading this and that. Well, take it for what it's worth to you but I know better. And I'm getting eggs again.
I have 11 chickens in my back yard in Aztec, NM. They are a variety and ages. It is cold here, the chickens slowed in November and in January increased to 2 to 3 eggs and now 3 to 4 most days. We are happy with the numbers of eggs for the 2 of us. Enjoy you chicks! Thanks for the informatiom.
Thank you for presenting a level-headed view of the situation. Its easy to worry about your flock, especially with the issues surrounding bird flu, mysterious fires at chicken farms and processing plants, and now reduction in backyard egg production being seen practically all over. I know I supplement my grain with scraps and protein rich treats and mine seem to be doing pretty well for being the middle of winter (albeit I do live in the south.) It might not be a bad idea to come up with our own grain mixtures. Several chicken youtubers have their own recipes they share on their channels. I have a raised bed right beside my coop where I grow food specifically for the chickens to supplement their diets.
We have raised garden beds as well. What do u grow specifically for your chickens, and how much? We have 18 hens, so maybe not as many as you have. Currently we grow extra cucumbers & squash for them. I've not had a flock that was super excited about tomatoes though.
@@lidip8700 I grew daikon radish greens, turnip greens, and peas. This year I’m hoping to add millet or amaranth. I supplemented with pumpkins after the holiday, apples, and other types of squashes. I only have four, currently. I’ve never really given them tomatoes. They do love frozen blueberries and strawberries during the summer.
I am in NC. I was feeding Tractor Supply Pride layer pellets. I saw a drastic drop in eggs. I went from a dozen a day to maybe 1 occasionally 2 a day. I have had chickens for over 10 years. This has been beyond the normal winter drop off. I am switching feed.
Over 20 years of experience raising chickens. The trend of egg production slowing down during the cold weather has not changed from one administration to the next. I’m crying foul!
Good information here. I have hand raised chickens and guineas for over 7 years now and I know the weather plays an important role in laying. With that being said and the price of a bag of layer pellets, Im going to start making my own feed and save money in the long haul. Im not sure if the feed companies are purposefully not using as much protein to save a buck, while continuing to raise prices? If so, it would not surprise me and would not be surprised if politician hands are involved in this since most are corrupt and only interested in making money, no matter who gets screwed. Everyone out there that has chickens should keep a close eye on them because people are starting to steal chickens because of the price of eggs. And lastly- Its amazing to me how much damage one administration can cause in a short amount of time. My advice is to buckle up, because its going to get much worse. Just my 2 cents-
Thank you. As long as we look at everything holistically, our chickens will be laying just fine. I do think it will get much worse as well. This admin is off the rails!
@@CountryLivingExperience I love your common sense approach to this. This admin is indeed off the rails. I live on the edge of town. I have a padlock on the door to my chicken coop. My 6 hens aren't a year old yet, so they kept laying fine all winter. We are switching their feed to a local milling company's feed. It's about $2.00 more a bag, but you get 10 pounds more feed. My chickens don't like the storebought grit or calcium. I do save their eggshells, bake them & crumble them up & feed them back to them & they love those! But I don't have nearly enough of them to keep up. Does anyone have any suggestions on what brands I could switch to? Thanks for another great video! God Bless!
@@CountryLivingExperience i live in south texas and my rir havent missed any laying days 15 of them, south texas is more south than mexicos border in arizona maybe the long sunny days helps im using dumor non gmo 16percent
Thank you for this. I have been raising chickens for nearly 50 years. I feed the suspect feed to my birds. No weird egg production changes. Chickens slow down lay when they are stressed. It is normal. Temperature swings, day length, cloudy days, rain and snow, frozen water, pests and predators... All cause stress. All of these happen more in winter. Another factor is that backyard chickens are seldom cage raised. They seldom get all their nutrition from a purchased feed. We supplement with food scraps year round. They free range some and are fed things like garden scraps and even weeds. This also adds nutrition.
This was my first winter w chickens. The one that was laying stopped in October. I did switch out feed just to be safe, started giving them a bit extra protein, and two weeks later my speckled sussex started laying. My Swedish Flowers are not yet laying. They are just over 5 months. They all have looked very healthy and happy all winter so I don't actually think the feed was a problem. I'm just happy every time I get an egg. So lovely. Thanks for your balanced point of view!
Over the last year, ive been using Purina's Producer Pride 16% bought at Tractor Supply because it was cheap. In November, my chickens stopped laying. At the end of December, I ran out of the TS feed, and bought some from the local feed store. Within two weeks, my chickens were laying again. Well, two weeks ago, I was running low on feed, so I bought feed from TS, and now the hens are back to laying nothing... I think I'm just going to say eff the layer pellets and start making feed for the chickens from different grains like flak seed, white millet, corn, oats, and sunflower seeds.
We had the same experience. Supplementing with other self made feet takes the egg count from 0 to a few. We are switching to the other at tractor supply, but will see what occurs. Had to remove my dogs from most dog foods- they stopped eating, same with my cat. They do better with real meat. It’s kind of weird about various chicken farms around is getting flocks killed - culling due to bird virus, then the big chicken farm north burns down. There are no coincidences in live. Our chickens always laid thru the winter, and they are free range, just supplemented. My chickens get table scraps already,
Same thing happened to us. My husband was thinking about slaughtering the chickens for meat, since we were only getting 1 egg out of 6 chickens. We saw a Tucker Carlson segment on chicken feed, so we stopped buying Demor from Tractor Supply and purchased from a local feed supplier. Its now two-three weeks later and we are getting 4 eggs from 6 chickens. Plus the shells are stronger now. So glad to able to keep my 6 girls!
John, do the sunflower seeds need to be cracked? Or could I grow a sunflower and hope the squirrels don't demolish it first n feed them a chunk of the flower head when dry? Thanks😊
I live down on Mobile Bay and we don't have much of a long winter here, but when it is colder here, I always make sure to feed my birds plenty of meal worms or dried beetles and flies. In general, I feed my chickens 4 main things to keep them laying year round: insects, grains, seeds, and greens. My birds seem to be the most succesful with that type of diet, plus they free range all day in my backyard. We also give them kitchen scraps when we have them as a bonus. Out of 19 hens, and one female duck, we're getting about a dozen or so eggs in winter and closer to 17-19 in summer
My chickens had a big drop off earlier in Nov-Dec, but now they have started right back up and are laying like crazy right now. They slowed down significantly after we had a very harsh freeze around Christmas (-7 degrees here in Ohio)
I really appreciated this video! Becsuse of all the hoopla, we've made some good changes to our feed, but hey, that's a positive thing! Your video shows your wisdom, which is something I pray for daily! However, the very BEST thing you said was that "All these things can be a distraction, taking us away from the study of God's Word "! 🙏 AMEN!
Thank you Sir for your video, I haven’t had any problems with my chickens laying, I give them cracked corn,scratch grain, all flock pellets, spinach and tomatoes when I have it. You are correct that weather has a to do with what chickens do or don’t do. Thank you for what you do.
Ok just my two cents but after what I experienced I do believe there is a problem with a certain brand of feed….. let me tell you what happened to me and you all decide for yourself! Last year my friend told me people were having issues with chicken feed causing their hens to stop laying and she told me they were mentioning Purina and other brands owned by purina but sold under different names. I wasn’t really worried because I usually use an organic brand not owned by Purina. I put this out of my mind. Then one day ( last year not during winter ) I noticed egg production was way down. Several days later it was almost zero egg production. This was totally abnormal it wasn’t winter and I feed my girls really well in fact they are spoiled. So I remembered what my friend told me went looking around only to find my hubby had bought two flock blocks made by purina and given them to my girls. I removed the flock blocks and threw them away !!!! Shortly afterwards my girls started laying again and slowly came back to normal. The only factor that changed that I’m aware of was these flock blocks ….. could it just be coincidence…… yes ….. but could it not be coincidence….. yes …… so I’ll leave this here and everyone can decide for themselves. Blessings to you all!! ❤
I use Producer’s Pride 16% Layer Pellets and have 35 hens. These hens are less than 1 year old and I am regularly getting 29, 30, 31 eggs every day. I have a rooster and do feed kitchen scraps on most days. I also (daily) feed Producer’s Pride Scratch Grains. I free range about 25-50% of the time. I live in Texas. While it wouldn’t surprise me for this to be true, I am not currently experiencing this phenomenon.
@@kathymc234 I buy it about 2 times each month every month this past year (2022) starting early spring. Sometimes I would get enough to last a whole month. I started with starter feed then graduated to pellets early summer. We’ve used Purina early on, but switched to only Producer’s Pride in late summer/early fall. Never have I had a problem with egg production except for my Easter Egger for about a month or so. It was very hot and dry. I provided good ventilation and a shade cloth during this unusually hot summer. And plenty of fresh water. I tried to keep them from being bored by providing a cabbage on a rope (and the like) mixed with various kitchen scraps. A happy worker is a productive worker. 😊 Hope this answers your question.
Good talk, thanks! I do not currently have chickens because of zoning restrictions but we're planning to get some in 2024 when we move to our now second home. The information you provide was very useful and enlightening. God bless!
I do not shop at Tractor Supply. Up here in Montana, we have Shiptons Big "R"... I noticed this winter that my hens/chickens went to 0 egg laying. When in past winters between the 10 we've always gotten 2 to 4 per day except for the occasional negative degrees temperatures. I recently stopped giving them any pellets and am now giving them only scraps and homemade feed, and I'm back to the 2 to 4 per. day. Again, that's if we don't have any negative temperatures.
Experienced the same thing. Just switched to scratch, black sunflower seeds, oats, meal worms 1 week ago and in under a week now getting 2-3/day. Was using Shiptons layer crumbles.
We've been making our own chicken feed which saves us lots of $$$. We're experiencing typical slow egg production due to the time of the year. A few of my friends told me their chickens completely stopped producing eggs and we gave them some of our feed and shared the recipe on how to make it. Their chickens started laying eggs again within a couple of days. Maybe it's because they're getting a different feed? I don't know. But at least, now they have our recipe for chicken feed & they can also save lots of $$$.
My chickens always slow down during the winter because of molting, and the light! They need 16 hours of light! You can add lights in the coop but that’s more like if you want them to lay like commercial! Mine are free range and the weather in Oklahoma is pretty cold in the winter and extremely hot in the summer! Occasionally I’ll give them worms from tractor supply and oats and veggies! It’s all up to how you manage your flock! Good luck! Hahaha
Yes yes you are not the only one with this info…. My chickens went to zero eggs in August I waited for said reasons… 5 months later still healthy but no eggs. I began to read the comments about TS feed so I switched to a local farmer that makes feed. I cut TS feed completely. Immediately after 3 days on new feed I started getting eggs like crazy. Mid Jan till now still producing eggs. PS my chickens free range on my farm as well… Bye Bye TS from Indiana
Thanks for your video! We raise ducks in northern Ohio for eggs for home use and sale. Our production dropped around Christmas, and is almost back to normal, but I read that the reason for that drop (it happens twice yearly for ducks) is because of fewer hours of daylight (winter) and the molt/new feathers (summer). Our production hasn’t really differed from past years since we got ducks in 2014.
