Scratch and Peck Whole Grain Grower Mash Chicken and Duck Feed - 40 lbs Bag - Corn-Free and Soy-Free - 17% Protein, Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified Chicken Food

I've ordered Scratch & Peck feeds 3 or 4 times now and my chickens have gone crazy for it since day 1. You can definitely tell the difference in your flock when you give them a quality feed vs. the mass produced highly-processed crap they sell in most feed stores (the biggest difference that I've noticed is in the smell of their poop - much less potent when on this stuff). I love that you can actually see the grains in this feed, but the downside is that the chickens will pick out their favorites and leave the rest (at least that's been my case). There is some powder in this feed as well, which is more difficult for them to eat. You could add water to the powdery stuff and give it to them as a mash, but what I've been experimenting with recently is fermenting feed. I'm down to the last bit of the bag on their current feed, so much of my experimenting has been with the powder or bits that they "rejected", but you can ferment all the feed if you wish to do so (which I plan on doing with the next bag that I get).If you're not familiar with fermenting feed, here's a quick run-down:There are tons of benefits to fermenting - the process produces what are essentially probiotics (healthy bacteria) that promote digestive health. I've also read that the components of the feed are better utilized by the chickens' bodies after the feed is fermented - they don't have to eat as much to get the nutrients that they need (which saves you money, essentially, because it takes them longer to get through a bag of feed). Since fermentation produces a wet feed, they also don't require as much water. From the first day of offering this feed to them after it had fermented, I've noticed that their poop is well formed for the most part (not runny) and there is nearly no stink to it (yay!). Others have also reported healthier looking feathers and less illness (I haven't been fermenting long enough to see these benefits in my flock yet).The fermentation process is pretty simple - you just place some feed into a vessel/bucket, add a source of healthy bacteria (I use apple cider vinegar with "the mother"), and add enough water to cover the feed. You can also add other things to the mix that you would normally feed them (kitchen scraps, etc), though I haven't tried adding other components yet. Loosely cover the container (so gasses can escape & air can get it - you don't want to leave the container completely uncovered or it'll attract bugs... unless that's what you're going for, lol) and place the container in a location where it is somewhat warm and dark. After a day or two, you should notice the odor change to kind of a sour scent (if you've ever made sourdough bread or worked with a sourdough starter, it's along those same lines) and it'll get frothy - when this has occurred, it's ready to feed to the flock. If your birds are adults, it may take a day or two for them to "accept" it, though mine didn't really have an issue with it. There are tons more details about fermenting in the forum of the Backyard Chickens website - one of the threads on there is over 1000 pages long, lol (just search for fermented feed).From what I've seen, fermenting is definitely the way to go - it keeps the flock happy & healthy and it stretches the feed budget (win-win-win). This feed on it's own is great, but fermenting just takes it to the next level.

This is the best layer feed I've tried for my hens so far!! It's filled with nutrient dense ingredients and helps my girls lay eggs consistently 🙌

Very high quality chicken feed. My two week old chicks love it.

Yes this feed is on the expensive side, but it contains no fillers or junk. My ladies like it best if it's "fermented", which in my case means mixing in a Mason jar, 1 1/2 cups of feed with enough water to cover, putting the lid on loosely and letting it sit overnight, or for 24 hours. The grains swell and all the fines are absorbed and when you give it a good stir, it makes a mash my ladies can't resist. That jar full will usually last me for two feedings for my four hens. That's a cup and a half of food for 4 chickens over two days, which is pretty great! So, my kind of expensive feed lasts quite a while and none of it goes to waste, so that's a pretty good value for the money . My hens also free range during the day and do get treats like dried black fly larvae and dried crickets as well. I get four beautiful, hard shelled eggs every day! I do recommend this feed if you use it "fermented", or soaked. Straight from the bag it can seem wasteful because there is some dust and fine particles that aren't easily consumed from a trough feeder, which is what I use.

I have been feeding this to my chickens for a long time and they are doing very well on it. They do waste a ton of it so I ferment it and mix the dry with the fermented usually otherwise they only pick out what they like and don’t even touch the little split pea things in there that look like corn but isn’t, or the dried fish meal so yeah also make sure you order this food at least a week before it says it will be delivered because my chickens have run out of food numerous times because the delivery is often late. Amazon has a problem with this. You order an item that you need by certain time it tells you the delivery date and it is late again and again and again, and there is nothing you can do about it and they don’t care at all.

Product was perfect. Just ordered the growers version. Thank you.

The "girls" just love this feed. This feed can be fermented and they get their "mash" every morning. I also have it dry in their brooder. I do recommend this feed.

your products always come well packaged and send out right away..Plus, my chickens and ducks say your feed is the BEST!! Thank you for all your hard work!