Making protein extremely high!!!

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

What will happen to my flock of chickens if they eat soy mash (non GMO) containing 44% protein?
Will they eat less?
Will they grow and feather cover faster?
Will they lay more and bigger eggs?

 

[Trish1974]

Wow, that's a lot of protein. I would be worried about kidney damage after prolonged consumption at that percentage.

 

[kcrandall]

IMO that level of protein is way too high. Protein levels higher than 30% can cause heart and kidney problems in adult birds. In chicks and juveniles they will grow more rapidly than nature designed them to grow resulting in joint problems. Don’t over think it...get a good commercial feed (doesn’t matter if it is non-gmo, organic or what) that is 16-20% for layers and 18-24% for chicks / juveniles. Bottom line is if your birds are healthy and vibrant on whatever feed you choose then stick with it...if not then experiment with different brands until you’re satisfied. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

IMO that level of protein is way too high. Protein levels higher than 30% can cause heart and kidney problems in adult birds. In chicks and juveniles they will grow more rapidly than nature designed them to grow resulting in joint problems. Don’t over think it...get a good commercial feed (doesn’t matter if it is non-gmo, organic or what) that is 16-20% for layers and 18-24% for chicks / juveniles. Bottom line is if your birds are healthy and vibrant on whatever feed you choose then stick with it...if not then experiment with different brands until you’re satisfied. Just my 2 cents.

Doesn’t matter if it is non-gmo, organic or what???
Are you sure???

 

[LizzzyJo]

Doesn’t matter if it is non-gmo, organic or what???
Are you sure???

For many people, myself included, the only reason to buy non-GMO or Organic is to be able to sell eggs under those labels. I don't sell eggs, so I buy a perfectly healthy local feed store mash that doesn't tout any of the aforementioned qualities.

It's just down to personal preference - the birds are happy either way

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

For many people, myself included, the only reason to buy non-GMO or Organic is to be able to sell eggs under those labels. I don't sell eggs, so I buy a perfectly healthy local feed store mash that doesn't tout any of the aforementioned qualities.

It's just down to personal preference - the birds are happy either way

And then you eat these eggs?

 

[Shadrach]

You would need to find a way to check this but I think chickens metabolize protein much like humans.
Sticking to humans, we can only digest so many grams of protein per serving; I think the time period is two hours.
I think the average limit is around 35 grams in this period. What we can't digest gets passed through our systems. I think chickens may be the same.
For humans it's recommended that one consumes 55 grams of protein for an average person per day.
I can't remember what it is for a chicken per day.
So for a chicken to digest more protein it would need the correct enzymes in addition to the protein.
To ensure you were not just wasting your money you would have to research how much protein a chicken needs per day and then limit the feeding to the maximum they can digest per sitting and arrange sittings to exceed that amount.
Basically I think you would be wasting your time and money.

 

[LizzzyJo]

And then you eat these eggs?

Yes, we eat them and friends/family eat them. The mash that they eat is perfectly healthy, just not certified organic. They also free range on 3 acres and are fed about 30% from vegetable garden scraps. I don't eat only organic foods myself, though. Again, it is all personal preference.

 

[TooCheep]

Doesn’t matter if it is non-gmo, organic or what???
Are you sure???

Obsolutely. Your question was about protein levels. Too high protein levels would produce harm happen no matter the source.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

Everything that I am seeing seems to be combining corn and or wheat with the soy mash. Can't say exactly why, but I have run across a number of government studies on "acidic diets" and "soy mash" listed in the study.

I wonder if the mash may be too acidic to feed by itself. It does appear that mixing the feed with other feeds makes for a viable feed, the most common feeds mixed that I have seen so far are as I noted before corn and wheat.

P.S.. Not finding any quantitative descriptions of ratios or amounts...