Thank you, brother, you are seriously a sensible breath of fresh air in this chaotic issue. People that are passing along this egg production issue must also give a solution or they are part of the problem as well. There is enough anxiety and fear out there without conspiring more. Your video is well done!
The solution is to make your own feed. It is not that TS is out to get you but they are getting feed from unknown sources or from sources with checkered pasts and those companies could be putting something into the feed. Until someone actually does a chemical analysis of the feed to see if any chemicals are in the feed that shouldn't be there then this is just a he said, she said thing and may in fact be true or false. But it is known that there is a rather odd increase of non laying chickens. The issue is real but what is causing the issue is not crystal clear. Many use RUclips to create content and in order to get the clicks they need controversy to get folks to join in and see what the huff is all about. Not a good thing. I don't like the use of controversy. But as stated in the beginning, the remedy is to grow your own and make your own feed to be absolutely sure your chickens are getting the best. Feed should only be supplemental to what they get from natural foraging. If the forage is good there should be no supplements given.
I’ve been raising chickens for years I’ve had no drop in production this year we get all our feed from tractor supply. We Use Dumor and I supplement with scraps and greens from the garden I only keep heavy layers barred rock production reds buff orphans etc I’ve got around 45 birds and I pick up between 24 and 35 eggs a day. Things that a-lot of folks don’t think about is the size and quality of the coop during inclement weather the need for oyster shell the length of day predatory pressure hawks can really stress a flock by just flying over . A lot of this is just seasonal there isn’t as much in the yard for them to forage in the winter and what there is they have to work harder for. Plus grain is not fresh in the winter it bing pulled out of storage to grind so feed issues can arise but I doubt it a conspiracy one last thing is during the winter month I move my birds to full feed all they want because there isn’t enough forage a cup a day ain’t Gona cut it in the winter months.
@@marvinbrickhouse9122 I believe we have a lot of new chicken owners,,,and there in could be the problem.... chickens molte,,,less day time hours,,, not the correct feed or amount being used,,,ECT,ECT,
A friend has 60 hens and for the first time in over 24 years, she had zero eggs and had to buy from the store. She had been feeding TSC and switched, egg production came back immediately. My pullets from last March and April hatches never started laying till January, got up to 8/day then stopped within a week. No predators, no feed change. I soak/sprout whole oats, milo and black oil sunflower seed. Looking at growing my own on the perimeter if I can get the cropduster to stop drifting over my property from the pasture across the highway from me! Killed my shade trees! I was in the yard with my girls when he did it! Ran in the house. How am I supposed to grow organic with that going on?
In the late summer of 2023 into November of 2023 I have all of these breeds I was feeding 16% layer feed and my chickens were becoming lame over night and dead with in a day. My feed came from a small feed store not a big box company. I took my chickens off of the laying feed and they became healthier starting gaining weight back lost the lameness and started back laying again. I can’t explain the difference but it seems like there is something to it. I have raised chickens my hole life and I just turned 50 years old this month. I have never seen this before. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge. Look forward to seeing more from you.
Corn, Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, and Oats make a great scratch for Protein and warmth for the winter. We throw this out every day to get them out of the coop. It's been colder around here so we expect lower production. Days are getting longer and production is picking up.
That’s actually all I feed my buff orpingtons, ISA Browns, Barred Rocks, and Wyandottes! I mix the three and soak it over night, I crushed their egg shells and put them in their feed, they do get oyster shell & grit free choice, mealworms a couple times a week and mine are ALL still laying through the bitter North Dakota winter!
Thank you soooo much for keeping politics at a minimal. I appreciate that. I’m fairly new to gardening(Maybe 3 years) Your channel is a wealth of information to my family and I. Thank you for sharing what you know. Right now we’re talking about raising chickens this summer. This video shows me that we have a lot to learn. Thanks again and God bless you and your family too.
Go those chicks because they will take 4-8 and in 1 case almost a year to start laying. It's pretty simple really. Just a safe home big enough to wander and scratch the dirt, clean fresh water and feed. I handle my chicks a ton ( because they're so cute) and then they are friendly adults.❤❤
Just found your channel. Before I saw all the news about feed I had been discussing with my wife about our chickens not laying at all. Of course, every winter they slowed considerably. Each year I get between 6-8 eggs a day during the winter and 14-20 a day during the spring and summer. This year I had multiple days with no eggs at all and several weeks with only 1 or 2 eggs and we have doubled our number of hens since last winter. I saw all the videos about the feed. We use the Dumor from Tractor Supply. I decided to mix my own feed and see if we could get some eggs. Within 3-4 days I was getting 6 a day. After a week now, I am getting 8-10 a day. I have no doubt that there was some change in the Dumor feed we have used for the last 3 years. It was pretty much an immediate increase in egg production once I changed the feed. Who or what happened to the pellets we were using...I have no idea, however, it was a dramatic change once I changed their feed by making my own.
feed your chicken purina and let us know, something shady is happening to the food supply. Fertilizer factory destroyed, farms being taken away. go interview the other farms and youll see
We ran out of Dumor pellets just before winter hit. Two young pullets went into lay about that time also. The two older hens never lay in winter after molting and the two in the middle started laying again after stopping briefly, I think because the two younger ones were laying. They free-range in summer and I give them scraps, fruit, and some fermented wheat in the afternoon. This winter, without pellets, which I really didn't like because who wants to eat compressed "food" for their whole lives, I mixed scratch with sunflower seeds, millet and other bird seed, flax, crushed eggshell, and dried greens (chickweed, nettle, henbit) I saved from last summer. They get a little produce scrap during the week and I feed them egg, mealworms, maybe some liver or meat or peanut butter mix a couple of times a week and a whole grain bagel for a treat on suer cold days when other treats will freeze. We are getting 1 1/2 dozen eggs over winter per week which is unheard of for us. We usually don't get any. I only have a few hens, and two just went into lay so maybe we got lucky, but I love NOT using store-bought pellets just for the health of my chickens.
Hello, I'm a new channel subscriber. Our girls always drop off with the winter but this year they completely stopped laying. I started feeding them black oil sunflower and flax seed and now they are back on their normal winter laying schedule.
Omgossh seriously loved your video it was truly a blessing to me I’m so tired of all the noise around TSC feed I have a chicken that is molting and she is laying eggs just fine I do however give my girls grub terra as well with some of their scrambled eggs lol keep putting your videos out and Gods word thanks your fellow Texan ❤
We have 2 flocks. One is under 3 years. The other is only 8 months. Up until 2 weeks ago, we mainly purchased Puritan Pride. We have had chickens for over 10 years and have always had a reduction in eggs over the winter. However this year, our 12 older hens completely stopped laying several months ago, while the 6 younger ones still were giving us 4-6 eggs a day. The older hens are in a coop. The younger ones free range. We did switch our feed 2 weeks ago. Last week, the cooped hens gave us 4 eggs. Yesterday, we got 9.
I have free range ducks and they usually only come up to me if their feed bin is empty. They gang rushed me last Wednesday so I figured they were out of food..... Nope still half full, Producers Pride feed. Went and got different feed. They are still laying and never stopped. But we're obviously hungry and didn't like Producers Pride.
We’ve been using a chick feeder crumble from Azure standard. We went through the first bags very slowly, but my daughter just mentioned that the chickens tore through the last bag. She asked me if I thought the chickens were wasting a lot of feed, but we haven’t changed the way we feed them. So some thing in the bag is different.
I have only used TS chicken feed, for months ….and getting 2-3 eggs (we have 8 hens 2 years old) so I went to a small farm bought a bag of 16% protein, never heard of the brand, anyway, dumped all feed, yes I know you should introduce slowly, however, at this point I didn’t care!!! Next day 6 eggs, I was so excited because my husband said if they didn’t start laying I would be fixing fried chicken for supper for a few weeks. Now I am getting 7-8 eggs a days. Perhaps they just needed a change, I don’t plan on buying any more from TS again, but I will shop there for a few things.
Curious, was this video filmed before the fire at one of the largest egg farms in Connecticut? Coincidence🤔 This happens during an egg shortage, c'mon man!
I live on Conroe Tx area. I can say I know 1 co-worker and 2 others that are using the Tractor Supply producers pride and their chickens stopped laying also. They just switched. I use Lone Star feed and Producers Coop Feed (out of College Station Tx) and our chickens haven't stopped laying all winter. Around 90% laying daily. So, something is going on; along with all the chicken and egg farm suppliers burning up. Latest one was in Connecticut past two weeks. 100,000 hens destroyed.
I feed Dumor or Purina to my hens, but I also give them cracked corn in the evenings during the winter & they free range all day every day. If anything, my egg production has been higher this year than in previous winters, but I attribute that to how warm & wet it's been overall. One aspect people who free range often overlook is that some breeds are simply way better foragers than others. I've seen over & over some hens industriously scratching around to uncover seeds or insects while hens of other breeds just mill around nearby seemingly oblivious to the fact that there's food to be had. Over time I'm eliminating the breeds who don't forage well from my mixed breed flock because the hens who forage well are also, not coincidentally, my best layers & the hens who are cheapest to keep.
I'm still feeding cheapo tsc feed with a bit of scratch and haven't had a change in the past few months. It dropped off during summer but more than expected this winter.
Thank you for this video! I really like all the things you cover... Great info and insight. My hens are fed that tractor supply feed but they also free range (going 2 houses down to the neighbor's) and I am getting eggs from 6 of the 7. (one is brooding) and some days I don't throw out any feed. And they live in a 10x10 dog kennel that's 1/4 covered from the weather. It's the most low maintenance chickens I've ever had.
I wonder if your neighbor appreciates the chickens free ranging there. If they are good with it, great. If not, like us, it's highly annoying. We do not free range our chickens bc of predators. However, the neighbor allows his chickens to come into our area. They stay in our yard until we chase them back. It's not ok. They eat everything and tear up our yard and drop poop everywhere, and get our chickens riled up. If we want ours out, that's on us. We have let ours free range at times but we watch them. All that being said, please think of your neighbor. Again, if they don't care, fine. Low maintenance to someone might be a nightmare for others. We are now going to have to take extra steps to keep them from our yard. It's kinda rude and disrespectful.
