We Compared 6 Chicken Scratch Grains on Price Per Pound

Why the Manna Pro 7-Grain wins this category

Because it tells you what you are buying and charges very little for the privilege. Seven grains are named on the label: corn, wheat, milo, barley, oats, sunflower seeds and millet, with purple corn in the mix.

Compare that with the rest of the page. Sommer's calls itself an 8-grain blend and names cracked corn. Scratch and Peck sells a scratch blend with corn without itemising it. Small Pet Select names no grain at all. In a category where the bag is opaque, a printed list is most of the information available.

The price gap is what settles it. The three grain Manna Pro Ultimate is $14.99 and this is $15.49, so four extra named grains cost $0.50. That is a small amount of money for a much wider spread of seeds and cereals.

Living with the Manna Pro 7-Grain

Variety is the practical benefit. Barley, oats, millet and sunflower behave differently in a scatter, so birds work through them at different rates and spend longer foraging, which is the real reason to feed scratch at all.

The 10 lb bag suits the way most people should be using scratch. At 10 percent or less of the diet, a small flock takes weeks to work through it, and a smaller bag means the grain is fresher when it is eaten. Tip it into a sealed container anyway, because paper sacks draw rodents.

It is listed for mixed flocks including ducks, geese, turkeys and gamebirds, which is convenient if your yard is not all chickens, though the same 10 percent restraint applies to every species in it.

Where the Manna Pro 7-Grain falls short

No protein figure. The listing reaches for high protein and high fibre without printing a guaranteed analysis, and a claim without a number cannot be compared with anything. Pink Rose Organix is the only bag here that publishes one.

Soy is the same story. The bag contains corn and says nothing about soy, which is true of four of the six bags on this page and is a real gap for anyone avoiding it deliberately.

The cost per pound is the third thing. About $1.55 a pound is nearly double the $0.83 of the 40 lb Sommer's Crazy 8, so if you have a big flock and feed scratch daily, this is the more expensive habit.

There is also a behavioural cost to variety. Hens sort, and a seven grain mix gives them more to sort through, so millet and hulls can end up sitting in the litter. Scatter thinly and widely rather than tipping it in one place.

Why the Sommer's Crazy 8 wins on cost

Because the arithmetic is not close. Thirty two dollars and ninety nine cents for 40 lb is about $0.83 a pound. The next cheapest bags on this page sit near $1.50, and the dearest is about $2.50. That is a three to one spread from top to bottom.

For a small flock getting a handful twice a week, none of that matters much. For a dozen or more birds getting a daily scatter, it is the difference between a bag a month and a bag a season in real money.

It is described as an 8-grain blend, so the variety is at least as wide as the seven named grains in the Manna Pro 7-Grain. The difference is that you are told which seven in one case and not in the other.

Living with the Sommer's Crazy 8

The 40 lb sack is the practical reality of this purchase. It is heavy, it takes up floor space, and at a sensible feeding rate of 10 percent or less of the diet it will last a long time.

That makes storage the deciding factor for whether this bag is a bargain or a waste. Grain left in a paper sack in a shed goes stale, absorbs moisture and draws rodents, which is how a cheap bag ends up costing more than an expensive one. Tip it into a sealed metal bin the day it arrives.

Feeding is straightforward. It is sold to scatter on the ground as a treat or supplemental feed, which is the right way to use any scratch, since spreading it thinly is what turns feeding into foraging.

Where the Sommer's Crazy 8 falls short

The information is thin. Eight grains are claimed and one is named. You know there is cracked corn in there and you are trusting the rest. If you are the sort of keeper who reads labels, this will bother you, and it should be weighed against the saving.

There is no protein figure and no guaranteed analysis, which puts it in the majority on this page but still leaves you unable to judge how much you are diluting the layer ration when you feed it.

No certifications are stated either, so there is no organic, non-GMO or soy status assurance. Four of the six bags here never state soy status, and this is one of them.

