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Benefits of feeding chickens soy-free feed

written by

Aaron Miller

posted on

August 16, 2019

Soy is a standard ingredient in conventional chicken feed - even for organic chickens.

The reason farmers feed soy to chickens is because it’s cheap. In fact, it’s basically the cheapest form of protein you can feed an animal.


However, if you put chickens in a field of soy, they wouldn’t touch the plants. It’s just not something that would be in their natural diet. 

Humans have to process and cook soy in order for chickens to eat it. 


For commercial chickens, the soy in chicken feed is just the soy fiber. Farmers grow soybeans, and then they’re processed into oil. What’s left is the soy fiber, which is toasted and then mixed in a feed.

For a small farmer, the soy would be roasted and then mixed in feed.

Feeding soy to chickens has negative effects on their health. 


It leads to deficiencies in vital vitamins and minerals like manganese, iron, Vitamin E, zinc, and calcium. And, these deficiencies can lead to health issues like abnormally formed bones, pancreatic atrophy, and susceptibility to diseases.

So, when you eat meat or eggs from chickens that are fed soy, you can imagine that there would be implications for your nutrition, too.


Since the animals are not the healthiest, the meat and eggs are not as nutrient dense.

And then there’s phytoestrogens. The levels of phytoestrogens in soy are significantly higher than any other food and do carry into the meat and eggs. High phytoestrogens cause health issues in humans like hypothyroidism and various types of cancer.

And, to make things worse, growing soy is bad for the environment.


First off, so much forest has been cleared to grow cheap soy. 

Second, about 85% of soy grown is GMO, which means that the fields are sprayed with toxic pesticides and herbicides. This disrupts our fragile ecosystem in so many ways - from water contamination to displacing native plants, bugs, and animals. 

So, what should we do? Let’s remove the soy from feed!


A soy-free feed replaces cheap soy protein with flax and fishmeal. Our feeds contain a specially formulated blend of corn, peas, wheat, flax meal, fish meal, crab meal, alfalfa meal, seashell flour, and a nutri-balancer which has kelp, probiotics, vitamins, and minerals.

All of our chickens for meat are fed a soy-free feed. The farmer offers both regular eggs and soy-free eggs so customers can have access to more affordable eggs that are a step up from commercial options.

After reading this, what would you do? Would you spend a bit more to have soy-free chicken and eggs?

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Did you know that, globally, pork is the #1 meat? According to the UN, 10% more pork is eaten compared to poultry worldwide. And, 50% more pork is eaten compared to beef worldwide. Wow! But, for some reason, this isn't the case in the US. According to the USDA, pork ranks #3 when it comes to meat. Americans eat 30% less pork compared to poultry and 15% less compared to beef. Why is this? Well, pork has gotten a pretty bad rep in the US. Of course there are some religions that prohibit pork, but that's not the leading factor.  Some reasons why pork has a bad rep. 1- Too much saturated fat.  The low fat craze started in the 1970s and fizzled out in the 1990s. It came from the belief that (1) fat makes us fat; and (2) that too much saturated fat = high cholesterol = bad things like heart disease and cholesterol. These myths have been debunked. Read more in fats and health blog post. The bottom line is that not all fats are created equal. Natural animal fats from happy, healthy animals are good. It's those highly processed hydrogenated saturated fats that are bad. In other words, eat all the pork fat! 2- Worry about disease.  People still seem to think they can get sick from pork. There's fear of parasites (like the roundworm Trichinella spiralis that can cause trichinosis) or bacteria or other things.  The reality is that getting sick from pork is really rare nowadays. If you cook pork properly, you don't need to worry about disease. Muscle meat (like chops or tenderloin) should be cooked to 145F. Ground meat and organs should be cooked to 160F.  3- Worry of bad ingredients.  This only relates to processed pork like hot dogs and bacon and ham. There's truth to this one. Nitrates and nitrites, commonly used in curing conventional pork, have been shown to cause cancer and other health issues. And stabilizers, artificial colors, preservatives, and other additives have been linked to negative health outcomes, too. 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But, if we did, I assume we'd get similar results with our pork having balanced omegas and packed with vitamins and minerals. 3- Heritage breeds.  Our pigs are Berkshire, Duroc, Red Waddle, and Black crosses. These heritage breeds are known for their intensity of flavor, juiciness, marbling, and tenderness. It's nothing like the bland, dry pork you often get at the grocery store. 4- No junk like nitrates or additives.  We reduce toxins and anything unnatural as much as possible. Our bacon is cured simply with Celtic sea salt (in a store it would have "uncured" on the label). Our sausages have clean ingredients, no weird thickeners or preservatives. Our salami is cured naturally with celery juice powder. 5- Washed in organic apple cider vinegar.  No harsh chemicals like bleach or citric and lactic acids touch our pork. We are so fortunate to have a naturally minded processor! 6- No drugs.  We don't vaccinate. We don't give antibiotics or hormones or anything like that. Through a natural diet and lifestyle, our pigs stay naturally healthy. Do you eat pork? Why or why not? What do you look for when shopping for pork? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below - no account required (start typing for the guest option to appear). 😊 ----- SOURCES: UN Report: Livestock commoditiesUSDA: Chicken leads U.S. per person availability of meat over last decade False Facts About Pork Everyone Actually BelievesIs Pork Bad for You? Here's What a Dietitian Has to Say