A question about chicken feed

[Megatron's Mom]

I was in TSC today getting chicken feed for the chickens. I use all flock so not what I want for the tortoises.

I saw Purina Organic layer crumbles was mentioned here a few times. So my question is the size of the bag. I know chicken ppl do not like using feed that is more then 6 weeks old as they say it loses nutrients. So do I really need to worry about that? My two are only little at 180g and 253g, even a little bag would last a long time.

 

[wellington]

I doubt that any of that feed is less than 6 weeks old. Unless you mean once they have opened it
I buy the big bags of mazuri. I can't use it up within a small amount of time, so I freeze it. You could do the same or use it too feed your chickens and save a small amount out for your tort.
@Kapidolo Farms uses it too. Maybe he sells it and you could buy a smaller amount from him.

 

[TammyJ]

Excuse me...? Chicken feed for tortoises? Not getting this.

 

[wellington]

Excuse me...? Chicken feed for tortoises? Not getting this.

Yes, the layer pellets. Of course as part of a varied diet. I use it to feed my leopards during winter to help the grocery greens, along with mazuri. I soak mine in a small amount of water. I also have chickens that I mainly buy it for.

 

[Ink]

I have been using it for many years. Now I buy it from kapidolo farms.

 

[Tom]

Excuse me...? Chicken feed for tortoises? Not getting this.

Yes Ma'am. Will @Kapidolo Farms introduced this to us a couple of years ago... Maybe longer than that..., but yes, Will.

The ingredients are similar to what you find in Mazuri, but without the molasses. It is fortified with calcium and D3, which is great for growing babies, egg laying female tortoises, and really any tortoise that spends a lot of time indoors over a long winter. Its good as a supplemental food for just about any species or life stage. I started using it a long time ago on Will's recommendation, and my tortoises all eat it. I soak it and mix in about one cup to a five gallon bucket of assorted greens. I do this once or twice a week for variety.

 

[Tom]

I was in TSC today getting chicken feed for the chickens. I use all flock so not what I want for the tortoises.

I saw Purina Organic layer crumbles was mentioned here a few times. So my question is the size of the bag. I know chicken ppl do not like using feed that is more then 6 weeks old as they say it loses nutrients. So do I really need to worry about that? My two are only little at 180g and 253g, even a little bag would last a long time.

That is where I get mine too. I've had the same bag for several months. Because I only use it occasionally, and as a supplemental food, I don't know that I would notice any degradation of the nutrients. If kept cool and dry, I'll bet your smaller bag would last for several months at least without any significant loss of nutrition. A small bag could even be kept in your fridge.

 

[Yvonne G]

If you buy chicken feed be sure to read the ingredients. You don't want something they've added medications to. It's safe to buy what Kapidolo Farms sells.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

I doubt that any of that feed is less than 6 weeks old. Unless you mean once they have opened it
I buy the big bags of mazuri. I can't use it up within a small amount of time, so I freeze it. You could do the same or use it too feed your chickens and save a small amount out for your tort.
@Kapidolo Farms uses it too. Maybe he sells it and you could buy a smaller amount from him.

I don't know why I didn't think to freeze it. Thanks

 

[Megatron's Mom]

That is where I get mine too. I've had the same bag for several months. Because I only use it occasionally, and as a supplemental food, I don't know that I would notice any degradation of the nutrients. If kept cool and dry, I'll bet your smaller bag would last for several months at least without any significant loss of nutrition. A small bag could even be kept in your fridge.

Freezing it or in the refrigerator never came to mind. I will have to do that. Even the small bag at this point will last several months.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

If you buy chicken feed be sure to read the ingredients. You don't want something they've added medications to. It's safe to buy what Kapidolo Farms sells.

Oh yes for sure. The medicated kind is labeled right on front for coccidia.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I was in TSC today getting chicken feed for the chickens. I use all flock so not what I want for the tortoises.

I saw Purina Organic layer crumbles was mentioned here a few times. So my question is the size of the bag. I know chicken ppl do not like using feed that is more then 6 weeks old as they say it loses nutrients. So do I really need to worry about that? My two are only little at 180g and 253g, even a little bag would last a long time.

Hi,

Right on the bags should be a 'best used by date' which can be extended by years if you store the food in a freezer, month in a refrigerator. But best to use by the date on the bag when stored in a cool dry place away from direct sun. The use it soon has more to do with a possible contamination from stored food beetles - there are many kinds. A metal or plastic trash can usually works to solve that potential problem. I go through it quick between my own use and what I sell. It's the standard nutrient 'thing' I include for all species all age classes.

The layer crumbles do have a deficit, and that is fiber content. It's not the amount, it's the diversity of fiber particle size. For small baby tortoises I don't find that to be a problem. Fiber has much to do with everything going on with food digestion in tortoises. Fiber has three effects/aspects in the tortoise gut as it relates to nutrition and another as it related to gut transit time.

Gut transit time better 'self regulates' with higher fiber content. The bolus of food moves at rate that works best when the fiber content is higher.

As for those three aspects of fiber. Preamble- fiber is most often tested as if ruminants or people are the diet study test subjects. So I break it out in qualitative terms so you don't really need to learn all the stuff nutrient scientists use. Fiber is something the animals own digestive processes can break down as one aspect, the second - fiber is something gut microfauna can break down (they specialize on fiber molecules, eat them, and their 'waste' releases nutrients the tortoises' digestion could not access), and the third 'fiber' is stuff that does not get digested at all, but is the substrate the microflora live on - they don't really 'float free' in there, they need something to 'sit' on. The more diversity in fiber particle size the more balanced the gut microfauna is.

So, organic chicken layer crumbles are not a stand alone. There is not fiber diversity in them, this is also a point that excludes the Mazuri diets as suitable as a stand alone food. ZooMed has fiber diversity, so does the Hikari Mulberific.

Back to layer crumbles. They are one percent point higher in protein than the old Mazuri, but again should be a supplement, not a main diet, so that the protein when counted for the whole of what you feed is still in an acceptable range. There is enough calcium and nutrient based D3 to support a chicken to lay eggs often.

The protein is complete, that is all the amino acids are present.

And Kay Booth's family has now published '80 years with tortoises' which means that chicken layer crumbles have a longer tortoise food use than any tortoise specific commercial diet. She grazed her babies on grass, so that's how they got the fiber balance.

When I sell layer crumbles I include some 'organic grass' or another commercial diet sample.

I get here on TFO with no regularity. Always best to use email with specific questions.

 

[EricW]

This stuff is also great for feeding your feeder cockroaches, they love it. And any other feeder insect.