None of that makes it a bad buy. It makes it a cheap, plain, unlabelled bag of mixed grain, which is exactly what scratch has been for a very long time.

Why the S&P Scratch + Corn suits organic feeding

Certification is the whole product here. USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project are both audited schemes with paperwork behind them, and this is the only bag in this comparison that carries the pair. Pink Rose Organix is USDA Certified Organic and non-GMO, which is close, and the other four carry no organic certification at all.

If your hens are already on an organic complete ration, feeding a conventional scratch alongside it undoes part of what you are paying for. This closes that gap.

There is a second, quieter reason it earns a slot. It is the only listing on this page that prints a feeding limit, 10 percent or less of a complete diet. That single line is more useful nutritional guidance than every other bag here manages between them.

Living with the S&P Scratch + Corn

The 10 lb pouch is the right size for how scratch should actually be fed. At a proper 10 percent rate a small flock takes weeks to get through it, and a smaller pack means the grain is still fresh when the last of it goes out.

The no fillers and no medications wording is worth reading literally rather than as reassurance. Scratch should not contain medication in any case, and this is not a supplement or a treatment. It is a plain treat food and it should be chosen on that basis.

Physically the pouch is compact at 8 by 4.5 by 11 in, which means it fits in a bin alongside the main feed rather than needing its own storage.

Where the S&P Scratch + Corn falls short

Cost is the honest headline. About $2.50 a pound makes it the dearest per pound in this guide, roughly three times the $0.83 a pound of the 40 lb Sommer's Crazy 8 and well above the roughly $1.50 of Pink Rose Organix, which is also certified organic.

That comparison with Pink Rose is the awkward one. Both carry organic certification. One costs about $1.00 more per pound and does not print a protein figure while the other does. The 10 lb pouch versus a 40 lb bag explains most of that difference, and it is still a difference.

The missing ingredient list is the second gap. It is sold as a scratch blend with corn without itemising the grains, so you know exactly how the crop was grown and not exactly what is in the bag.

Soy status is not stated either, which is a curious omission on a certified organic product where buyers are more likely than average to care about it.

Why the Pink Rose Organix wins on disclosure

Five of the six bags on this page tell you nothing about protein. This one prints 13.5 percent protein, 5 percent fat and 4 percent fibre, which makes it the only product here you can compare against anything.

That is worth more than it first appears. Scratch dilutes a laying hen's diet, and how much it dilutes it depends on what the scratch actually contains. With a figure in front of you, you can work out what a daily handful is doing. Without one, you are guessing, which is where most keepers are with most scratch.

The certification is real too, USDA Certified Organic and non-GMO with no drugs or antibiotics, and the bag is corn free and soy free, which only one other product here can say.

Living with the Pink Rose Organix

The price per pound is the pleasant surprise. Fifty nine dollars and ninety nine cents looks like the most expensive thing on this page, and 40 lb brings it down to about $1.50 a pound, which is less per pound than the Manna Pro 7-Grain, Small Pet Select and Scratch and Peck. Certified organic scratch does not have to cost more per pound than a small conventional bag.

The ingredient list reads differently from a standard scratch. Black oil sunflower seed, flax seed and peas rather than the usual corn, wheat and milo. That is what makes it corn free, and it also means a richer, oilier mix than a plain cereal scatter.

The bag is a full 40 lb sack at 26 by 15 by 4 in, so it needs storing properly. A sealed metal bin keeps it fresh and keeps rodents out, which matters more with a bag this size.

Where the Pink Rose Organix falls short

Thirteen and a half percent protein is a number, and it is still below where a laying hen's diet needs to be. A complete layer ration normally runs about 16 to 18 percent. Feeding this heavily still dilutes the ration, and shell quality is usually the first thing to suffer. The number is useful because it tells you that, not because it makes the scratch a feed.

The health wording deserves the same scepticism you would apply anywhere else. Supporting digestion and immune health is the seller's description of a bag of seeds. This is not a supplement and it does not treat anything. If a bird is unwell, the answer is a vet, not a different treat.

