When I first got hens, I didn’t understand how critical they would become to the entire system of my productive home. I just had that fresh-egg fantasy. You know the one: pastel-hued eggs in a Pinterest-worthy little wire basket. They would be laid by happy, fluffy hens and I would have omelets that were as ethical as they were delicious.
I’ve learned it’s more than just eggs. Way more. The chickens have become indispensable to my productive home and garden. They eat bugs and weeds and till soil. They generate the primary source of fertility for my vegetable garden. Their poop, composted with bedding and garden and kitchen scraps, saves me a ton of money on compost and fertilizer.
But three years ago, I was just thinking about enjoying the best, most ethical eggs possible. I started buying my chicken feed from a small, local, organic producer called Scratch and Peck Feeds and have been a very happy customer ever since.
As I’ve grown to observe the full role of the chickens in my garden, I think going with Scratch and Peck was one of the best decisions I could have made. My hens eat a diet free from GMOs or chemical herbicides or pesticides. The eggs we eat and the manure we compost for our vegetable garden reflects that. The input of high quality feed helps the whole cycle become healthier and stronger.
Meet Scratch and Peck
I reached out to the folks at Scratch and Peck Feeds and asked if they might want to come on board as a direct sponsor of NW Edible. I am beyond thrilled that they said yes, and I can share why I have been a customer of theirs for so long.
Scratch and Peck is a small family business, and shares the values that I and many of you do – organic production, support for local farmers and the importance of less processed foods (even for chickens!).
Here’s what you should know about Scratch and Peck Feed when you’re thinking about what to feed your flock:
- Every bag of feed is certified organic and independently verified as GMO-free by the Non GMO Project. Scratch and Peck was the first feed company in the United States to achieve GMO-free verification.
- All of Scratch and Peck’s feeds are soy and canola free. Some blends are also corn free.
- The grains and mashes used in the feed are not cooked, pelletized or reformed. Scratch and Peck’s feed is made with raw whole and cracked grains and peas. It looks like something you’d find in the bulk grain section of the health food store. Pelletized chicken feed, on the other hand, is a processed product where the grains and other feed ingredients are steamed, pulverized and run through an extrusion die. This is akin to how something like Corn Flakes are made.
- The bags used to package the feed are heavy paper and fully compostable, instead of the polypropylene used by most large feed companies. Let’s face it, unless you are opening an Etsy shop, no one really needs that many repurposed feed sack totes. I often use mine under bark as a natural weed block, or to cover up fallow beds in fall, like this (photo taken last November, long before Scratch and Peck became a sponsor):
- The grain used in Scratch and Peck’s feeds is grown locally by small farmers in the Pacific Northwest and milled in Bellingham, WA. I love that I support farmers in my backyard, not anonymous growers of giant soy and corn fields somewhere, when I purchase Scratch and Peck.
- Scratch and Peck’s chick starter is unmedicated. Scratch and Peck makes their feed for folks like me – involved small flock owners who are providing a healthy, clean, non-industrial environment for their chickens. They believe (and I agree) that in these conditions it is not necessary to preventatively feed animals anti-microbials.
- Scratch and Peck also makes feeds for turkeys, pigs and goats.
The Giveaway!
Time to make a tough decision.
Scratch and Peck is generously offering one lucky NW Edible reader their choice of either a Chick Starter Kit – which includes Chick Feed, Chick Grit and Diatomaceous Earth – or a 25-pound bag of Naturally Free Chicken Layer Feed.
To enter to win, leave a comment on this post telling me which prize you’ll pick if you win, and something you love about chickens that isn’t eggs. That’s it, one comment and you are entered to win.
Then, please check out the brand new redesign of the Scratch and Peck Website and make sure to like Scratch and Peck on Facebook or Twitter. (Say hi and tell ’em I sent you – they are very nice!).
Just in case you don’t win, between now and February 24th, Scratch and Peck is offering 10% off all products purchased on their website with the coupon code nogmos! (with the exclamation point).