I am not in the US but I have never bought pellets or ready made feed. I make my own and tweak the protein content depending on their age, season, molt, broodines, etc. A simple excel and the list of ingredients you can get works great. My hens might slow down with a drastic weather change or something else. You add what they need, including herbs, meat or special saldas and voilà, problem solved.
I live in Michigan we use tractor supply brand and mix with crack corn and grains I also give fly larva and worms I also let them out in the yard to forage and we have had our chickens since April and no eggs at all yet
Just funny how Cal-Maine opened a new facility in September, they are affiliated with Purina that makes feed for Dumor and Producers Pride, just as the backyard egg producers started having problems. Have you tested for any chemicals that might be added to stop hens from laying? That's the question, there's birth control for humans who's to say they aren't adding that to feed?
I’ve been feeling my hens tractor supply 16%layer feed for a year and have no problem. They are laying through the winter with extra light. I also feed them extra grain and greens every day.
I give my chickens tofu and a whole variety of other things to balance their diet They don’t eat tofu everyday but I’ve found it helps when they are going through the winter blues If you don’t trust store bought tofu you can google or RUclips how to make your own tofu You can also add Greens Puppy food Black oil sunflower seeds Rolled oats Cooked meats Bugs grubs Winter weeds from your property ect… Note if you pull weeds for your chickens please don’t pull them from any areas where you have used any Type of chemicals 😢 Have a great day everyone
I switched to Producer's Pride and my egg production dropped from 14 a day to zero. I switched to horse feed and table scraps and within 5 days my chickens were laying again. I bought another bag of Producer's Pride and sure enough..none. Switched again and 4 days later..eggs again. I've been breeding chickens for YEARS and this is NOT a coincidence!
Our easter eggers dropped off this winter, but the reds and barred rocks are still doing fine. We feed them black oil sunflower seeds over the winter for some extra fat vs a ton of commercial feed. Great video, I knew the real mastermind behind this egg issue this winter was BIG sun and his co-conspirer old man winter.
Easter eggs are known to slack off during the winter. It sounds like your flock mirrors mine. My barred rocks are my favorites along with a single Buff Orpington that got thrown in the mix. Best wishes to you.
😂 I love the last sentence to where you point out who is really behind the laying strike! 😂 That was the best! Father time probably has a hand in it too for all the 2-3 year old chickens out there.
Tucker Milling also makes a Soy Free non GMO feed. We also have compost piles in the run. I use the chickens to turn it for me and they have access to all types of additional feed.
I changed to Producers Pride early last year. Egg production went to zero and not one hen went broody all year. Changed back to Naturewisr and egg production is coming back. Purina is the maker of all of the affected feed and they are owned by the largest egg producer in the country. Sure seems like a conspiracy to me....... I'm going to start farming soldier fly larve for supplement to feed and start letting them forage..... Jeff
A rooster caused some stress and stopped my hens laying. The daylight was down. I really didn't worry about no eggs. They're laying regularly now. This winter had a couple days of bad cold. That stopped them. 3 factors that stopped production.
I use tractor supply feed and have for 3 yrs. Dumore brand. We had the regular drop off due to winter, but nothing else. It’s February 12th, and today we got 11eggs from 23 hens, I think that’s pretty good. My chicks are free range...
Your dog running in circles had me distracted. lol. Too funny. But yes! Thank you. Some people will say anything for money and they are being beyond ridiculous. My chickens are laying like they have laid for over 20 years of owning chickens.
He was running in circles on the solar panel install video as well. Too funny. I’ve seen videos of a lot of animals doing the running in circles thing.
I'm in Michigan and use Producer's Pride and supplement with fly larva, meal worms, and kitchen scraps. They have laid all winter for the most part. Thank you for the great breakdown! I'll be free ranging as soon as the snow melts, and changing up my feed for better health for my girls.
I am also in MI with Cochins. I feed small amount of an organic feed (Eggland’s Best pellets), mainly scratch, fruits and veggies, mealworms, oyster shell. They usually stop laying in winter but now they started back already in Feb.
I use Texas Natural!! Great food. Check out Doug and Stacey video about this. A chicken mama pulled the thread and found something ugly at the end and it has Purina all over it!!!
28 layers , been feeding tractor supply since April, still getting 18 eggs a day. Feeding Purina crumble, pellets, chic scratch, wild bird seed, wheat bread. No problem
We use the producer's pride brand from Tractor Supply and have not seen any abnormal slow down, still getting over 100 eggs a week and have been raising chickens for a decade now, I am interested in starting to make our own feed for cost and better quality food for our chickens, we are an hour east outside of DFW, may need to switch to local feed store soon to be safe, Thanks for the great content
corn and soy are so heavily sprayed so i personally would stay away from them... but my chickens free- range part of the day and are doing okay. Thank you for your sane, level- headedness in assuaging the crazy fear-mongering.
I appreciate tge way you honor God in your video. I especially appreciate your common sense view of chicken topics. You’ve just moved to my main conversation on animal husbandry, over another conversation that lately “feels” more like they are driving the hysteria. I do shop at TSC and buy the Dumor 16% layer crumbles but I will add the cracked corn. I also came across the black soldier larva so I got two bags, except there are dried minnows of some sort in there as well. I’m not sure tge chickens are eating the minnows as they are bigger than the larvae but I’ll observe. I’m in Tennessee and we’ve had the weird weather swings as well. If my 6 hens, I’m only positive that 1 hen is laying right now. She may be younger as she is smaller and very henpecked. The others are obviously more mature looking than she. I’m not set up to do lights and not sure I will. I’m trying to get to the point where I can allow free-ranging. Thanks again for your wisdom.
Thank you for a balanced and God focused analysis of this issue. We don't trust our government, but we do trust God. It is probably a combination of things. There is so much going on lately, it's hard not to be hyper sensitive. It is good to learn more about how to keep the girls healthy and to not depend on the government or big box corporations.
Update- We did change our feed and now our 9 newest layers- the spring chicks are laying. We went from 0-1 eggs to 7-9. We expected our older girls to slow down in the winter. We have 18 total. This has been an interesting process.
After viewing a similar video I switched from tractor supply to a local feed store and found no change in egg supply. With 25 reds I get 18 to 20 eggs a day. We feed table scraps,whole kernel corn, and layer pellets. They are doing excellent.
The problem with your analysis is that you are not actually measuring the quantity of those ingredients in your particular bags of feed. You are relying on the manufacturer to test regularly and to tell the real current story for that batch of feed. The raw ingredients (grains for instance) may currently be coming in with lower levels of nutrients in certain parts of the country. Finally, you cite several individuals that are not having abnormal lower levels of egg production yet you do not correlate that to the feed they are using. Here in the NW we are seeing widespread issues attributed to Producers Pride and Dumor which are Purina (Land of Lakes- products. It also matters where the raw ingredients for that batch of feed is coming from.
Ours are doing great and we use feed from TSC as well. They have been free ranging during the day, using way less layer pellets but still eating it. Then also added in per your suggestion we did a little cat food.
I have to start putting a little cat food in the chicken feed. I got to quit buying my usual cat food anyhow, they now are using corn or other kinds of grains in cat food. That will be a good way to use up the last of the cat food.
Mine use to free range until the hawks came, now in there extended run, now I grow greens all over the place nothing but a chicken garden now. They eat that more than the feed.
@@i_am_a_freespirit I've been having problems with cat food lately. I get Purinacat food from 2 different sources. I'll have to read the bag and see if the formula has changed. Some stuff the opposum and raccoons won't even eat! Thanks!
Have you considered raising your own insects? I currently breed Dubias, Horn Worms and meal worms- for my reptiles. Soldier fly larva are super easy as well. Meal worms are super simple. I started with about 4 beetles and now I have a few hundred. I feed them fruit and veggie scraps. They love it.
Along with our free range ability on our farm we also have a relationship with a Japanese restaurant that gives us a lot of vegetables. We go grain free quite a bit and let them forage for themselves, and we have had excellent success! Less grain green more greens. 🤷🏽 the tractor supply I use has not been a problem for me. I live in Cynthiana Kentucky.
I personally experienced an incident with the Purina, Tractor Supply feed event. My hens stopped laying in the fall. I heard about the Tractor Supply thing so I switched to a local feed company, a little more expensive, the egg production came roaring back, so it made a difference in my case. Just a thought.
Started making my own feed . . . I gleened a lot of corn from my neighbors field this fall and dried/shelled that to feed them also. Raised extra pumpkins/cabbage/squash for them too. I grow meal worms because the chickens can't free range in the winter . . . no decreased production in eggs at all but needed to stay away from TSC way to expensive and some other troubles with them! God bless and be aware of everything in their food and ours!
Good video ! I have had chickens for 45 years.I stopped buying feed from tractor supply serval years ago because they just got too high priced. I buy bulk feed from an independent feed mill that is not only 60% cheaper that bagged feed but also is a good all around feed for chickens-pigs and sheep.I do mix in a little different feed into the chicken feed like sunflower seed. Bulk feed from a feed mill is the only way to go.You will go broke buying bagged feed.
I've been using the producers pride since last summer and I get 10 to 14 eggs daily. I've got 14 hens. I give them scratch and cracked corn Monday, Wednesday, Friday. If it's real cold, freezing or below I'll give them more scratch and cracked corn. And the table scraps if any. At the beginning of fall I put in a large pecking block and pour beef and bacon grease over it and they really like that. My breeds are Isa brown and Leghorn.
We only feed our chickens cracked corn and they free range in spring in summer. Cracked corn only and we never had a problem doing this for over 20yrs.
I am much older than you over 70 Have been raising chickens all my life Meaning my grandparents raised us on a small farm i have tried many brands to see if the problem stops and it did. Also we whohave chickens for years are not dummies we know chickens slow down in winter. And I'm in PA. And yes they could have been paid off. And heyyyyy. Who are some of Daniel's of arms sponsors
Lost all egg production the end of October and did not get any till I switch feed getting away from tractor supply pride pellets and it came back in a week. Yes it is slower due to winter but leggorns dont stop for 2 and a half months. The feed is all we had to change.
15 hens, 3 roosters (all free range) = 14-16 eggs per day, for the last 3 months. Tractor supply feed with remaining meat bird feed, and most recently started a constant supply of 16% locally ground pig feed. Location is in Virginia. Everyone I know of with hens have dropped to almost no eggs this year.
Thank you for talking truth and not spreading the fear for the sake of views like SO MANY other YTers are doing - the Fear Profiteers taking their cue from certain celebrities should be ashamed of themselves for claiming to be sharing videos to help people when they are clearly just doing whatever gets them the most views. Please keep being you, you are doing a terrific service by fighting the fear mongers with truth and education.
