People often think chickens just randomly scratch feed onto the ground because that’s what chickens do “scratch instinct”
But let me tell you something from months of watching mine: if you have a no-waste feeder and your hens are still throwing pellets out - it’s not playtime, it’s protest. That’s their way of saying: “this feed is trash, thank you next.” Also side not: observing them in person doesn’t tell you anything because all animals changing their behavior in presence of humans.
And yes, it was actually incredibly challenging for them to throw pellets out of a no-waste feeder, which means they’re working extra hard just to get rid of something they don’t want to eat.
So if you see feed on the floor, it’s not “natural behavior.” It’s poor quality feed.
The soy mystery: who gets the good stuff
Here’s something most people don’t realize and I know it from my auditing experience of the whole chain of supply - from soy harvesting to the shelve life of protein bars.
Soy, the big hero of modern protein marketing, goes through a kind of class system:
• Top tier (high quality human food) - all the clean, high-quality soy protein isolates go into fancy protein bars, tofu, soy milk, and your “plant-based” snacks. The higher protein content - the more clean and expensive production process and “by waste” products
Second tier of good soy is the low quality human food, just to be as a filler and increase protein content. It’s basically so cheapest source of protein.
• Middle tier (pet food) - a bit less refined but maybe more processed soy protein concentrate. Your dog and cat still get something decent. But it’s also play role a filler to increase the protein content and make price higher.
• Bottom tier (chicken and livestock feed) - the leftovers, the parts stripped of oils and nutrients, mostly indigestible fiber with very little digestible protein.
That’s what ends up in most feed bags.
So when my chickens pick those soy pellets out and throw them, they’re not being picky - they’re better quality control than the factory. Funny thing is those pellets playing great role of bedding - they absorbing water and not get spoiled, rotten or convert into mesh. Very expensive but good bedding material.
Now, how i buy feed (and why I mix six different bags)
Every two weeks I buy about six bags of feed for my flock of 56 chickens: 4 big and 2 small.
In normal weather in summer time they forage a lot, but during snow or quarantine (yes, chickens can have lockdowns too), I can easily go through all 6 bags a week plus extra greens (like cabbage, kale, leftover from our food, and 5 pounds of black solder larvae).
But that’s the kind of data you start collecting when you treat farming like a science experiment.
Here’s my current mix:
1️⃣ 1 bag of organic green pellets - about $24 at Tractor Supply. They’re the only ones that neverend up on the ground. Completely eaten. That tells me everything I need to know. And they also have distinctive green color, so I can analyze they presence in the “landfill”
2️⃣ 1 bag of good-brand layer pellets - gray-brown color, around $20–22 each. I keep an eye on these: if they start showing up under the bedding, I know quality dropped and it’s happened way too often than I would want to because I hate to change good working processes.
3️⃣ 1 bag Scratch grain mix — but used carefully. In summer, maybe 1/5 of total feed, because they already get tons of greens and bugs. In winter, when they need calories to stay warm, I increase it a bit. Here is also a caveat: some of the scratch grain mix have higher prices but completely wrong ratio (1/4 of cracked corn and 1/4 of cheap soy pellets, meaning that you bought half of $7 feed for $23-25! So pay attention to what inside and better just look at the small windows on the bag, it supposed to be mix of various grains, at least 4-5 and small fractions of cracked corn)
4️⃣ 1 bag of sunflower seeds - this one also needs to be added carefully, I add it generally as 1/5 of all feed because my chickens are not industrial breed and they running a lot every day. And sunflower seeds it’s a great amount of phospholipids, healthy fats and vitamins and minerals all going directly to the yolk that our brain really needs.
Small bags:
5️⃣ Herbs — oregano, thyme, sometimes garlic powder. But I buy human-grade bulk herbs because they’re cheaper and FDA-approved anyway. “Poultry herbs” are often the same thing with a much higher price tag.
6️⃣ Second small bag usually mix of turmeric, red pepper, cinnamon, kelp and brewer yeast - all I buying bulk and mix them by myself
So yes, I spend more per bag, but waste almost none. Chickens are excellent auditors — if they don’t like it, it’ll end up on the floor, no matter what the label says.
May be I have to mention how labeling actually works (and why “high protein” on the bag of chicken feed means almost nothing)
If you’ve ever wondered what “high protein feed” means - the answer is: not much
In the U.S., AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) sets the rules for labeling feed and pet food.
They require the “guaranteed analysis” on the label - things like crude protein, fat, fiber. If it says “high protein,” it must show the actual percentage, and ingredients have to be listed from heaviest to lightest.
But here’s the catch:
1️⃣ AAFCO doesn’t test anything.
2️⃣ They don’t reinforced.
3️⃣ Don’t ask for lab results
4️⃣ Don’t send inspectors or auditors.
They just write the guidelines.
Manufacturers themselves do the lab testing (if they want to) — usually using something like the Kjeldahl method (online databases and calculators) to calculate crude protein (which also counts non-protein nitrogen), sometimes it’s just say “soy” for every of the grade raw soy protein on market which has completely different level of nitrogen, protein, fiber etc.
So if the bag says 18% protein, it could be partly actual amino acids and partly random nitrogen sources. The FDA oversees ingredient safety by checking the primary source of the soy protein supply, but they don’t routinely check pellets recipes or ratio or every feed bag in stores.
Basically, if no one complains, the system runs on trust.
So yes — the bag might say “high protein,” but the source of that protein could be soy dust from the bottom of a silo. Or even worse - soy fiber dust which is not digestible, not tasty and does not carry any of the nutritional value. Chickens know the difference before the lab does.
The hierarchy of food approval: people first, pets second, poultry last
When the FDA checks human food, every ingredient goes through pre-market approval.
That means strict testing, safety documentation, and ongoing inspection. Pet food and livestock feed? Entirely different game. Manufacturers are simply responsible for making sure their products are safe (meaning no one will die instantly) — no one checks them in advance.
Only specific additives or new ingredients need to go through FDA approval. Everything else relies on “trust the manufacturer.”
So in the food chain of regulation:
1. Humans get the strictest controls.
2. Dogs and cats get moderate oversight.
3. Chickens and livestock — practically none.
And yet chickens are the ones feeding us.
Funny, right?
Do you think that eggs in the grocery store where all chickens eat the same cheapest soy by product pellets are really healthy? Think twice.
I learned from watching my flock eat
After months of testing feeds, here’s what I realized:
Good feed isn’t just about the label, or the protein number, or the brand’s “organic” sticker. It’s about what actually stays eaten.
So my approach is simple:
• Buy different types of feed: give chickens opportunity to choose if something is wrong with one of the bags (could be mold and it’s lethal and not even related to the manufacturer, just wrong storage transportation)
• Observe what ends up on the ground. Write data down!!
• Compare consumption ratios and behavior.
• Keep the one they clean up entirely.
And yes — I still collect data on humidity, temperature, and how much feed disappears per day. Because for me, farm life is just another form of risk management and process improvement.
The moral of the story:
Most people think chickens are simple.
But when it comes to quality control, they’re better than half of ISO-audited factories I’ve seen.
They test, reject, and review feed performance daily.
They give feedback through very visible metrics (pile on the ground = nonconformity).
And when they approve something - you’ll know because the feeder is spotless.
That’s why I trust my chickens’ judgment more than marketing labels.