Also, look, I’m gonna be frank about this: paying for shipping on something heavy like chicken feed can be prohibitively expensive. I get it. I strongly encourage folks to see if their local feed store is carrying Scratch and Peck. If they are, support your local feed store and buy there! If they aren’t, let them know you’d like to see the Scratch and Peck organic and GMO-free option available locally.
One entry per person. Contest open to addresses in the U.S. only. International readers, sorry but you are not eligible to win because of shipping costs. Contest open until Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 8 PM. One winner will chosen at random. Winner will be emailed and have 24 hours to respond to claim their prize.
Good luck, and a huge thank you to Scratch and Peck for helping to keep the lights on around here at NW Edible!
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I have never seen your product until recently trying to find organic products for my chickens in the area that I live in. My ladies are my pets and I am very careful what they have to eat! I would definitely get the starter kit if I won… There is nothing like that here! I am going to check out the site as soon as I can to find out about your other products! Thanks!
Oh, and what I like about my hens… They make me smile… Everything about them from looking in the kitchen windows while perched on the window-boxes, to running across the yard to come see me when I get home from work! Love my ladies!
Chick Starter Kit! My hubby and I raised some pheasants last fall and we would like to try our hand at egg laying chickens!
I could always use a bag of the layer feed 😉 I absolutely love this company and so do my girls, what a great thing they are doing! I decided to start raising chickens last March mainly because I was tired of not knowing where or what was in my food. It was at least one way I had control of what me and my family ate and knowing the source is very empowering. I want to play a roll in taking back our food supply . I never thought I would be so in love with my chickens! What a rewarding and entertaining experience.
I would take the chick starter because I’ll be replacing a few of the older girls with chicks this year and also, in a pinch, my quail can also eat chick starter. Something I love about having chickens, aside from the eggs, is the beautiful photographs that I can take of them. My flock is a rainbow of different breeds and they can be so beautiful… living art. 🙂
I would choose the layer feed. My favorite thing about my chickens is when they get let out to free range they’re so happy they talk and talk and talk.
Our girls are the best compost turners! Even though they manage to find plenty of snacks along the way, they still start and end their day at the feeder. Layer feed for us.
I would love the regular feed. I like how my chickens clean up my vegatable beds over the winter. They eat pests and left over plant waste.
I love how my chickens encourage and berate each other. It cracks me up every time I hear them. I also love that they come running when I call out “Hey Peepers”. I would pick the start pack since it is almost time to go pick up the new baby “peepers” that will be added this year.
Chick starter for me! After 6 years of having layers, I’m trying chicks for the first time. Nervous and excited. I want to do it “right” from the start. Finding an excellent quality, non-medicated, non-soy, GMO free chick starter is an important “must” on my to-do list!
My ladies and I would really enjoy winning the Naturally Free Chicken Layer Feed. My favorite part of having chickens is when they all come running when I step outside, it can really turn around a bad day.
We would love the chick starter kit for our new chicks arriving next week. We love so much about our chickens; love their different personalities and colors. My favorite love is the cooing sounds our teen chicks make while sleeping. Thanks for the chance to win.
If lucky enough to win, I would opt for the Chick Starter Kit. I hope to get my first chicks soon. Not having chickens yet, I haven’t any firsthand experience re. what I like best about them (besides eggs), but on a practical note, I look forward to the ‘free’ chicken fertilizer for my garden!
I love listening to their busy-body “chatting” with one another! I would pick the chick starter package
I’d take the layer feed. I love our chickens, their personalities are great. It’s my favorite to see my husband walking around the farm with the small swarm of chickens hovering around his feet…it’s a hoot!
I would get the layer feed as I’m not starting new chicks this year! I love my chicken for all of the poo for my compost/garden, and because I love going out to visit them every day (a task I did not enjoy when I was a kid, but lo and behold, I love now!)