I use Producer’s Pride 16% Layer Pellets and have 35 hens. These hens are less than 1 year old and I am regularly getting 29, 30, 31 eggs every day. I have a rooster and do feed kitchen scraps on most days. I also (daily) feed Producer’s Pride Scratch Grains. I free range about 25-50% of the time. While it wouldn’t surprise me for this to be true, I am not currently experiencing this phenomenon.
I free range my birds year round, and I live in Northern Michigan.. Keeping them in their run in extreme cold below 10° or 15°. And using a heat lamp in coop in extreme temp. Use a mix of layer feed crumbles Dumor 16%, cracked corn, oyster shell and grit, and house hold leftovers like egg shells, expired fruit and vegetables leftover meats etc. Been averaging 7 eggs a day for 8 layer hens. 3 reds, 3 isa, 2 Americanas. Vinegar garlic and DE added to feed/water also.
I don’t know what’s going on but my chickens stopped laying 4 months ago. I changed the food and they all started laying again. Within 4 days also. Nothing to do with light or weather. I’ve seen it. But thanks for the info.
I have zero clue if TS feed is an issue cause I don't shop there. We buy an all flock feed that we get from our local feed store & then I give them veggie scraps, black oil sunflower seeds & hemp hearts too. And our girls lay really well through the winter most of the time and I've had a little bit of decline in eggs but nothing major. I think this weather has part to do with it. And it's impossible for us to keep all of our eggs clean too in all this rain. The mud is literally everywhere. Lol. Awesome video.
I have been feeding my girls, my rooster and my duck the TS Dumor and I haven't seen a reduction. And people are blaming that Land o Lakes bought out Purina and they changed the recipe. But Land o Lakes bought out Purina way back in 2001. They may have changed the recipe recently, but my own personal experience is that: we're not having a production problem.
I haven't had a Rhode Island in years. I noticed that they are more sensitive to weather & lighting & get picked on more. My Leghorns, Barred Rocks & Wyandottes are superstars! I've also just started raising green eggers this year & they are laying good. I live completely off-grid in Montana & don't provide light or heat in winter & my girls still lay at nearly half production.
I'm almost 60 yrs old, I've been raising my own chickens since I was 20'ish. I believe that some of the feed is having problems with nutrition. This makes sense when you take a look at this summer and fall crop failure. Those crops make feed. Also there has been a lot of weather change (witch is normal climate cycles) Also how many of you allow your hens to forage. Then we get to winter hen drop off laying during the winter, there is age (at 4 yrs. my hens go to freezer camp) All of this is normal and folks need to understand this. If your hens have stopped laying altogether then you should increase their food by giving them more whole foods. By the way eggs are good for hens
I'm so thankful for your video, your insight, calm demeanor and positivity! I will no longer watch videos from RUclips lunatics who think of themselves as the next Messiah on a mission to save the world and are so infatuated with the sound of their own voices that they can babble and catastrophize on and on and on, inciting panic and confusion! I'm all for sharing important information but in a mindful, respectful way. I don't need the added stress! My hens are laying just fine on Nutrena.
Everyone I know who had used tractor supply feed is getting no eggs. I know alot of farmers and something is up. Unfortunately that's our only feed store in the area. Eggs just don't go to zero.
My 6 hens are a no brainer. We always provide pellet feed in their run but all day they come out and graze and forage in the yard. We dump all of our food scraps from the house on top of our small compost heap and they absolutely love it! They not only eat it but mix it for us too. The compost provides them with bugs too so they get plenty of protein without us even trying. It’s winter here in the northeast and we’ve gone from about 6 eggs a day to 3. They are happy and healthy and I’m not having issues at all.
I have been using producers pride for a couple years and dumor 16%. I've had a total of 3 eggs from my established layers since the end of July. I'm not the only one around me either that had no egg production. Yes eggs show down in the winter but I've never seen them stop.
My chickens did change they egg laying this past year, but I don't know if it was the weird weather we were having or what is was. We have now stopped using TSC's feed. Not because of distrust, but prices. We found a local grain mill, and their prices are much lower. We get mash and pellets from them for much cheaper than at TSC. Our chickens absolutely love the mash. Hopefully, the weather will be better for them this year, and we will see a better year for eggs.
@@CountryLivingExperience ,my suggestion is to find a local grain mill and get the fresh stuff. They love it, it's healthier, and cheaper. But don't buy too much at a time, as it can go bad, as the gentleman let us know. Two weeks supply is good.
I give them warm water with cider vinegar and aloe juice, table scraps and peelings, scratch, free range foraging, oyster shell and freely available producers pride layer feed with DE powder added. I have not had any drop in production however I do have to collect three times per day so that they don't freeze in 5-10-degree weather. I've heard the rumors but haven't seen the problem.
Your dog is so funny. I try not to watch him cause I'd get dizzy lol. I have no desire to raise chickens but I will like everyone one of your videos as I believe they are of value regardless of it's relativity to my desires.
My chickens slow down substantially during very cold weather. I started adding cracked corn to my pelleted feed and they began normal laying within a week to 10 days. Although it is still very cold, daylight has increased, and I think that is an important factor.
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MOLD - yes, mold. Could this be the culprit? Aflatoxin is a common problem with grains that get stored. Pretty much all grain has mold but, of course, some batches have much more than others. That's why when people go on grain-free diets that their allergies get better. Even their cancers go away. Most of our dry foods have mold and all of us consume mold. And, it's yummy (think sourdough bread.) However, getting exposed to way too much of a bad batch of (pick your favorite...peanut butter, corn, chocolate, coffee, wheat,...etc...) can make you sick. Some of us more than others. Then, after that your body will not tolerate even small amounts of these mold toxins. Causes inflammation in your body. Well, it does the same to our animals more or less. Yes, weather is a factor. If stored grain (or chocolate, coffee) gets exposed to moisture at a certain temperature...boom...you have more toxic mold in the end product. Here's the theory here: weaponizing mold is a thing. In fact, it's been proven that Big Pharma produces some drugs that purposefully have synthetic mold. Anyway, look at the world through the lense of MOLD and everything starts to make sense. I've learned you can test if your grains have mold by using a black light. The mold glows. (Did you know that cancer glows too?) It'd be interesting to have everyone's feed get tested for mold.
Absolutely! Mold and old feed are not good for chickens. Great comment!
I have seen mold my chicken feed I do not think it's just a coincidence
I got mold in a bag of Dumor from TSC back in October. I normally don't shop there, Naturewise is cheaper at a different store.
Wow I want to know the result
That's a very smart guess.
I have 30 total amerikaners and easter Eggers. Prior to switching to a feed brand of 16% in October I was getting 20 to 24 eggs after switching to the producers pride that is a Purina produced feed. It reduced almost immediately to 8 to 10 by dec 01st. As of jan 01st zero egg production including my 4 African geese stopped. On Jan 15th I switched to a local feed producer and my chickens are back up to 16 to 20 and 2 geese are laying. So take this info how you will
Thank you for sharing your info
I had the same experience. Producers Pride ruined egg production. I switched to a locally-made feed of 19% protein, oyster shells, etc. After 7 days of this feed, my chickens began laying 18 eggs/day. It was not because of molting or lack of winter sun; this happened before that time.
@@hbrws813 I am on day 4 of not feeding the ts feed and bought a local organic so we shall see
Tractor supply is not the only place that sells feed that made my chickens stop laying.
Why aren't the other four geese a laying? Are you getting the five golden rings?
I just told my brother about this. Not sure where he was getting feed. But his chickens hadn't laid for 3 months. After I told him, and showed him articles, he decided to make his own feed, with corn and wheat. His chickens laid 7 eggs, the very next day. I can't even believe it was such a quick change. They really are trying to kill us.
MILITARY PERSONNEL BETRAYED AMERICANS, THEY CREATE NO $$$$WEALTH FOR AMERICA NO DIESEL NO GASOLINE NO FOOD NO ELECTRICITY NO MINING NO TIMBER NO STEEL NO COMMERCIAL PROPERTY NO COMMERCIAL FISHING NO BEEF NO EGGS NO ETHANOL NO SOLAR NO NUCLEAR NO SOFTWARE NO TIRES NO AUTOMOBILES NO MOTORCYCLES NO MTN BIKES NO BOATS NO ENTERTAINMENT NO MUSIC NO ART NO TRAINS NO LOGISTICS NO WAREHOUSE NO NOTHIN FROM SHORE TO SHORE EXCEPT HYPERINFLATION, DEBT AND DEATH OF AMERICANS, PATHOLOGICAL LIARS, TRAITORS HIDING OUT FROM 2008 ECONOMIC DEPRESSION
What kind of feed did he make? Because my chickens also have stopped laying eggs after I've been feeding them store bought feed.
@@containedmyself5300 I messaged him. Since it has been a rainy day, and he uses solar, it may be tomorrow b4 he gets back to me. I'll let you know.
@@containedmyself5300 Ok. My brother replied. He said he used a bag of 'high priority sweet feed', a bag of cracked corn, a bag of wheat, and mixed them all together. He also said he threw on a little oats, that he had extra. But there wasn't alot of oats. Anyways, I hope that helps. Seemingly just don't use the stuff specifically made for chickens. The sweet feed is sort of universal, for many animal types.
@@jiszmo6668 God bless you for this info!
I was on TSC 16% layer feed for years.
Last July my chickens were producing daily till one day they totally stopped.
My chickens are Barred Rocks So they produce even in the winter but they totally stopped in July. My brother gave me a bag of local made Feed around Early December and they actually started producing again until I ran out of that bag. Because his local grain producer was so far away from me I switched to another feed chain and my chickens stopped laying the next day.
The chain store is Kahoots. They are all in on it. And we as Americans are standing by watching.
UPDATE:
Switched back to the local feed store food my brother recommended, two days later the chickens started laying eggs again. We are still in freezing temps and forcasted snow. I switched to a brand called Kelly’s out of Perris California.
It would be nice if the offending feed could be tested, to find what the contaminant is.
The contaminant is mRMA. The offending company is Cargill Industries (may not be the only one). They sell to a lot of retailers under 12 different brand names. Tractor Supply is one of the retailers. Must buy or make your own organic!
Oops, I meant mRNA
@@truderenken3248 I heard it was taking the protein out that caused the issue, so we have to add it back in. Sunflower seeds and meal worms.
I believe Purina makes the feeds that are causing egg reduction
Free range foraging was the key for my chickens. They started laying within a week of starting that. I totally agree with everything you said. Thank you so much.
