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12:28 am
March 14, 2011
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Last week I stopped at the farm store and purchased chicken feed (or so I thought!)..I stayed in my truck while the kid loaded the feed in the pickup bed…then when I got home hubby took the bag up to the coop and dumped it in the big container I keep it in. Several days later I noticed the empty bag..and that it said "Horse Feed"! Darn kid at the farm store gave me the wrong feed so my girls have been eating (and LOVING!) horse feed now for several days. Will this cause any problems for them? Will it affect their egg laying quantity or quality? Over the past two days I have noticed that one hen is pulling out feathers on her back… I have checked her over and see no mites or parasites..and she is the only chicken exhibiting this behavior… could it possibly be related to the change in feed? I intend to take the remaining feed back to the farm store and get layer feed tomorrow, and hopefully the gals won't revolt and tell me they want that yummy horse food instead!
6:04 am
February 10, 2009
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Won't hurt them, I'm not sure of the salt content in the feed you got. and too much salt isn't good for chickens, but really chickens will eat darn near anything!!! I doubt it will hurt egg production, but it's possible… really though, what'cha gonna do if it does? I'm not sure I'd bother taking it back, what a pain! I'd probably just get layer feed and mix it in with the remaining horse chow. That's just me though.
6:37 am
March 30, 2009
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I'd do exactly what BuckeyeGirl suggested.
As to the chicken losing some feathers, she's probably just moulting.
What I want to know is, did the chickens start to neigh? 
8:56 am
June 12, 2011
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Hahahahaha!! That's a pretty funny situation, I must say! But I honestly wouldn't worry about feeding it to your gals…mine eat anything and everything I give to them, including the occasional bird seed, crushed eggshell, etc., and have never suffered for it that I can tell. What a blast for them, though. I bet they're having the times of their lives. 
10:57 am
February 10, 2009
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Yeah, I would let them know at the feed mill what happened though, (take the label with you) and when you get the chicken feed, mix it all together so the change in feed is more gradual for the girls.
They may give you a discount on another bag… or not, but at least they'll hopefully be more careful about loading feed for people. 
11:15 am
August 24, 2010
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As someone with horses (who go and lick up the chicken feed when they are loose in the yard..
Dude! don't you know the threat to horses being taken to the chicken feed factory??! lol) and chickens (who often get a scoop of the horses' grain in their food bucket
and track it down in the pasture if they didn't) , I am wondering what really is the difference between the horse feed and the chicken feed? If no one noticed until you saw the bag then there doesn't seem to be a visual difference. If there is no huge difference in the two I (personally) wouldn't be worried. I'd be a lil more peeved at the feed store help. 
11:33 am
February 8, 2009
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Don't worry, chickens are supposed to eat everything…if they can handle manure..they can handle some horse food LOL
It seems that these days where you can buy food for every individual in your barn, people get scared if they gets something else.
chickens are smart..if they eat it…they can handle it…I have had goats eating pigfood, cow eating chickenfood..now I don't even buy prepared food anymore..just grains, lentills, peas, oats and whatever else I get from farmers around here.
We have a mill….I grind it all up..and everybody gets the same.
Do you have a rooster?? if so, that can explain the loosing feathers of her back too.
And less eggs..could be..the days are getting shorter..older chickens lay less eggs etc..again, don't worry..just enjoy
1:13 pm
January 9, 2011
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I wouldn't worry either. But Flatlander- I am not convinced chickens are that smart: I once caught my flock gathered around a piece of styrofoam and eating like refugees. I watched them closely for side-effects but, lol, not one even seemed constipated.
1:31 pm
July 17, 2011
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I'm going to be the dissenting voice here. Horses are vastly different animals from chickens, not only in nutritional needs, but how they digest food. While chickens and horses might free-range in the same field, they are eating different things. You won't find many chickens eating from the hay pile, nor will you see horses foraging for bugs and worms. Horses need much lower protein and much higher fiber. Horse feed is about 10% protein and 30% fiber, while chicken feed is about 16% to 18% protein and only 7% fiber. Chickens have no saliva to digest fiber, so fiber is just ground up in the crop and gizzard and expelled in poop. A good 30% of the nutrition in the horse feed is going straight through your chickens.