I would choose the starter kit if I won. What I love about my girls is that they do wonderful with the family. They are so funny when they eat and talk and are great entertainment for my two daughters who love them as well. Thank you for providing us with this contest!
I would choose the Chick Start Kit, if I was lucky enough to win:) I anticipating the arrival of 6 baby chicks in May & would LOVE to feed them the best! What I love about chickens is that they each have their own personalities, some of my ladies are affectionate & enjoy being petted & picked up, while others have no interest in me whatsoever.
Hi. I love watching and clucking along with my hens. They always brighten my day which is a little odd because I never had any affinity for chickens before I actually got some. I’d choose the layer feed. Thanks.
I would pick the layer feed. I’ve purchased at Mud Bay before, but am thinking of buying it through Azure in the 40lb size. I like the weed control they provide for my yard. 🙂 Plus, their funny antics in the yard as they run around is entertaining.
I would gratefully choose the layer feed. I love the many different colors and feather patterns on different breeds of chickens. They are beautiful!
I would choose the layer feed. My babies are all big girls now and providing me with delicious eggs! 🙂
I am new to the chicken world. My girls just started laying eggs and I am hatching my first set of 10 eggs in my new incubator. I am so excited to see those babies, so for that reason I would love to try the chick starter kit. My favorite part of having chickens is watching them interact with my other animals- sheep, mini llamas and alpacas- and how they run to greet me when I come to feed everyone in the evening. I could sit on my porch an watch them all day long.
I would choose the layer feed. My girls are all grown up. I love having backyard chickens. Yes I live in a suburban neighborhood and I have chickens. I did have to go before my HOA board to convince them to allow me to keep my hens. I think that after our meeting all eight board members wanted to go home and trade their dogs, cats and hamsters for chickens.
Layer feed for the girls, please! I love hanging out with them in the yard and having them in my lap, warming my leg.
I’d love the big bag of seed. I love watching chickens try to run. They are not really aerodynamically designed for running and it’s quite comical.
I’d like the layer feed if I win. What I love about chickens is that they are small feathered dinosaurs (in case you don’t follow such things, birds are direct dino descendants, and they are finding fossil remains of feathered dinos); look at a chicken and you’ll see the dinosaur glint in the eye!
My birds eat Scratch N Peck layer feed now… They clearly love it. I really like the local oyster shells built right in. AND I love the funny feeding directions that tease the girls! A free bag would be awesome.
I love how my alpha chick (now almost 5 yrs & still laying occasionally) bravely held off a huge raccoon that got into the coop ( saving the other – mostly younger 7 ladies) until her “man friend” (our 90 lb pit bull) Arrived to save them all (well not the raccoon – but it was his 3rd attempt in 2 nights – so he was warned!) – we would love the layer feed -we’re keeping our old girls til the end!
Our little flock of seven is complete, so I would pick the bag of layer feed. Our chickens are so much more than just eggs! Their deep-bed litter fertilizes our garden, they eat and scratch up our cover crops in preparation for food growing, and they are frankly stunning yard accessories themselves; since we have six different breeds, they’re all different colors and sizes, and they flock around the yard like a beautiful chickeny rainbow. The eggs are useful as well though, not only as nutritious food for us and our pets, but also as ingratiating gifts to neighbors and friends. Not sure how we lived without our girls!
I would love the layer feed. I love how the girls all come running whenever I step out the back door and crowd around the end of their run, hoping I brought something yummy. Thank you for the giveaway!
I would LOVE the 25-lb bag of seeds and goodies for my five hens. After doing research on GMOs for my volunteer position on the county farm bureau board, I have been trying to find an alternative for our chickens, but so far they’re not liking any of the organic pellets or crumbles we’ve found locally. I’ll have to hunt around for Scratch and Peck here on the North Coast of California. A friend gave us five of her excess flock when I was in the middle of a very stressful time of losing my parents and handling their estate affairs. I could sit outside our chicken run and all the sadness and stress would dissolve. And I thought chicken benefits would only be eggs and manure!
