Soldier Fly feed

[MNL]

I feed my chickens Purina Layena free range because it uses Soldier Fly partially as its protein source. I chose this food because it made sense to me that this is what mostly matched what a chicken would eat in "nature" not soy. I also was trying to stay away from soy as much as possible to due its connection with estrogen and breast cancer, etc in humans and concerned about it passing on the effects of soy in their egg production. Does anyone know of another brand that uses this as its protein source in a complete pellet form? I'm having a hard time finding Purina lately. Also, why isn't soldier fly more widely used in poultry feed pellets, if anyone knows? It just seems like it would be an obvious choice for a protein source to me.

 

[kmpcfp]

I don't know about feed, but I have a soldier fly farm out of my compost bin in the summer that I supplement my hens with.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

I feed my chickens Purina Layena free range because it uses Soldier Fly partially as its protein source. I chose this food because it made sense to me that this is what mostly matched what a chicken would eat in "nature" not soy. I also was trying to stay away from soy as much as possible to due its connection with estrogen and breast cancer, etc in humans and concerned about it passing on the effects of soy in their egg production. Does anyone know of another brand that uses this as its protein source in a complete pellet form? I'm having a hard time finding Purina lately. Also, why isn't soldier fly more widely used in poultry feed pellets, if anyone knows? It just seems like it would be an obvious choice for a protein source to me.

I use scratch and pecks bsfl layer pellets. They are cheaper to purchase at a feed store than online (you get a 35lb bag at the store for the same price as a 25lb bag online). They have a store locator on their website where it shows you all the stores that they stock their feed at. I do have to mention that it is not a cheap feed though. I pay $40 for the 35lb bag. I sell eggs that pay for their feed and their bsfl snacks (grub terra) and scratch treats. Grubbly farms is another brand but you can only get them online.

 

[MNL]

I use scratch and pecks bsfl layer pellets. They are cheaper to purchase at a feed store than online (you get a 35lb bag at the store for the same price as a 25lb bag online). They have a store locator on their website where it shows you all the stores that they stock their feed at. I do have to mention that it is not a cheap feed though. I pay $40 for the 35lb bag. I sell eggs that pay for their feed and their bsfl snacks (grub terra) and scratch treats. Grubbly farms is another brand but you can only get them online.

Thanks for this info! It's not available anywhere near me, I'm on Long Island, but Chewy carries it and it is everything I want in a feed!!

 

[NatJ]

I feed my chickens Purina Layena free range because it uses Soldier Fly partially as its protein source.

Can you post a photo of the ingredients list from the package?

I have been very interested in that feed, but I cannot find the ingredients list anywhere.

From the labels on the front of the package, I cannot tell if they are using the fly larvae as a major source of protein, or just a tiny bit with a lot of advertising. I would hope they have a lot, but as I said I haven't managed to find a label to actually see.

 

[imacowgirl2]

Can you post a photo of the ingredients list from the package?

I have been very interested in that feed, but I cannot find the ingredients list anywhere.

From the labels on the front of the package, I cannot tell if they are using the fly larvae as a major source of protein, or just a tiny bit with a lot of advertising. I would hope they have a lot, but as I said I haven't managed to find a label to actually see.

I find it very interesting that it appears this is the ONLY type of feed that they don't provide the ingredient list on their website under the 'Nutrition' tab...I thought I saw it posted here somewhere on the forums once, I'll see if I can find it, because I too, am curious.

 

[imacowgirl2]

Can you post a photo of the ingredients list from the package?

I have been very interested in that feed, but I cannot find the ingredients list anywhere.

From the labels on the front of the package, I cannot tell if they are using the fly larvae as a major source of protein, or just a tiny bit with a lot of advertising. I would hope they have a lot, but as I said I haven't managed to find a label to actually see.

Found the post I was looking for...wasn't an actual picture of the feed tag, but info about where it sits in the ingredient list in this post.

 

[NatJ]

Found the post I was looking for...wasn't an actual picture of the feed tag, but info about where it sits in the ingredient list in this post.

Thanks! I think that's talking about the 19% "High Protein" layer feed, rather than the "Free Range" one used by the OP of this thread. Purina's got so many variations now I have trouble keeping them straight!

I find it very interesting that it appears this is the ONLY type of feed that they don't provide the ingredient list on their website under the 'Nutrition' tab...

I'm not finding ingredients for any of the chicken feeds I look at on the Purina site

 

[imacowgirl2]

Thanks! I think that's talking about the 19% "High Protein" layer feed, rather than the "Free Range" one used by the OP of this thread. Purina's got so many variations now I have trouble keeping them straight!


I'm not finding ingredients for any of the chicken feeds I look at on the Purina site

Wait there are two by Purina that have the BSFL? If so, they definitely have too many feed variations!! The 19% high protein one on their website is the one that has the picture of the BSFL on it — and I couldn’t find anything on their website that had free range in the name, so I assumed they were the same. Now I’m interested to see what the bag of OP’s feed looks like to check it out.

Also, I just looked, and the mobile version of their website don’t show the ingredients, but the desktop version does…

 

[NatJ]

Ooh, jackpot! Amazon listings for the 10 pound bags have photos of the ingredient list on the back.

"Layena + Free Range"
https://www.amazon.com/Purina-Layena-Free-Range-Layer/dp/B07VDB6KDS/

"Layena + High Protein"
https://www.amazon.com/Purina-Layena-Protein-Layer-Chicken/dp/B0BDSVQ6HR/

Both of those have ingredients lists that start "Ground Corn, Dehulled Soybean Meal."
The Free Range one has "Black Soldier Fly Larvae" between Calcium Carbonate and Oyster Shell.
The High Protein one has "Dried Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal" between Calcium Carbonate and Oyster Shell.

Both feeds have other ingredients in between the ones I listed. But since ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, and the guaranteed nutrition part of the label tells how much calcium is in the feed, we can make a reasonable guess about how much of the feed is actually fly larvae.

(Calcium Carbonate and Oyster shell both contain calcium, but neither one is pure calcium. We would have to take the actual percent calcium of each into account if we wanted to try to find the exact percent soldier fly larvae in the feed.)