What’s Inside a Bag of Farm to Flock® Food?
If you’ve ever picked up a bag of chicken feed and wondered what goes into it, you’re not alone. Here’s how we formulated the Farm to Flock® 1-2-3 System around what matters most for your flock.
Chickens are naturally inquisitive creatures who love to explore with their beaks. Whole-food ingredients encourage that instinct, giving your flock something real to peck at and keeping them happily engaged.
When deciding if a textured feed is right for your flock, it’s a good idea to consider your goals. Crumbled starter feeds are going to give your baby birds the best nutrition and the best growth rate to get them to laying hens.
A textured feed provides good nutrition, but the birds have the option of choosing what they want to eat, and they don't always make the right choices. Your chicks on a textured feed will still grow and develop properly, but they are going to grow a touch slower than birds fed a crumbled diet.
So if performance is not the goal for your flock, then a textured feed is going to keep your birds growing, it's going to keep them healthy, and it is going to get them to egg laying at 18 weeks while providing them with the ability to select what parts of their diet they truly enjoy and want to eat.
That’s why we decided to develop both a Starter and a Grower, rather than developing just one food to feed from hatch to 18 weeks. We adjust the size of the ingredients so your flock’s food grows along with them. This way, your birds can eat as much of that diet as possible and expand their selections as they age. Here’s how it looks in practice:
Farm to Flock® Starter Food is 80% mini crumbles, so baby birds can eat everything on day one. We start with small ingredients and texture grains like milo and cracked corn that still give chicks early exposure to whole ingredients. There’s also more protein (20%!) in this formula, because the first few weeks are all about rapid growth.
As your chicks grow, so does the variety.
Farm to Flock® Grower Food brings in even more texture and colorful components, including mini pellets and nine whole grains and seeds for your bigger birds to enjoy.
And by the time your chickens reach laying age, they’re ready for even more.
Farm to Flock® Layer Food is a medley of pellets, ancient grains, seeds and veggies formulated to support strong shells and nutritious eggs for years to come.
And behind every bag of Farm to Flock® Food, the Chick Strong® and Flock Strong® Systems support growth and protect long-term health, from your flock’s very first peeps all the way through adulthood.
You can feel confident that every bag of Farm to Flock® Foods delivers high-quality ingredients that are right-sized for your birds’ specific life stage.
New to chicks and looking for a little more guidance? The Farm to Flock® 1-2-3 System takes the guesswork out of what to feed and when, from first peeps to first eggs.
What Is Textured Chicken Feed?
Farm to Flock® Foods look a little different than your average chicken feed because they are what’s known as a textured feed. These feeds are hybrids that combine whole grains, seeds and other recognizable ingredients with pellets or crumbles.Chickens are naturally inquisitive creatures who love to explore with their beaks. Whole-food ingredients encourage that instinct, giving your flock something real to peck at and keeping them happily engaged.
When deciding if a textured feed is right for your flock, it’s a good idea to consider your goals. Crumbled starter feeds are going to give your baby birds the best nutrition and the best growth rate to get them to laying hens.
A textured feed provides good nutrition, but the birds have the option of choosing what they want to eat, and they don't always make the right choices. Your chicks on a textured feed will still grow and develop properly, but they are going to grow a touch slower than birds fed a crumbled diet.
So if performance is not the goal for your flock, then a textured feed is going to keep your birds growing, it's going to keep them healthy, and it is going to get them to egg laying at 18 weeks while providing them with the ability to select what parts of their diet they truly enjoy and want to eat.
Does Ingredient Size Matter?
When we formulated the Farm to Flock® 1-2-3 System, we wanted to get ingredient size right. A chick straight out of the egg is tiny, and so is her beak. If you put large grains and seeds in front of her on day one, she can’t eat them all. That means ingredients go to waste and baby birds don’t get the full nutrition their feed was formulated to provide.That’s why we decided to develop both a Starter and a Grower, rather than developing just one food to feed from hatch to 18 weeks. We adjust the size of the ingredients so your flock’s food grows along with them. This way, your birds can eat as much of that diet as possible and expand their selections as they age. Here’s how it looks in practice:
Farm to Flock® Starter Food is 80% mini crumbles, so baby birds can eat everything on day one. We start with small ingredients and texture grains like milo and cracked corn that still give chicks early exposure to whole ingredients. There’s also more protein (20%!) in this formula, because the first few weeks are all about rapid growth.
As your chicks grow, so does the variety.
Farm to Flock® Grower Food brings in even more texture and colorful components, including mini pellets and nine whole grains and seeds for your bigger birds to enjoy.
And by the time your chickens reach laying age, they’re ready for even more.
Farm to Flock® Layer Food is a medley of pellets, ancient grains, seeds and veggies formulated to support strong shells and nutritious eggs for years to come.
And behind every bag of Farm to Flock® Food, the Chick Strong® and Flock Strong® Systems support growth and protect long-term health, from your flock’s very first peeps all the way through adulthood.
Is All Chicken Feed the Same?
The honest answer is no. In fact, chicken feeds can vary quite a bit, but it’s not always easy to tell from the feed tag. You can compare two different bags and see similar protein levels, calcium and key nutrients listed, but there are other things — like ingredient quality and size — that might not show up on a feed tag.You can feel confident that every bag of Farm to Flock® Foods delivers high-quality ingredients that are right-sized for your birds’ specific life stage.
New to chicks and looking for a little more guidance? The Farm to Flock® 1-2-3 System takes the guesswork out of what to feed and when, from first peeps to first eggs.
