Ever Feel Like Feed Companies Want You Hooked?

Ever Feel Like Feed Companies Want You Hooked?

Quick Recap for Busy Chicken Peeps

• Feed companies profit by keeping you dependent

• Supply chain crisis revealed feed system fragility

• Sprouting offers independence from industrial feed mills

• Chickens thrive on fresh, sprouted whole grains

• Less reliance on commercial feed lowers overall costs

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Chicken Crack: A Rebellion in a Bag

People thought I was joking when I told them our sprouting mix was called chicken crack. They’d tilt their heads, squint their eyes, and ask, “Why on earth would you name it that?”

But I wasn’t joking. The name was a jab. A sharp one. A poke at the way animals...and honestly, people too...are enslaved by a system that profits from dependence. Feed companies don’t just sell you feed. They sell you the idea that you need them. That your chickens can’t live without what’s inside their bags.

Then came 2021.

The world was unraveling, shelves at grocery stores stood empty, and what most folks didn’t see was that feed stores were empty too. I’ll never forget walking into the store that spring, aisles stripped bare. Not a single bag of organic chicken feed in sight.

My heart dropped.

I thought, “What would I do if I couldn’t get a bag of feed? What would happen to my flock if the trucks just… stopped?”

That’s when the deeper question hit me like a brick to the chest: Why do I rely on a feed company to mix grains when America has silos stacked sky-high with grain just sitting there? Didn’t they know? Didn’t I know?

The Epiphany in the Empty Aisle

That day planted the seed that grew into my book, Thinking Outside the Soil. I wanted others to see what I was starting to see...that there were non-traditional ways to feed chickens. Maybe we didn’t have to bow to the big mills and the shareholders pulling the strings.

The answer was more straightforward than I expected: sprouts.

Instead of waiting on someone else to mill grain into powder and sell it back to me, I could go straight to the source. Get whole grains from a local farmer. Mix them myself. Then sprout them.

Sprouting turns lifeless grain into living nutrition. Proteins become more digestible. Vitamins multiply. Enzymes wake up. Suddenly, I wasn’t just feeding chickens...I was nourishing them.

What Happened When I Sprouted

We began mixing 50% Chicken Crack with 50% New Country Organics. Then we sprouted the mix.

The changes were hard to ignore. Feathers grew glossy. Combs deepened in color. Whose eggs looked richer and tasted like nothing I’d ever cracked into before. Customers noticed too. They’d hold up a fried egg and say, “I’ve never tasted anything like this.”

And here’s the kicker: we were using far less commercial feed. The sprouts stretched every pound of grain further, which meant less reliance on the industrial system that almost left us stranded in 2021.

It wasn’t just about cost. It was about freedom.

The Real Crack Isn’t in the Bag

See, feed companies would love for us to stay hooked. Hooked on their blends, their marketing, their “complete feed” slogans. But what if the real high comes from knowing you can step outside their system and still thrive?

Sprouting taught me that. It gave me confidence. It gave my flock vitality. And it gave me a story worth telling, so that you can stand in your coop one day and feel that same sense of independence.

So next time you scoop feed, ask yourself: What would I do if the bag wasn’t there?

Because the day may come when it isn’t, and when it does, I want you to know the answer already.

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