Excellent video and breakdown! I wouldn't put it passed the WEF and it's cronies to try and do something to not only our food directly but also with our chicken's food indirectly (eggs) too. Keep up the great videos, brother!
Thank you. Will do.
I've had chickens most of my life. I'm 60. I have a good number of chickens and was getting 3-4 dozen eggs a day. Last fall, still warm and sunny here in south Texas my production suddenly went to zero. Talk light, talk variations in production, talk weather... I get it, been through many, many seasons and weather changes. I have 6 different breeds. Birds all all healthy, they are cared for daily. But no eggs. 2 days after switching feed, I have eggs. There was no weather change at that time, no light changes as I control it. ONLY change was feed. I don't wear a foil hat, I'm an old timer (by some definitions) but I know better. People can say oh, they slow down, oh quit spreading this and that. Well, take it for what it's worth to you but I know better. And I'm getting eggs again.
Thank for sharing
I have 11 chickens in my back yard in Aztec, NM. They are a variety and ages. It is cold here, the chickens slowed in November and in January increased to 2 to 3 eggs and now 3 to 4 most days. We are happy with the numbers of eggs for the 2 of us.
Enjoy you chicks! Thanks for the informatiom.
Thank you for presenting a level-headed view of the situation. Its easy to worry about your flock, especially with the issues surrounding bird flu, mysterious fires at chicken farms and processing plants, and now reduction in backyard egg production being seen practically all over. I know I supplement my grain with scraps and protein rich treats and mine seem to be doing pretty well for being the middle of winter (albeit I do live in the south.) It might not be a bad idea to come up with our own grain mixtures. Several chicken youtubers have their own recipes they share on their channels. I have a raised bed right beside my coop where I grow food specifically for the chickens to supplement their diets.
Thank you. Great comment.
‘Bird flu’... LOL!!!
We have raised garden beds as well. What do u grow specifically for your chickens, and how much? We have 18 hens, so maybe not as many as you have.
Currently we grow extra cucumbers & squash for them. I've not had a flock that was super excited about tomatoes though.
@@lidip8700 I grew daikon radish greens, turnip greens, and peas. This year I’m hoping to add millet or amaranth. I supplemented with pumpkins after the holiday, apples, and other types of squashes.
I only have four, currently. I’ve never really given them tomatoes. They do love frozen blueberries and strawberries during the summer.
I am in NC. I was feeding Tractor Supply Pride layer pellets. I saw a drastic drop in eggs. I went from a dozen a day to maybe 1 occasionally 2 a day. I have had chickens for over 10 years. This has been beyond the normal winter drop off. I am switching feed.
Thank you for sharing your experience and adapting to your findings.
Over 20 years of experience raising chickens. The trend of egg production slowing down during the cold weather has not changed from one administration to the next. I’m crying foul!
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I am a pattern recognition expert...
Good information here. I have hand raised chickens and guineas for over 7 years now and I know the weather plays an important role in laying. With that being said and the price of a bag of layer pellets, Im going to start making my own feed and save money in the long haul. Im not sure if the feed companies are purposefully not using as much protein to save a buck, while continuing to raise prices? If so, it would not surprise me and would not be surprised if politician hands are involved in this since most are corrupt and only interested in making money, no matter who gets screwed. Everyone out there that has chickens should keep a close eye on them because people are starting to steal chickens because of the price of eggs. And lastly- Its amazing to me how much damage one administration can cause in a short amount of time. My advice is to buckle up, because its going to get much worse. Just my 2 cents-
Thank you. As long as we look at everything holistically, our chickens will be laying just fine.
I do think it will get much worse as well. This admin is off the rails!
@@CountryLivingExperience I love your common sense approach to this. This admin is indeed off the rails. I live on the edge of town. I have a padlock on the door to my chicken coop. My 6 hens aren't a year old yet, so they kept laying fine all winter. We are switching their feed to a local milling company's feed. It's about $2.00 more a bag, but you get 10 pounds more feed. My chickens don't like the storebought grit or calcium. I do save their eggshells, bake them & crumble them up & feed them back to them & they love those! But I don't have nearly enough of them to keep up. Does anyone have any suggestions on what brands I could switch to? Thanks for another great video! God Bless!
@@CountryLivingExperience i live in south texas and my rir havent missed any laying days 15 of them, south texas is more south than mexicos border in arizona maybe the long sunny days helps im using dumor non gmo 16percent
Thank you for this. I have been raising chickens for nearly 50 years. I feed the suspect feed to my birds. No weird egg production changes. Chickens slow down lay when they are stressed. It is normal. Temperature swings, day length, cloudy days, rain and snow, frozen water, pests and predators... All cause stress. All of these happen more in winter. Another factor is that backyard chickens are seldom cage raised. They seldom get all their nutrition from a purchased feed. We supplement with food scraps year round. They free range some and are fed things like garden scraps and even weeds. This also adds nutrition.
Thank you letting us know your experience! We need more voices like yours.
This was my first winter w chickens. The one that was laying stopped in October. I did switch out feed just to be safe, started giving them a bit extra protein, and two weeks later my speckled sussex started laying. My Swedish Flowers are not yet laying. They are just over 5 months. They all have looked very healthy and happy all winter so I don't actually think the feed was a problem. I'm just happy every time I get an egg. So lovely. Thanks for your balanced point of view!
Thank you for sharing Leta
Over the last year, ive been using Purina's Producer Pride 16% bought at Tractor Supply because it was cheap. In November, my chickens stopped laying. At the end of December, I ran out of the TS feed, and bought some from the local feed store. Within two weeks, my chickens were laying again. Well, two weeks ago, I was running low on feed, so I bought feed from TS, and now the hens are back to laying nothing... I think I'm just going to say eff the layer pellets and start making feed for the chickens from different grains like flak seed, white millet, corn, oats, and sunflower seeds.
Thank you for sharing your experience
We had the same experience. Supplementing with other self made feet takes the egg count from 0 to a few. We are switching to the other at tractor supply, but will see what occurs. Had to remove my dogs from most dog foods- they stopped eating, same with my cat. They do better with real meat. It’s kind of weird about various chicken farms around is getting flocks killed - culling due to bird virus, then the big chicken farm north burns down. There are no coincidences in live. Our chickens always laid thru the winter, and they are free range, just supplemented. My chickens get table scraps already,
Same thing happened to us. My husband was thinking about slaughtering the chickens for meat, since we were only getting 1 egg out of 6 chickens. We saw a Tucker Carlson segment on chicken feed, so we stopped buying Demor from Tractor Supply and purchased from a local feed supplier. Its now two-three weeks later and we are getting 4 eggs from 6 chickens. Plus the shells are stronger now. So glad to able to keep my 6 girls!
Same experience here👋
John, do the sunflower seeds need to be cracked? Or could I grow a sunflower and hope the squirrels don't demolish it first n feed them a chunk of the flower head when dry? Thanks😊
I live down on Mobile Bay and we don't have much of a long winter here, but when it is colder here, I always make sure to feed my birds plenty of meal worms or dried beetles and flies. In general, I feed my chickens 4 main things to keep them laying year round: insects, grains, seeds, and greens. My birds seem to be the most succesful with that type of diet, plus they free range all day in my backyard. We also give them kitchen scraps when we have them as a bonus. Out of 19 hens, and one female duck, we're getting about a dozen or so eggs in winter and closer to 17-19 in summer
Awesome!
My chickens had a big drop off earlier in Nov-Dec, but now they have started right back up and are laying like crazy right now. They slowed down significantly after we had a very harsh freeze around Christmas (-7 degrees here in Ohio)
I really appreciated this video! Becsuse of all the hoopla, we've made some good changes to our feed, but hey, that's a positive thing! Your video shows your wisdom, which is something I pray for daily! However, the very BEST thing you said was that "All these things can be a distraction, taking us away from the study of God's Word "! 🙏 AMEN!
Amen!
Thank you Sir for your video, I haven’t had any problems with my chickens laying, I give them cracked corn,scratch grain, all flock pellets, spinach and tomatoes when I have it. You are correct that weather has a to do with what chickens do or don’t do. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you!
Ok just my two cents but after what I experienced I do believe there is a problem with a certain brand of feed….. let me tell you what happened to me and you all decide for yourself! Last year my friend told me people were having issues with chicken feed causing their hens to stop laying and she told me they were mentioning Purina and other brands owned by purina but sold under different names. I wasn’t really worried because I usually use an organic brand not owned by Purina. I put this out of my mind. Then one day ( last year not during winter ) I noticed egg production was way down. Several days later it was almost zero egg production. This was totally abnormal it wasn’t winter and I feed my girls really well in fact they are spoiled. So I remembered what my friend told me went looking around only to find my hubby had bought two flock blocks made by purina and given them to my girls. I removed the flock blocks and threw them away !!!! Shortly afterwards my girls started laying again and slowly came back to normal. The only factor that changed that I’m aware of was these flock blocks ….. could it just be coincidence…… yes ….. but could it not be coincidence….. yes …… so I’ll leave this here and everyone can decide for themselves. Blessings to you all!! ❤
Thank you Mama Julie!
I use Producer’s Pride 16% Layer Pellets and have 35 hens. These hens are less than 1 year old and I am regularly getting 29, 30, 31 eggs every day. I have a rooster and do feed kitchen scraps on most days. I also (daily) feed Producer’s Pride Scratch Grains. I free range about 25-50% of the time. I live in Texas.
While it wouldn’t surprise me for this to be true, I am not currently experiencing this phenomenon.
Did you buy feed in advance and still working on what you bought in June or July?
@@kathymc234 I buy it about 2 times each month every month this past year (2022) starting early spring. Sometimes I would get enough to last a whole month.
I started with starter feed then graduated to pellets early summer. We’ve used Purina early on, but switched to only Producer’s Pride in late summer/early fall.
Never have I had a problem with egg production except for my Easter Egger for about a month or so.
It was very hot and dry. I provided good ventilation and a shade cloth during this unusually hot summer. And plenty of fresh water.
I tried to keep them from being bored by providing a cabbage on a rope (and the like) mixed with various kitchen scraps.
A happy worker is a productive worker. 😊
Hope this answers your question.
Good talk, thanks! I do not currently have chickens because of zoning restrictions but we're planning to get some in 2024 when we move to our now second home. The information you provide was very useful and enlightening. God bless!
Thank you and God bless you as well!
I do not shop at Tractor Supply. Up here in Montana, we have Shiptons Big "R"... I noticed this winter that my hens/chickens went to 0 egg laying. When in past winters between the 10 we've always gotten 2 to 4 per day except for the occasional negative degrees temperatures. I recently stopped giving them any pellets and am now giving them only scraps and homemade feed, and I'm back to the 2 to 4 per. day. Again, that's if we don't have any negative temperatures.