This is possibly why they are "loving" the horse feed so much. They are eating a lot of it trying to get the nutrients they are missing.
Feather picking is a sign of protein deficiency, and it can happen rather quickly when eating low protein feed. The effects from drastic changes in the diet take about 10 days to show up and about the same amount of time to correct. While the horse feed might not harm the chickens over the short term, it certainly does not contain the right ingredients for quality egg production. You need to get their protein amount back up quickly. Losing feathers at this time of the year is really hard on them as cold weather sets in. Conceivably, they could be using up the calories needed to lay eggs on keeping warm because of feather loss. You don't say how old the hens are, but if they are full grown, they might not get the lost feathers back until the next molt.
It would not be worth the price of a bag of feed to me to take the chance of more feather picking and reduced quality and quantity of eggs this close to winter. You could use the rest of the horse feed as a treat after they have consumed plenty of the layer feed.
5:35 pm
June 1, 2011
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Now I'll have to be the dissenting voice to what Wildflower_VA said. Animals are alot more hardy than we give them credit for, and both horses and chickens can vary a little more in their diets than what the feed "MANUFACTURERS" would have one believe.
You didn't say how fast you use up a bag of feed, how many chickens you have, if they free-range, etc, etc. The primary difference is in the percentage of protein, and as others have suggested that can be mitigated by getting a bag of chicken feed and mixing both. This is the time of year of molt and increase in mites/lice due to them starting to be inside a little more so the feather picking might just be coincidental. Btw, did you check the roosts for mite/lice, too?
If it were me, I'd take the empty bag back (I wouldn't haul back that heavy feed ; )), and make them give me the right stuff. It could be a problem if it were repeated, and I certainly would not want to continue feeding the wrong feed.
(Heck, when I've run out of feed, I've been known to substitute with dry cat food until I could get to the mill! Everyone survived )
5:50 pm
December 14, 2010
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You should be able to learn the content of that feed. How much grain and how much hay and what kinds. I would be more concerned if I had horses to feed and got laying mash.
6:27 pm
August 24, 2010
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Well yes Wildflower_VA, obviously horses and chickens have different nutritional needs and need different diets. But yes, my chickens DO go and eat the hay with my horses, or munch on some from the hay stack themselves. Alfalfa is a good source of protein and I even throw my chickens a few flakes in the winter so they have some greens in their diet.
Animals are much more in tune with what their bodies are "saying" in what they need to eat. Horses will lick up certain soils if they are deficient in certain nutrients and trace elements and they have no access to them in block form from their humans.
I'm saying the "horse food" you buy in a sack (grain of some sort, possibly even bran (wheat or rice)) isn't going to hurt the chickens. Sounds like this was a one time thing.
Sucks to get the wrong food, especially if there was a large PRICE difference. Like Ross, I'd be more upset if the horses got the lay mash, although my piggies would still eat it.
7:01 pm
February 8, 2009
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Ok correction to what I said about smart chickens LOL
but..yes if you expect high production from you chickens..you do need to give them the proper food..but most here are (semi) free range..and we won't kill them if they don't lay for a few days…so like most others said…don't worry.
aprilejoi said:
I wouldn't worry either. But Flatlander- I am not convinced chickens are that smart: I once caught my flock gathered around a piece of styrofoam and eating like refugees. I watched them closely for side-effects but, lol, not one even seemed constipated.
8:33 pm
June 12, 2011
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I would definitely use the oppertunity to the best advantage…take the bag to the store and be the outraged customer! Maybe you'll get a free bag of chicken food, who knows. Besides, the customer is always right.
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