2024 Meat Chicken Project

Meat Chicken Feed Comparison for Growth

Timmons feed vs. dumor vs. naturwise

Our question:

Which feed will create the most meat per dollar in a typical 10-week growth period for Cornish Cross meat chickens?

Research:

Timmons Feed is a local feed store that offers a wide variety of products.  Timmons Feed uses local grain and mixes their feed on site to create a simple and effective feed.  Timmons can also custom mix feed.  We started with one bag of Timmons 20% Chick Starter and switched to Timmons 18% Chick Grower for the remainder.  The first three ingredients in the Grower are grain products, plant protein products, and calcium carbonate.

DuMOR is a Purina product that states it is a healthy feed with essential nutrients plus additives such as prebiotics and probiotics.  DuMOR is made in the USA and is available at Tractor Supply Company.  We used the 20% protein Chick Starter/Grower for the first bag and then 24% protein Meatbird.  The first three ingredients for the Chick Starter are ground corn, wheat middlings, and dehulled soybean meal.  The first three ingredients for the Meatbird are dehulled soybean meal, ground corn, and grain screenings.

NatureWise is a Nutrina product that states it uses high quality natural ingredients that also include essential oils, herbs, prebiotics, and probiotics.  NatureWise is made in the USA and is available at Tractor Supply Company.  We used the 22% protein Meatbird Crumbles for the entire time.  The first three ingredients are ground corn, dehulled soybean meal, and corn distillers dried grains with solubles.

Hypothesis:

As a custom poultry processor, McVay Family Homestead has seen a wide variety of customers who bring us different breeds and raising techniques for chickens.  We have also raised many meat chickens using different feeds.  Our experience has been that a local feed store, in our case Timmons Feed, produces the largest meat chickens.  When we see smaller poultry of the 10–12-week time period, it seems customers use the NatureWise brand of feed.  We do not have any predictions for Dumor but expect it to be like NatureWise. 

Process:

Around 60 male Jumbo Cornish Cross were initially purchased from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  They arrived June 20th, 2024.  We split them up into three groups of around 20 chicks in equally sized livestock watering tanks.  All were fed in the same sized feeders and watered with the same size waterers.  After the first month, the chickens were moved to chicken tractors.  Timmons and NatureWise were in 5’x8’ tractors while DuMOR had a 4’x10’ tractor.  These tractors were regularly moved to fresh grass.  The Timmons and DuMOR chicks were given their perspective chick starter feed until the bag ran out, which was around 3 weeks.  NatureWise does not have a chick specific mix, so was given the meatbird feed the entire time.

Feed: 

Week 1: *Pictures will remain in order of DuMOR, NaturWise, Timmons.

Notes:  The DuMOR and NatureWise feed is larger crumble than Timmons.  DuMOR chick starter smells normal as well as Timmons.  NatureWise has a smell that is like fermented feed. DuMOR meatbird has the same smell.  Timmons chick starter and grower looks the same and is the most natural looking.

Week 2:

Notes:  Birds are beginning to feather.  NatureWise birds have the most food and thirst drive.

Week 3:

Notes:  All birds are having a growth spurt.  During the first couple of weeks, our cats decided to have their own experiment and see how many chicks they could eat before we were able to properly secure the chick tanks.  After around the 2 week mark, birds were redistributed to make for a more even number in each tank.  While this is an important time to build a foundation of health and growth, the size of birds in each tank were around the same, so if this affected the end result, it would be minimal.

Week 5: *Pictures will remain in order of DuMOR, NaturWise, Timmons.

Notes:  All birds are enjoying being in the chicken tractors with fresh grass to graze on.  All are also enjoying the large pan of water and stand-up feeders.  We have found using a large pan is easier to maintain than a traditional stand-up waterer as we just refill the pans with a garden hose.

Week 6:

Notes:  Another growth spirt, but NatureWise having a smaller growth spirt.  At this point, we start to notice that both NatureWise and DuMOR are producing much more body waste than Timmons.  As we move the tractors, the ground has much more waste on it than Timmons does, and the birds are messier as a result.  The Timmons birds stay much whiter than the other two for the remainder of their time.

Week 8:

Notes:  Steady growth.

Week 9:

Notes:  All birds are becoming large.  Timmons is consuming slightly less feed than the other two.  One Timmons chicken died on Aug 22nd but was significantly smaller than the rest.  Unknown cause.  DuMOR had one chicken die Aug 22nd and another on the 23rd.  Both turned purple and appeared to struggle breathing.  Cause of death most likely cardiac related.  This is not too uncommon in Jumbo Cornish cross as they are bred to have a very quick meat growth time.  It is unknown if the feed was a factor in the deaths, but at the time of butchering the DuMOR and NatureWise birds had more fluid in the cardiac sac than Timmons.

Week 10:

Notes:  Butchering began before we could get a picture of the DuMOR chickens.  Timmons remained white and very clean.  NatureWise and DuMOR were not clean.  All appeared healthy and were able to handle the mid to upper 90-degree temperatures with the help of a fan on each tractor.  It is important to note that Cornish cross are not a hearty breed and will overheat easily without breeze, shade, and/or fans.

Butchering:

DuMOR and NatureWise birds were butchered on August 31st.  Timmons were butchered on October 1st.  The NatureWise birds processed easy, had good, healthy, normal sized organs with some water in the cardiac sac.  NatureWise birds also had erosion on the pads and joint of their feet/leg where the body wase had ate away at the yellow skin.  DuMOR birds were also easy to process, had good, healthy, normal sized organs with some water in the cardiac sac.  DuMOR birds did have erosion on the feet and legs, but less than NatureWise did.  We attribute this to the increase in body waste and feed type (smell of fermentation).  All tractors were moved together on a regular basis.  Timmons birds were very clean, easy to process, and had slightly healthier looking organs of normal size.  Timmons birds had less water in the cardiac sac, with some having no fluid in the sac.  This is important as the more fluid in the cardiac sac, the more pressure is placed on the heart.  In human terminology, congestive heart failure.  While all three types of birds produced a decent amount of meat, the weights in the next table will show a clear difference.

Results:

Cost Analysist:

Conclusion:

The clear winner and most cost-effective way to get the most pound for your dollar is Timmons Feed!  Giving credit where credit is due, DuMOR came in a close second, but there is still enough of a price gap $/lb that we will continue to use Timmons Feed.  After seeing firsthand over the years customers bringing us chickens fed on all different brands, we are always surprised at the size Timmons Feed can produce.  Timmons Feed strives to produce a cost effective, high quality, low ingredient, feed.  We have been using Timmons for several years now and would recommend anyone to try them out for all livestock.  Timmons also gives bulk discounts and does have processing equipment such as a scalder and plucker for use.  We enjoyed watching these birds grow up and keeping everything fair and square for all three feed brands.  All feed was purchased and there were no sponsorships.  If you have any comments/questions, feel free to reach out to us through our Facebook page, McVay Family Homestead. 

Thank you and God Bless!

-John and Rachel McVay