Thanks for the info!
Experienced the same thing. Just switched to scratch, black sunflower seeds, oats, meal worms 1 week ago and in under a week now getting 2-3/day. Was using Shiptons layer crumbles.
@@lanemaddock455 Thank you for sharing. This is the first time I had heard about an issue with Shiptons. I wonder who makes that feed.
We've been making our own chicken feed which saves us lots of $$$. We're experiencing typical slow egg production due to the time of the year.
A few of my friends told me their chickens completely stopped producing eggs and we gave them some of our feed and shared the recipe on how to make it. Their chickens started laying eggs again within a couple of days. Maybe it's because they're getting a different feed? I don't know. But at least, now they have our recipe for chicken feed & they can also save lots of $$$.
Awesome. A homemade feed is always better imo
I'd love to see your recipe, if you don't mind. I've been planning to do this for awhile now but haven't bit the bullet yet. Thank you!
I would like to know the ingredients of your homemade feed too. When you have the time could you please share it with us?
I’d love to get your recipe too if you don’t mind. Thank you!
There is no recipe. It's all for attention and to fill loneliness
My chickens always slow down during the winter because of molting, and the light! They need 16 hours of light! You can add lights in the coop but that’s more like if you want them to lay like commercial! Mine are free range and the weather in Oklahoma is pretty cold in the winter and extremely hot in the summer! Occasionally I’ll give them worms from tractor supply and oats and veggies! It’s all up to how you manage your flock! Good luck! Hahaha
Thank you
We raise chickens also and we have actually had zero drop in our egg production they’ve actually increased by one or two eggs each day
Yes yes you are not the only one with this info…. My chickens went to zero eggs in August I waited for said reasons… 5 months later still healthy but no eggs. I began to read the comments about TS feed so I switched to a local farmer that makes feed. I cut TS feed completely. Immediately after 3 days on new feed I started getting eggs like crazy. Mid Jan till now still producing eggs. PS my chickens free range on my farm as well… Bye Bye TS from Indiana
Thanks for your video! We raise ducks in northern Ohio for eggs for home use and sale. Our production dropped around Christmas, and is almost back to normal, but I read that the reason for that drop (it happens twice yearly for ducks) is because of fewer hours of daylight (winter) and the molt/new feathers (summer). Our production hasn’t really differed from past years since we got ducks in 2014.
You're welcome and thank you for sharing.
Molting plays a huge role in birds not producing eggs. Their body has to put a lot of energy into producing feathers before the winter.
Thank you, brother, you are seriously a sensible breath of fresh air in this chaotic issue. People that are passing along this egg production issue must also give a solution or they are part of the problem as well. There is enough anxiety and fear out there without conspiring more. Your video is well done!
Thank you. Glad we could help.
The solution is to make your own feed. It is not that TS is out to get you but they are getting feed from unknown sources or from sources with checkered pasts and those companies could be putting something into the feed. Until someone actually does a chemical analysis of the feed to see if any chemicals are in the feed that shouldn't be there then this is just a he said, she said thing and may in fact be true or false. But it is known that there is a rather odd increase of non laying chickens. The issue is real but what is causing the issue is not crystal clear. Many use RUclips to create content and in order to get the clicks they need controversy to get folks to join in and see what the huff is all about. Not a good thing. I don't like the use of controversy. But as stated in the beginning, the remedy is to grow your own and make your own feed to be absolutely sure your chickens are getting the best. Feed should only be supplemental to what they get from natural foraging. If the forage is good there should be no supplements given.
Well said Pete.
I’ve been raising chickens for years I’ve had no drop in production this year we get all our feed from tractor supply. We Use Dumor and I supplement with scraps and greens from the garden I only keep heavy layers barred rock production reds buff orphans etc I’ve got around 45 birds and I pick up between 24 and 35 eggs a day. Things that a-lot of folks don’t think about is the size and quality of the coop during inclement weather the need for oyster shell the length of day predatory pressure hawks can really stress a flock by just flying over . A lot of this is just seasonal there isn’t as much in the yard for them to forage in the winter and what there is they have to work harder for. Plus grain is not fresh in the winter it bing pulled out of storage to grind so feed issues can arise but I doubt it a conspiracy one last thing is during the winter month I move my birds to full feed all they want because there isn’t enough forage a cup a day ain’t Gona cut it in the winter months.
@@marvinbrickhouse9122 I believe we have a lot of new chicken owners,,,and there in could be the problem.... chickens molte,,,less day time hours,,, not the correct feed or amount being used,,,ECT,ECT,
A friend has 60 hens and for the first time in over 24 years, she had zero eggs and had to buy from the store. She had been feeding TSC and switched, egg production came back immediately. My pullets from last March and April hatches never started laying till January, got up to 8/day then stopped within a week. No predators, no feed change. I soak/sprout whole oats, milo and black oil sunflower seed. Looking at growing my own on the perimeter if I can get the cropduster to stop drifting over my property from the pasture across the highway from me! Killed my shade trees! I was in the yard with my girls when he did it! Ran in the house. How am I supposed to grow organic with that going on?
Definitely call the officials, after the landowner. Complain to them!
In the late summer of 2023 into November of 2023 I have all of these breeds I was feeding 16% layer feed and my chickens were becoming lame over night and dead with in a day. My feed came from a small feed store not a big box company. I took my chickens off of the laying feed and they became healthier starting gaining weight back lost the lameness and started back laying again. I can’t explain the difference but it seems like there is something to it. I have raised chickens my hole life and I just turned 50 years old this month. I have never seen this before. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge. Look forward to seeing more from you.
Thank you for sharing
Corn, Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, and Oats make a great scratch for Protein and warmth for the winter. We throw this out every day to get them out of the coop. It's been colder around here so we expect lower production. Days are getting longer and production is picking up.
That’s actually all I feed my buff orpingtons, ISA Browns, Barred Rocks, and Wyandottes! I mix the three and soak it over night, I crushed their egg shells and put them in their feed, they do get oyster shell & grit free choice, mealworms a couple times a week and mine are ALL still laying through the bitter North Dakota winter!
I got that simple mix recipe from Becky’s Homestead. It really works!
Thank you soooo much for keeping politics at a minimal. I appreciate that. I’m fairly new to gardening(Maybe 3 years) Your channel is a wealth of information to my family and I. Thank you for sharing what you know. Right now we’re talking about raising chickens this summer. This video shows me that we have a lot to learn. Thanks again and God bless you and your family too.
You're welcome. God bless
Go those chicks because they will take 4-8 and in 1 case almost a year to start laying. It's pretty simple really. Just a safe home big enough to wander and scratch the dirt, clean fresh water and feed. I handle my chicks a ton ( because they're so cute) and then they are friendly adults.❤❤
Just found your channel. Before I saw all the news about feed I had been discussing with my wife about our chickens not laying at all. Of course, every winter they slowed considerably. Each year I get between 6-8 eggs a day during the winter and 14-20 a day during the spring and summer. This year I had multiple days with no eggs at all and several weeks with only 1 or 2 eggs and we have doubled our number of hens since last winter. I saw all the videos about the feed. We use the Dumor from Tractor Supply. I decided to mix my own feed and see if we could get some eggs. Within 3-4 days I was getting 6 a day. After a week now, I am getting 8-10 a day. I have no doubt that there was some change in the Dumor feed we have used for the last 3 years. It was pretty much an immediate increase in egg production once I changed the feed. Who or what happened to the pellets we were using...I have no idea, however, it was a dramatic change once I changed their feed by making my own.
Glad they started laying well again. Thank you for sharing your experience.
feed your chicken purina and let us know, something shady is happening to the food supply. Fertilizer factory destroyed, farms being taken away. go interview the other farms and youll see
We ran out of Dumor pellets just before winter hit. Two young pullets went into lay about that time also. The two older hens never lay in winter after molting and the two in the middle started laying again after stopping briefly, I think because the two younger ones were laying. They free-range in summer and I give them scraps, fruit, and some fermented wheat in the afternoon. This winter, without pellets, which I really didn't like because who wants to eat compressed "food" for their whole lives, I mixed scratch with sunflower seeds, millet and other bird seed, flax, crushed eggshell, and dried greens (chickweed, nettle, henbit) I saved from last summer. They get a little produce scrap during the week and I feed them egg, mealworms, maybe some liver or meat or peanut butter mix a couple of times a week and a whole grain bagel for a treat on suer cold days when other treats will freeze. We are getting 1 1/2 dozen eggs over winter per week which is unheard of for us. We usually don't get any. I only have a few hens, and two just went into lay so maybe we got lucky, but I love NOT using store-bought pellets just for the health of my chickens.
Awesome
Hello, I'm a new channel subscriber. Our girls always drop off with the winter but this year they completely stopped laying. I started feeding them black oil sunflower and flax seed and now they are back on their normal winter laying schedule.
Cool. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Omgossh seriously loved your video it was truly a blessing to me I’m so tired of all the noise around TSC feed I have a chicken that is molting and she is laying eggs just fine I do however give my girls grub terra as well with some of their scrambled eggs lol keep putting your videos out and Gods word thanks your fellow Texan ❤
Thank you. I appreciate it.
We have 2 flocks. One is under 3 years. The other is only 8 months. Up until 2 weeks ago, we mainly purchased Puritan Pride. We have had chickens for over 10 years and have always had a reduction in eggs over the winter. However this year, our 12 older hens completely stopped laying several months ago, while the 6 younger ones still were giving us 4-6 eggs a day. The older hens are in a coop. The younger ones free range. We did switch our feed 2 weeks ago. Last week, the cooped hens gave us 4 eggs. Yesterday, we got 9.
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
I have free range ducks and they usually only come up to me if their feed bin is empty. They gang rushed me last Wednesday so I figured they were out of food..... Nope still half full, Producers Pride feed. Went and got different feed. They are still laying and never stopped. But we're obviously hungry and didn't like Producers Pride.
My chickens don't like certain brands either. They like the Texas Naturals.
We’ve been using a chick feeder crumble from Azure standard. We went through the first bags very slowly, but my daughter just mentioned that the chickens tore through the last bag. She asked me if I thought the chickens were wasting a lot of feed, but we haven’t changed the way we feed them. So some thing in the bag is different.
I have only used TS chicken feed, for months ….and getting 2-3 eggs (we have 8 hens 2 years old) so I went to a small farm bought a bag of 16% protein, never heard of the brand, anyway, dumped all feed, yes I know you should introduce slowly, however, at this point I didn’t care!!! Next day 6 eggs, I was so excited because my husband said if they didn’t start laying I would be fixing fried chicken for supper for a few weeks. Now I am getting 7-8 eggs a days. Perhaps they just needed a change, I don’t plan on buying any more from TS again, but I will shop there for a few things.