I’ve messaged both feed stores closest to me in hopes that they’ll carry a Scratch and Peck layer product. I looked into it and shipping to me in northern-northern CA basically doubles the price of a 25 lb bag… 🙁 BUT it did give me the idea to toss my girls some of my farmer friend’s organic wheat berries once in awhile as a treat!
I’d pick the chicken feed 25 lb bag! Since my old birds love to eat good things 🙂 I love that my kids love our chickens and that there are soo many homeschool lessons that go with having chickens. Thanks!
I would love to win the layer feed. What i love about my chickens is how intelligent they are, so amazing their personalities are, and how I feel like I’ve given my kids a bit of a life I long for.
I’d love the 25 lb of feed. I love letting them loose in the garden in the fall to fertilize and range!
Ooh, I love Scratch and Peck! I would choose the layer feed for my flock, who I love for their ability to endlessly entertain me and my family!
I’d pick the 25lb bag. I’ve been using Scratch and Peck since day one for our small flock of 4. It’s such a good feeling knowing that I’m supporting a local business AND giving my ladies the BEST possible food. Choosing just ONE thing I like about chickens – I’d have to say how completely unique each one is. It’s so apparent how each has a different “personality”
I love Scratch and Peck! So happy that they are choosing to sponser you.
If I win, I choose the starter kit. It is nearly spring and time for new peeps!
I would pick the layer feed. I have one girl who thinks she’s my pet and follows me into the house every chance she gets. It’s cute until i don’t notice she’s followed me in right away :/
I would pick the layer feed, because my “egg lady” runs a Heritage farm in Bellingham, WA all by herself, works her heinie off with little help and even less, monetarily, to show for all her labor. A bag of chicken feed would be a godsend, and if I win it will go directly to Barb at the Hamster Farm and her chickens (who do produce some lovely eggs!)
I’d pick the layer feed, and found out that there is a local store that carries their stuff, so that’s cool.
What I love about my chickens, other than their delicious eggs? It’s such fun watching them, especially when I throw something tasty to them, and one grabs a bit and runs while the others chase her, thinking she must have the best piece. And then they all calm down and pig out on whatever I’m sharing. It’s nice that so little really goes to waste around my little farm.
25lb bag layer feed for us and our cackling cluckers. I love to see how my chore allergic children fight over who “gets” to run out and feed the chooks before school. I also love how they take care of more kitchen scraps than even our dog can handle and give me beautiful fertilizer in return.
I need the Layer food in 25 pound bag cause I have hungry hungry birds that I love for their bright colors and ability to eat up lots of bad bugs in my yard.
I’d go for the Layer feed — my girls are all grown up now. And what I love best about my girls is that they have such quirky individual personalities!
I’m tickled to find a local source of organic chicken feed! I love my backyard girls who are a huge component of my insect control and fertilizing. I’m adding to my flock this spring, so I would choose the chick supplies. Looking forward to trying out this brand in either case.
I would love the layer feed! Chickens make the best pets because they’re not too high maintenance, but they still teach my son some responsibility while helping to show him where food comes from.
Oooh–tough choice, I guess I’ll go with the chick starter kit! My favorite thing about chickens is watching them run at full speed when they see someone bringing them a treat.
Layer feed please! I love the sun glinting blue and green off my black australorp. They’re all pretty, but she’s special.
I would pick the chick starter kit for my mom who we just finished building a backyard coop for! As a student in college at WSU I quickly learned from living on a farm over there that chickens are essential to every part of everyday life in the country. Keeping my chickens happy lets me be able to be self sustainable and allows me to keep my whole life natural! My mom has been dying for her own little flock in the city and we built her a coop so I can bring her some of my chicks in the Spring. I will definitely be checking out Scratch and Peck while on this side of the mountains!
I would love to win the chick starter kit! I have some bantam babies right now, so this would be awesome. My favorite thing about chickens is their different personalities. And seeing them dust bathing in the sun with looks of pure bliss on their faces makes me happy every time!