How a 7-Year-Old Challenged Me to Take the “Feed Greatness Challenge”

By Staff
Published on October 9, 2018

October 2018 – Sponsored by Purina Animal Nutrition
By: Charlotte Brunin

In this post I am going to tell you how I stumbled into Purina’s Feed Greatness Challenge through rigorous campaigning by a seven-year-old. Sometimes the smallest voices make the most sense.

Aurora and I took to the internet to see what our options were. As you may remember, these hens are probably a bit older, have recently been exposed to illness, and need to pick up the pace a bit when it comes to laying. I made sure to take those factors into consideration when weighing my organic feed options. The winner ended up being Purina’s organic layer feed with their “Oyster Strong® System.”

Feeds that include the Oyster Strong® System have everything laying hens need without a need to supplement, including:

  • 18% protein, 3.25% calcium for daily performance
  • Prebiotics and probiotics for immune and digestive health
  • Amino acids for feathering and egg production
  • Marigold extract for rich, yellow yolks
  • Calcium, manganese and trace minerals for bone and shell strength
  • Both quick-release and slow-release calcium sources for consistent calcium supply and strong shells
  • Vitamins A, D & E for feathering and egg production

I found some coupons online for Purina’s Feed Greatness Challenge. If you would like to try out the feed and compare notes with us, use this link, and follow along in the comments!

I’m looking forward to this weekend when Aurora brings her salesman smile to church and starts taking orders. Hopefully, this food will help our ladies keep up with the demand.

In addition to honing her entrepreneurial skills, I love that the chickens give the kids more responsibility and the chance to have “dirty work” pay off. As my grandmother used to say “A little poop never hurt anybody!”. That’s an entirely false statement but is incredibly fun to repeat the kids when they’re helping clean the coop or grabbing an egg with a bit of poo on it.

I also feel like they’re learning a lot about empathy while trying to tame the Golden Girls. Even Suzy’s death was a lesson for all of us. If you have the opportunity to get chickens… DO IT, especially if you have kids! Chickens are an excellent tool for teaching, a good excuse to get outside, and are incredibly pleasant to be around.


My chunky chicken chaser is learning not to chase chickens.


30 Day Update

We are 30 Days into our experiment with the Feed Greatness Challenge. We have noticed a slight increase in our white egg production. I believe this means that the slacker is starting to catch up. Although I don’t know what crosses have happened in these ladies’ genetics, I am willing to guess that the light colored Blanche is my slacker.

One of the other girls seems to be laying “double yolkers” at a rate of 1 per week. This could point to a genetic disposition to release extra yolks before the shell develops, then encapsulating them both, OR it could hint that my Golden Girls are either very young or in fact in their golden years.

In addition to these findings, we have noticed 3 new things that may be correlated to the new food!

  1. There has been a slight uptick in egg production! What this means for Aurora is more revenue and cookies from our neighbors in trade for eggs.
  2. The eggshells are stronger! The neighbor bringing us cookies for eggs commented on how hard they were to crack open. “Yeah, because they’re more nutritious!” Our little entrepreneur explained.
  3. The Golden Girls are not looking nearly as scraggly as they were when we first got them. This is definitely because of the care we have given them, but I believe that their diet can also be attributed to their wellness.

60 Day Update

The cold weather months are here and we have not noticed a drop in egg production. My hypothesis is that their diet has helped. I’m looking forward to seeing if they continue to lay at an even pace throughout the winter. Hopefully, production will increase as we get more sunlight, but if it doesn’t I am still thrilled with how far they have come since changing their diet to Purina’s Organic Layer Food.


In addition to the uptick in egg production, their feathers are looking great, they seem to be happy with their lifestyle and diet. They happily come running to be fed. My favorite part of having chickens is having them happily cluck and scratch around. For me their happiness is infectious. The enterprising children of the house continue to love them. They are refining their abilities to crack eggs now that they have eggs with firm, healthy shells. Bruce the “pugadore” is continuing to improve socially. These girls seem to have it made.


Follow along with your own chickens. All you need are a few laying hens! Sign up for the challenge and you’ll receive a digital feed coupon and downloadable material to help you through the 90 days of the Feed Greatness® Challenge. In addition, Team Purina will be available during your journey via email, telephone or social media to assist you with any inquiries. We’ll be sharing our journey through the Mother Earth News Facebook and Instagram. Chicken keeping will be more fun when you share your experience with Purina’s chicken community!

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