The 40 lb commitment is the practical drawback. At 10 percent of the diet, a flock of six takes a very long time to get through 40 lb, so the good price per pound is only real if you have the birds and the storage to use it.

Why the Small Pet Select earns a slot

It fills a specific gap. Two bags in this comparison are corn free and soy free. One of them, Pink Rose Organix, comes only as a 40 lb sack. This one comes as 10 lb.

That difference matters more than it sounds. Scratch should be 10 percent or less of the diet, so a flock of half a dozen hens takes a long time to work through 40 lb, and grain that sits for months goes stale whatever bin it is in. If corn free is a requirement and your flock is small, this is the practical answer.

Non-GMO and small batch production is the rest of the pitch, along with locally sourced Pacific Northwest ingredients, which will appeal to buyers who care about supply chains.

Living with the Small Pet Select

The 10 lb bag is easy to handle and stores alongside the main feed rather than needing a bin of its own. At 18 by 6 by 12 in it slots into a normal shelf.

Corn free changes how a scratch behaves in the run. Corn is usually the first thing hens pick out of a mix, so a corn free blend tends to get eaten more evenly rather than sorted through and abandoned. That is a genuine practical benefit if leftover grain in the litter is a problem for you.

Feeding is your own call, since the listing gives no guidance. Use the same 10 percent or less limit that Scratch and Peck prints on its own bag, and scatter only what the flock clears in ten to fifteen minutes.

Where the Small Pet Select falls short

It names no grains. Not one. Locally sourced Pacific Northwest ingredients describes geography, not contents, and this is the only bag on this page where you cannot find out what is inside before you buy it. For a product whose selling point is what it leaves out, saying nothing about what it puts in is an odd choice.

The price per pound is the second issue. About $2.30 a pound makes it the second dearest in this guide, and the other corn free and soy free option, Pink Rose Organix, is about $1.50 a pound. You are paying roughly 50 percent more per pound for the smaller bag.

There is no protein figure and no feeding guidance either, so on the two questions this guide cares about most, disclosure and cost, it comes last and second last respectively. The 10 lb corn free bag size is what keeps it on the page.

Why the Manna Pro Ultimate cuts waste

Chickens sort. Offered a mixed scratch they take the cracked corn and the sunflower first and leave the millet, the milo hulls and the smaller seed sitting in the litter, where it dampens, moulds or feeds rodents. That is the hidden cost of a wide mix and nobody prints it on a bag.

A three grain mix is the simple answer. Corn, milo and wheat are all things hens actually want, so much less of what you scatter is still there in the morning. If you have watched a seven grain scatter turn into a carpet of rejected seed, this is the fix.

It is also the cheapest sticker price on this page at $14.99, which is $0.50 less than the seven grain version from the same maker.

Living with the Manna Pro Ultimate

The 10 lb bag is right for the way scratch should be used. Kept to 10 percent or less of the diet, a small flock takes weeks to get through it and the grain stays fresh throughout. It stores in a normal bin without needing its own container.

Non-GMO ingredients, no artificial colours or flavours and US ingredients is the certification story, which is plainer than the organic bags here and matches the plainer product.

It is sold as a supplement and a boredom buster. That framing is honest. Scattering a small amount gets birds moving and scratching on a wet afternoon, and that is most of what a scratch mix is for.

Where the Manna Pro Ultimate falls short

Variety is the thing you give up, and it is a real loss. Foraging interest is half the reason to feed scratch, and three grains keep birds busy for less time than seven or eight do. If your flock is confined and bored, the wider mix is the better tool.

There is no protein figure, which is true of five of the six bags here but still leaves you unable to judge how much a daily handful dilutes the layer ration.

Soy status is not stated, which is worth noting if you are avoiding it deliberately.

On cost, the low sticker price does not carry through to cost per pound. About $1.50 a pound is nearly double the $0.83 of the 40 lb Sommer's Crazy 8, so the cheapest bag on the page is only the second cheapest scratch per pound.