Established earlier this year, Mile Four is a Minnesota-based company that ships organic chicken feed to farmers nationwide. They offer subscriptions and flexible delivery schedules.
Feed to chickens comes in three distinct forms. Each type is tailored for a certain age group and contains essential nutrients that keep them healthy and happy.
Contents
Whole Grain
Whole grain chicken feed is a granola-like blend of cracked grains and unprocessed ingredients that encourages your chickens’ natural pecking instinct. Not only does it promote their pecking behavior, but it’s also fun for them to eat!
Whole grain is an excellent source of calcium, which helps build strong bones and promotes egg production. It should be introduced to pullets about one month before their first egg harvest (around 15 weeks old), so they have time to adjust to choice-feeding and increase their calcium consumption as well as reserve reserves in their bones.
In the beginning, you will need to grind some of the feed so your hens can easily consume it. After three weeks or so, their gizzards should have grown enough muscle mass that they are able to efficiently grind grain without assistance.
The only drawback to whole grain chicken feed is that it may not be as nutrient-rich as other types. To guarantee your flock gets all of the protein they require, supplement with scratch, mealworms or kitchen scraps.
Pellets
Pellets are an efficient way to feed your flock, as they remain intact. This makes them easier to pick up if your chickens knock over their feeder, plus they’re easy to serve and store.
Mashed potatoes are made with a combination of mash and other raw materials. They can be made from corn, peas, barley, oats, wheat or alfalfa.
Mash is combined with other raw material and then compressed into pellets using either a pellet press or mill. These raw materials may include sawdust, wood chips and other forestry waste, farming industry scraps, lignin and livestock manure.
Making feed pellets involves several steps, such as position rearrangement, mechanical deformation and plastic deformation. The raw materials consist of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin which go through several stages in this process to form a dense and tough pellet.
Mash
Mash is a coarse-grained mixture of grains and other ingredients that chickens can easily chew and digest. It provides them with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients for optimal health.
Mash is often mixed with some supplemental feed for chickens. This liquid, such as water, yogurt or apple sauce, encourages them to consume it.
To make mash water soluble, the starches must first be broken up by heating to an elevated temperature.
Pellets are produced by adding a trace amount of vegetable oil as a binding agent and molding them into an oblong shape. The compact cylinders minimize waste, making them simpler to handle and produce.
The company is targeting the growing number of backyard chicken keepers to offer fresh eggs and pest control. They ship feed directly to customers on a subscription basis.
Crumbles
When it comes to chicken feed, two options exist: pellets and crumbles. Each has their own advantages and drawbacks.
Pellets are composed of ground grains and protein that have been ground into smaller, uniform pieces for easy consumption by chickens. Furthermore, pellets tend to be less messy and waste-free to consume.
Crumbles are small pellets that have been broken up, rolled or cracked into smaller pieces. While not as fine as mash, they provide more substance in a smaller size.
Chicken pellets can be an ideal alternative for chickens who find pellets difficult to consume or those looking to gradually transition their flock over to pellets.
Mile Four offers a non-GMO layer crumble that’s high in protein and fiber, fortified with various vitamins and minerals to promote egg production and health in your chickens. Plus, it is free from soy and corn–an uncommon feature among many chicken feeds.
