Am I waisting my money on organic feed?

I've been buying organic layer pellets for the dry feeder, and fermenting grains to give them once a day for a few years now.  A few months ago I decided to switch the hens to "real" food and stopped buying layer pellets.  I would put some of the grain mixture ( usually wheat, soybean  meal, black oil sunflower seeds, then it  varies, I may add mullet, and or flaxseed, peas.  In the winter I add oats, barley, and maybe some corn) in the dry feeder, and ferment about 4 cups a day.  My thoughts were it's better for all of us to eat real food instead of processed food.  A couple weeks ago I went back to the organic layer pellets for the dry feeder because it occurred to me that the grains some kind of enzyme if I remember correctly that keep us and maybe the hens from being able to process it easy. Which is why I ferment the grains.  So maybe if I'm going to offer a dry feed the layer pellets are a better option.  Then I was thinking about the expense of organic. I have always fed my hens organic except for the whole grains I ferment. I can't get them in organic. I'm sure if I looked hard enough they are out there, but way to expensive.  Then I wonder if I'm waisting my money buying organic layer pellets and non organic grains.  Ideally it would all be organic, but it's just not possible. So is some organic better than nun? Or is it silly to buy dry organic, and regular grains?  I'm curious what you all think my crazy little circle of feed.

I don’t think it’s a waste to buy organic. You’re avoiding gmos and pesticides. You might look into finding out if you can get something locally made. I’m in Washington and there’s a farm that grinds and mixes their own feed, and delivers it to various locations once a month. You have to order several weeks ahead and be able to pick it up on the delivery day.

There are many small farmer who grow “near organic”.  That is, they do not meet the letter of the requirements for organic but are close. In my conversations I have had, this seems to be more cost cutting than philosophy.  You may want to ask around.

I know seeds have enzymes and things that try to keep us from eating them.  Is is the same for birds?  I mean a large component of their diet for millennia has been seeds so are they better adapted to eating them than humans?  

Honestly, I think it is do the best that you can do for your livestock. If that means you are in a position to only buy whatever feed is available then that is good enough!

Organic prohibitively expensive? Don't put yourself in a financial bind. If you can source your feed and know how its grown but it doesn't have an organic sticker? Great!

We all strive to try and be perfect but that can be be impossible. By putting effort into trying our best in sourcing feed we are giving our animals a leg up.

Mike Haasl wrote:I know seeds have enzymes and things that try to keep us from eating them.  Is is the same for birds?  I mean a large component of their diet for millennia has been seeds so are they better adapted to eating them than humans?  

Many plants, like peppers, are adapted to discourage mammals, like with the burn of peppers’ capsicum, which birds do not feel. Birds then carry these seeds much further and may well be more likely to deposit them in a better situation to germinate, like in the protection of a thicket where they nest or the deep soil along a fence line where they perch.

If I could not meet the grower or get some other assurance they use organic or better practices, I would go for organic feed. In addition to supporting better farming practices, this avoids the bioaccumulation of toxins in biocides in non organic feed. Every step up the trophic cycle concentrates many toxins 10x, including from chicken-egg-us or cow-milk-us.

Hi Jen,
My 2c is that if its a choice between keeping the chickens with non-organic food or having to get rid of them because you can't afford organic... then keep them and feed them whatever you can find. I agree with Jack Spirko on this point. Chickens (and their eggs) raised by you, even being fed the cheapest commercially produced chicken feed you can find... will be so much better than what is in the store.

Anything in between the extremes of keeping or getting rid of chickens for me is more a philosophical question. I like to use as much organic as possible, to encourage more of it. So far, my small scale has allowed me to do this most of the time. Realistically, I get what I can, and still feel like I am ahead of modern farming.

Matt McSpadden really said it for me. Once you get past the "Do I keep them or not?" question, the what to feed them (chickens) is something personal and relates to what *you* personally feel is the best use of your time and resources.

I could buy the amazingly expensive organic, non-GMO feed. I would appreciate increasing the market for non-GMO products and would enjoy knowing that I was feeding something that could have been offered similar birds 70 years ago. I also think that we, as a society, need to use our resources wisely and without messing up everything in the natural world just because we can.  It's a thin line to walk.
I make the decision to get my cracked corn as organic as possible and go ahead and get one of the "not necessarily non-GMO/organic" bagged feeds because it's easier for me and I can justify bending that much.

If Life were perfect, I would grow all my flock's feed and a good amount of my own plant derived foods, and I would have control over how those things were raised. It's not a perfect world.

Is there a huge difference between GMO, non-organic, traditional, commercial and organic? I dunno. Seriously. I've seen a lot of research on it and have my own opinions on where those studies may have veered off from the information I would like to have, as well as who paid for those studies and what that says about the state of agriculture and agronomy science, but those are personal opinions. My opinions may have no bearing at all on actual data.

My best advice on what to feed your chickens? (And a lot of the regular Permie stuff and decisions in other parts of life, for that matter?) Do what you can as you can and do your best with the rest of it. Don't put so much stress on one part of your experience that it causes problems in other parts. Take the Long View - if all goes well, you'll be living this lifestyle for a very long time, so make sure it's comfortable for you. Taking care of one aspect, being self-reliant in one thing, is better than not but the goal is to be comfortable with your decisions, life, and choices. It's not to be perfect.
Perfection is a goal and one we strive to miss closely, but that we know we will miss.

As long as your birds are happy and healthy, you're doing it right.