Dogfood for chicken feed

[randyt]

I was recently reading a book about Sylvan Hart called Laughter on the Mountain. A fella stayed with Sylvan during the mid 1970's. He wrote about Sylvan's buildings and such. He wrote that in one of the buildings, dog food was stored for chicken feed. I wondered why dog food rather than chicken scratch. In our area dog food is 5 dollars a bag more than chicken scratch. any thoughts?

[Canoetripper]

I have no idea why dog food does cost more.
However back when I had some chickens I
would let them out every morning it was a
race a chicken race to where the dogs ate at
they the chickens loved to eat the dogs leftovers.

[nell67]

higher protein content? something to feed them off faster than chicken feed?? I have in the past feed hogs cat food mixed in with their normal feed to help boost feed off. I would stick with all natural foodstuffs now and leave the corn/wheat based feeds alone.

[Wildthang]

I was recently reading a book about Sylvan Hart called Laughter on the Mountain. A fella stayed with Sylvan during the mid 1970's. He wrote about Sylvan's buildings and such. He wrote that in one of the buildings, dog food was stored for chicken feed. I wondered why dog food rather than chicken scratch. In our area dog food is 5 dollars a bag more than chicken scratch. any thoughts?

Maybe he was trying to raise guard chickens!

[finallyME]

You should think of scratch as candy. It isn't the best food for them. You can give them a handful a day, but it is kinda like eating a twinky a day. They need other healthy food for their main diet.

I wonder what the protein content of the dog food is? If the protein content is higher than 20-22% and he is raising meat birds, then dog food would be cheaper. when I buy 50 lbs of dog food at Walmart, it is around $20. 50 lbs of high protein chicken food is around $20 as well.

[randyt]

thanks for the comments. From what I gathered, Sylvan raised banties for eggs only. He would get very upset if something happened to one of his chooks. I was curious why the dog food, perhaps it is as simple as getting a good deal on a load.

[finallyME]

reminds me of the old story about cooking a turkey. A woman asked her mom why she always cut the ends off the turkey before putting it in the oven. Mom said "that's the way my mom always did it". So, the woman went and asked her grandma the same question. Grandma said "so it would fit in my pan". Sometimes the answer is simpler than we think.

[Sluggo]

Food for thought ( pardon the pun) dog food is the ultiment survival food for humans,as it is usually available in most homes with its high protein content.In a true survival event,eating the dogs first is advisable before they eat all the dog food.The average sized dog will provide about a week and a half of food,more if it's jerked,a 50 lb bag of dog food can be stretched out for a month or possibly two,ummm!

[hunter63]

reminds me of the old story about cooking a turkey. A woman asked her mom why she always cut the ends off the turkey before putting it in the oven. Mom said "that's the way my mom always did it". So, the woman went and asked her grandma the same question. Grandma said "so it would fit in my pan". Sometimes the answer is simpler than we think.

LOL........and some of the stuff they cooked and ate, ......because Gramma did.........was because they didn't HAVE anything else....not because they liked it...Like lutefisk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk

[Wildthang]

After reading this post we fed our chickens with dog food, and they chased away all of our barn cats and are biting the mail man............WTF