Curious, was this video filmed before the fire at one of the largest egg farms in Connecticut? Coincidence🤔 This happens during an egg shortage, c'mon man!
There have been several chicken plants burned!
I live on Conroe Tx area. I can say I know 1 co-worker and 2 others that are using the Tractor Supply producers pride and their chickens stopped laying also. They just switched. I use Lone Star feed and Producers Coop Feed (out of College Station Tx) and our chickens haven't stopped laying all winter. Around 90% laying daily. So, something is going on; along with all the chicken and egg farm suppliers burning up. Latest one was in Connecticut past two weeks. 100,000 hens destroyed.
Thank you for sharing the info
I feed Dumor or Purina to my hens, but I also give them cracked corn in the evenings during the winter & they free range all day every day. If anything, my egg production has been higher this year than in previous winters, but I attribute that to how warm & wet it's been overall. One aspect people who free range often overlook is that some breeds are simply way better foragers than others. I've seen over & over some hens industriously scratching around to uncover seeds or insects while hens of other breeds just mill around nearby seemingly oblivious to the fact that there's food to be had. Over time I'm eliminating the breeds who don't forage well from my mixed breed flock because the hens who forage well are also, not coincidentally, my best layers & the hens who are cheapest to keep.
Great comment Amber. Thank you.
What breeds are better foragers?
@@samanthaporter6662 The heritage breeds do well as do leghorns & easter eggers to my surprise.
I'm still feeding cheapo tsc feed with a bit of scratch and haven't had a change in the past few months. It dropped off during summer but more than expected this winter.
3 years ago we had no eggs at all from October to February. That is the only time we have had to buy eggs since we have had chickens.
Yep. Mine do something similar every year.
Thank you for this video! I really like all the things you cover... Great info and insight. My hens are fed that tractor supply feed but they also free range (going 2 houses down to the neighbor's) and I am getting eggs from 6 of the 7. (one is brooding) and some days I don't throw out any feed. And they live in a 10x10 dog kennel that's 1/4 covered from the weather. It's the most low maintenance chickens I've ever had.
I wonder if your neighbor appreciates the chickens free ranging there. If they are good with it, great. If not, like us, it's highly annoying. We do not free range our chickens bc of predators. However, the neighbor allows his chickens to come into our area. They stay in our yard until we chase them back. It's not ok. They eat everything and tear up our yard and drop poop everywhere, and get our chickens riled up. If we want ours out, that's on us. We have let ours free range at times but we watch them.
All that being said, please think of your neighbor. Again, if they don't care, fine. Low maintenance to someone might be a nightmare for others. We are now going to have to take extra steps to keep them from our yard. It's kinda rude and disrespectful.
Awesome. You're welcome.
I am not in the US but I have never bought pellets or ready made feed. I make my own and tweak the protein content depending on their age, season, molt, broodines, etc. A simple excel and the list of ingredients you can get works great. My hens might slow down with a drastic weather change or something else. You add what they need, including herbs, meat or special saldas and voilà, problem solved.
Thank you! I appreciate you sharing.
I live in Michigan we use tractor supply brand and mix with crack corn and grains I also give fly larva and worms I also let them out in the yard to forage and we have had our chickens since April and no eggs at all yet
Just funny how Cal-Maine opened a new facility in September, they are affiliated with Purina that makes feed for Dumor and Producers Pride, just as the backyard egg producers started having problems. Have you tested for any chemicals that might be added to stop hens from laying? That's the question, there's birth control for humans who's to say they aren't adding that to feed?
I’ve been feeling my hens tractor supply 16%layer feed for a year and have no problem. They are laying through the winter with extra light. I also feed them extra grain and greens every day.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I give my chickens tofu and a whole variety of other things to balance their diet
They don’t eat tofu everyday but I’ve found it helps when they are going through the winter blues
If you don’t trust store bought tofu you can google or RUclips how to make your own tofu
You can also add
Greens
Puppy food
Black oil sunflower seeds
Rolled oats
Cooked meats
Bugs grubs
Winter weeds from your property ect…
Note if you pull weeds for your chickens please don’t pull them from any areas where you have used any Type of chemicals 😢
Have a great day everyone
Very cool. Thanks for sharing
@Ocean Size lol. I was laughing reading the tofu additive lol. Tofu is over processed no nutrient fluff
I switched to Producer's Pride and my egg production dropped from 14 a day to zero. I switched to horse feed and table scraps and within 5 days my chickens were laying again. I bought another bag of Producer's Pride and sure enough..none. Switched again and 4 days later..eggs again. I've been breeding chickens for YEARS and this is NOT a coincidence!
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Our easter eggers dropped off this winter, but the reds and barred rocks are still doing fine. We feed them black oil sunflower seeds over the winter for some extra fat vs a ton of commercial feed. Great video, I knew the real mastermind behind this egg issue this winter was BIG sun and his co-conspirer old man winter.
Easter eggs are known to slack off during the winter. It sounds like your flock mirrors mine. My barred rocks are my favorites along with a single Buff Orpington that got thrown in the mix. Best wishes to you.
Thank you. Your breeds did the opposite of mine.
I appreciate you sharing your winter feed change.
Same with me my Rhode island is producing eggs no problem but the Americana Easter egger I have just totally stopped
😂 I love the last sentence to where you point out who is really behind the laying strike! 😂 That was the best!
Father time probably has a hand in it too for all the 2-3 year old chickens out there.
Tucker Milling also makes a Soy Free non GMO feed. We also have compost piles in the run. I use the chickens to turn it for me and they have access to all types of additional feed.
Nice!
I changed to Producers Pride early last year. Egg production went to zero and not one hen went broody all year. Changed back to Naturewisr and egg production is coming back. Purina is the maker of all of the affected feed and they are owned by the largest egg producer in the country. Sure seems like a conspiracy to me....... I'm going to start farming soldier fly larve for supplement to feed and start letting them forage..... Jeff
Glad you were able to figure it out with your chickens. Farming the soldier fly larvae is a good idea.
A rooster caused some stress and stopped my hens laying. The daylight was down. I really didn't worry about no eggs. They're laying regularly now. This winter had a couple days of bad cold. That stopped them. 3 factors that stopped production.
You need to watch the video 📹 Off Grid with Doug and Stacy about the chicken feed.. 👍🐓❤️
I have
I use tractor supply feed and have for 3 yrs. Dumore brand. We had the regular drop off due to winter, but nothing else. It’s February 12th, and today we got 11eggs from 23 hens, I think that’s pretty good. My chicks are free range...
Awesome. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Your dog running in circles had me distracted. lol. Too funny. But yes! Thank you. Some people will say anything for money and they are being beyond ridiculous. My chickens are laying like they have laid for over 20 years of owning chickens.
He is hilarious. Thank you for sharing your experience.
He was running in circles on the solar panel install video as well. Too funny. I’ve seen videos of a lot of animals doing the running in circles thing.
I'm in Michigan and use Producer's Pride and supplement with fly larva, meal worms, and kitchen scraps. They have laid all winter for the most part. Thank you for the great breakdown! I'll be free ranging as soon as the snow melts, and changing up my feed for better health for my girls.
You’re welcome. Thank you for sharing
I am also in MI with Cochins. I feed small amount of an organic feed (Eggland’s Best pellets),
mainly scratch, fruits and veggies, mealworms, oyster shell. They usually stop laying in winter but now they started back already in Feb.
I use Texas Natural!! Great food.
Check out Doug and Stacey video about this. A chicken mama pulled the thread and found something ugly at the end and it has Purina all over it!!!
Great food for sure!
I saw the video. It is not evidence they intentionally put something in the feed.
28 layers , been feeding tractor supply since April, still getting 18 eggs a day. Feeding Purina crumble, pellets, chic scratch, wild bird seed, wheat bread. No problem
Cool. Thank you for sharing
We use the producer's pride brand from Tractor Supply and have not seen any abnormal slow down, still getting over 100 eggs a week and have been raising chickens for a decade now, I am interested in starting to make our own feed for cost and better quality food for our chickens, we are an hour east outside of DFW, may need to switch to local feed store soon to be safe, Thanks for the great content
Thank you and thank you for sharing your experience!
corn and soy are so heavily sprayed so i personally would stay away from them... but my chickens free- range part of the day and are doing okay. Thank you for your sane, level- headedness in assuaging the crazy fear-mongering.
You’re welcome.
I always buy the organic stuff.
I appreciate tge way you honor God in your video. I especially appreciate your common sense view of chicken topics. You’ve just moved to my main conversation on animal husbandry, over another conversation that lately “feels” more like they are driving the hysteria. I do shop at TSC and buy the Dumor 16% layer crumbles but I will add the cracked corn. I also came across the black soldier larva so I got two bags, except there are dried minnows of some sort in there as well. I’m not sure tge chickens are eating the minnows as they are bigger than the larvae but I’ll observe. I’m in Tennessee and we’ve had the weird weather swings as well. If my 6 hens, I’m only positive that 1 hen is laying right now. She may be younger as she is smaller and very henpecked. The others are obviously more mature looking than she. I’m not set up to do lights and not sure I will. I’m trying to get to the point where I can allow free-ranging. Thanks again for your wisdom.
You're welcome. I appreciate it.
Thank you for a balanced and God focused analysis of this issue. We don't trust our government, but we do trust God. It is probably a combination of things. There is so much going on lately, it's hard not to be hyper sensitive. It is good to learn more about how to keep the girls healthy and to not depend on the government or big box corporations.
@@kathyb3innc Thank you Kathy
Update- We did change our feed and now our 9 newest layers- the spring chicks are laying. We went from 0-1 eggs to 7-9. We expected our older girls to slow down in the winter. We have 18 total. This has been an interesting process.
@@kathyb3innc Very interesting, thank you. Sounds like you nailed it down.
After viewing a similar video I switched from tractor supply to a local feed store and found no change in egg supply. With 25 reds I get 18 to 20 eggs a day. We feed table scraps,whole kernel corn, and layer pellets. They are doing excellent.
Awesome. Glad you made the adjustment
The problem with your analysis is that you are not actually measuring the quantity of those ingredients in your particular bags of feed. You are relying on the manufacturer to test regularly and to tell the real current story for that batch of feed. The raw ingredients (grains for instance) may currently be coming in with lower levels of nutrients in certain parts of the country. Finally, you cite several individuals that are not having abnormal lower levels of egg production yet you do not correlate that to the feed they are using. Here in the NW we are seeing widespread issues attributed to Producers Pride and Dumor which are Purina (Land of Lakes- products. It also matters where the raw ingredients for that batch of feed is coming from.
I agree its about TSC i had no eggs for 4 months and they were not getting their feathers back. Also 2 year old hens. I switched to quail foods.
Ours are doing great and we use feed from TSC as well. They have been free ranging during the day, using way less layer pellets but still eating it. Then also added in per your suggestion we did a little cat food.
You use the Producer's Pride brand? It isn't 100% of their diet?
Awesome. Glad they are doing well!
I have to start putting a little cat food in the chicken feed.
I got to quit buying my usual cat food anyhow, they now are using corn or other kinds of grains in cat food. That will be a good way to use up the last of the cat food.
Mine use to free range until the hawks came, now in there extended run, now I grow greens all over the place nothing but a chicken garden now. They eat that more than the feed.
@@i_am_a_freespirit
I've been having problems with cat food lately. I get Purinacat food from 2 different sources. I'll have to read the bag and see if the formula has changed.
Some stuff the opposum and raccoons won't even eat!
Thanks!
Have you considered raising your own insects? I currently breed Dubias, Horn Worms and meal worms- for my reptiles. Soldier fly larva are super easy as well. Meal worms are super simple. I started with about 4 beetles and now I have a few hundred. I feed them fruit and veggie scraps. They love it.
I have. I would like to do soldier fly larvae. It is on the list.
Thank you for such a great video! And I LOVE the track around the coop your pup has worn down-that's a focused dog!
Thank you!
Thanks for bringing truth and sense among senseless panic and fear!!!❤❤❤
Along with our free range ability on our farm we also have a relationship with a Japanese restaurant that gives us a lot of vegetables. We go grain free quite a bit and let them forage for themselves, and we have had excellent success! Less grain green more greens. 🤷🏽 the tractor supply I use has not been a problem for me. I live in Cynthiana Kentucky.
Thank you for sharing your experience
I personally experienced an incident with the Purina, Tractor Supply feed event. My hens stopped laying in the fall. I heard about the Tractor Supply thing so I switched to a local feed company, a little more expensive, the egg production came roaring back, so it made a difference in my case. Just a thought.
Started making my own feed . . . I gleened a lot of corn from my neighbors field this fall and dried/shelled that to feed them also. Raised extra pumpkins/cabbage/squash for them too. I grow meal worms because the chickens can't free range in the winter . . . no decreased production in eggs at all but needed to stay away from TSC way to expensive and some other troubles with them! God bless and be aware of everything in their food and ours!
Good video ! I have had chickens for 45 years.I stopped buying feed from tractor supply serval years ago because they just got too high priced. I buy bulk feed from an independent feed mill that is not only 60% cheaper that bagged feed but also is a good all around feed for chickens-pigs and sheep.I do mix in a little different feed into the chicken feed like sunflower seed. Bulk feed from a feed mill is the only way to go.You will go broke buying bagged feed.
Thank you and thank you for sharing that tip.
I've been using the producers pride since last summer and I get 10 to 14 eggs daily. I've got 14 hens. I give them scratch and cracked corn Monday, Wednesday, Friday. If it's real cold, freezing or below I'll give them more scratch and cracked corn. And the table scraps if any. At the beginning of fall I put in a large pecking block and pour beef and bacon grease over it and they really like that. My breeds are Isa brown and Leghorn.
Thank you for sharing
We only feed our chickens cracked corn and they free range in spring in summer. Cracked corn only and we never had a problem doing this for over 20yrs.
I am much older than you over 70
Have been raising chickens all my life
Meaning my grandparents raised us on a small farm i have tried many brands to see if the problem stops and it did. Also we whohave chickens for years are not dummies we know chickens slow down in winter. And I'm in PA.
And yes they could have been paid off.
And heyyyyy.
Who are some of Daniel's of arms sponsors
Lost all egg production the end of October and did not get any till I switch feed getting away from tractor supply pride pellets and it came back in a week. Yes it is slower due to winter but leggorns dont stop for 2 and a half months. The feed is all we had to change.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
15 hens, 3 roosters (all free range) = 14-16 eggs per day, for the last 3 months. Tractor supply feed with remaining meat bird feed, and most recently started a constant supply of 16% locally ground pig feed. Location is in Virginia. Everyone I know of with hens have dropped to almost no eggs this year.
Thank you for sharing your info
Thank you for talking truth and not spreading the fear for the sake of views like SO MANY other YTers are doing - the Fear Profiteers taking their cue from certain celebrities should be ashamed of themselves for claiming to be sharing videos to help people when they are clearly just doing whatever gets them the most views. Please keep being you, you are doing a terrific service by fighting the fear mongers with truth and education.
Thank you so much! I appreciate it.
I love how your dog has made his own running track!
He is hilarious. It now has banked walls like a Nascar track.
I use Producer’s Pride 16% Layer Pellets and have 35 hens. These hens are less than 1 year old and I am regularly getting 29, 30, 31 eggs every day. I have a rooster and do feed kitchen scraps on most days. I also (daily) feed Producer’s Pride Scratch Grains. I free range about 25-50% of the time.
While it wouldn’t surprise me for this to be true, I am not currently experiencing this phenomenon.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate it.
I free range my birds year round, and I live in Northern Michigan.. Keeping them in their run in extreme cold below 10° or 15°. And using a heat lamp in coop in extreme temp. Use a mix of layer feed crumbles Dumor 16%, cracked corn, oyster shell and grit, and house hold leftovers like egg shells, expired fruit and vegetables leftover meats etc. Been averaging 7 eggs a day for 8 layer hens. 3 reds, 3 isa, 2 Americanas. Vinegar garlic and DE added to feed/water also.
Cool. Thank you for sharing.
I don’t know what’s going on but my chickens stopped laying 4 months ago. I changed the food and they all started laying again. Within 4 days also. Nothing to do with light or weather. I’ve seen it. But thanks for the info.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I have zero clue if TS feed is an issue cause I don't shop there. We buy an all flock feed that we get from our local feed store & then I give them veggie scraps, black oil sunflower seeds & hemp hearts too. And our girls lay really well through the winter most of the time and I've had a little bit of decline in eggs but nothing major. I think this weather has part to do with it.
And it's impossible for us to keep all of our eggs clean too in all this rain. The mud is literally everywhere. Lol.
Awesome video.
Thank you.
Glad you are shopping at your local stores. The mud is crazy around here right now too.
I have been feeding my girls, my rooster and my duck the TS Dumor and I haven't seen a reduction. And people are blaming that Land o Lakes bought out Purina and they changed the recipe. But Land o Lakes bought out Purina way back in 2001. They may have changed the recipe recently, but my own personal experience is that: we're not having a production problem.
Thank you for sharing your experience Denise.
I haven't had a Rhode Island in years. I noticed that they are more sensitive to weather & lighting & get picked on more. My Leghorns, Barred Rocks & Wyandottes are superstars! I've also just started raising green eggers this year & they are laying good. I live completely off-grid in Montana & don't provide light or heat in winter & my girls still lay at nearly half production.
Very cool. Yea, the Rhode Islands are super sensitive for sure.
I'm almost 60 yrs old, I've been raising my own chickens since I was 20'ish. I believe that some of the feed is having problems with nutrition. This makes sense when you take a look at this summer and fall crop failure. Those crops make feed. Also there has been a lot of weather change (witch is normal climate cycles) Also how many of you allow your hens to forage. Then we get to winter hen drop off laying during the winter, there is age (at 4 yrs. my hens go to freezer camp) All of this is normal and folks need to understand this. If your hens have stopped laying altogether then you should increase their food by giving them more whole foods. By the way eggs are good for hens
Thank you Deb. I appreciate it.
@@CountryLivingExperience Good video, thanks
God Bless
I'm so thankful for your video, your insight, calm demeanor and positivity! I will no longer watch videos from RUclips lunatics who think of themselves as the next Messiah on a mission to save the world and are so infatuated with the sound of their own voices that they can babble and catastrophize on and on and on, inciting panic and confusion! I'm all for sharing important information but in a mindful, respectful way. I don't need the added stress! My hens are laying just fine on Nutrena.
Thank you Ellie. Watching from a variety of sources in a holistic manner is always the best way.
Everyone I know who had used tractor supply feed is getting no eggs. I know alot of farmers and something is up. Unfortunately that's our only feed store in the area. Eggs just don't go to zero.
My 6 hens are a no brainer. We always provide pellet feed in their run but all day they come out and graze and forage in the yard. We dump all of our food scraps from the house on top of our small compost heap and they absolutely love it! They not only eat it but mix it for us too. The compost provides them with bugs too so they get plenty of protein without us even trying. It’s winter here in the northeast and we’ve gone from about 6 eggs a day to 3. They are happy and healthy and I’m not having issues at all.
Sounds like a great well balanced diet. Exactly what I was trying to get across to people.
@@CountryLivingExperience It’s only our first year with chickens too! I love how easy they are to be honest! Way easier than my cats. 😆
I have been using producers pride for a couple years and dumor 16%. I've had a total of 3 eggs from my established layers since the end of July. I'm not the only one around me either that had no egg production. Yes eggs show down in the winter but I've never seen them stop.
Thank you for sharing your experience
That dog is committed to protecting her chickens!
My chickens did change they egg laying this past year, but I don't know if it was the weird weather we were having or what is was. We have now stopped using TSC's feed. Not because of distrust, but prices. We found a local grain mill, and their prices are much lower. We get mash and pellets from them for much cheaper than at TSC. Our chickens absolutely love the mash. Hopefully, the weather will be better for them this year, and we will see a better year for eggs.
Cool. Thank you for sharing.
@@CountryLivingExperience ,my suggestion is to find a local grain mill and get the fresh stuff. They love it, it's healthier, and cheaper. But don't buy too much at a time, as it can go bad, as the gentleman let us know. Two weeks supply is good.
ours do this every year at this time. Less light and molting. Eggs are already back to normal amount starting February. I live in Florida.
I give them warm water with cider vinegar and aloe juice, table scraps and peelings, scratch, free range foraging, oyster shell and freely available producers pride layer feed with DE powder added. I have not had any drop in production however I do have to collect three times per day so that they don't freeze in 5-10-degree weather. I've heard the rumors but haven't seen the problem.
Thank you for letting us know your experience.
Your dog is so funny. I try not to watch him cause I'd get dizzy lol. I have no desire to raise chickens but I will like everyone one of your videos as I believe they are of value regardless of it's relativity to my desires.
My chickens slow down substantially during very cold weather. I started adding cracked corn to my pelleted feed and they began normal laying within a week to 10 days. Although it is still very cold, daylight has increased, and I think that is an important factor.
Glad you were able to adapt and get them laying normally again.