Crumbles or Pellets? Problems we are having -

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xpchick

xpchick

In the Brooder
Jan 12, 2016
56
1
41
NY
What age are your chickens and what do you feed them? If you feed a commercial feed is it crumbles or pellets? Ours are 9 weeks old now and eat a crumble grower food. They make a huge mess even with PVC pipe feeders and the crumbles get stuck in it. We have to bang on it to get it to fall. Any suggestions? Do you make your own food?

We are currently feeding this brand, grower, which is a fine crumble. No scratch added to the food. http://www.originalfeeds.com/

Thank you!
 
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I have a mixed flock of about 20 birds, all sizes from oegb tiny bantams and week old broody chicks all the way up to some cochins and 9lb Welsummers, and I feed them crumbles because whatever the big chickens flig around the smaller ones clean up :) Never had any rat issues and only a few mice from the house (gone now) we also mix water with the food and feed them that after it ferments fro a few days.
 
Thank you! They seem to waste a LOT of the crumbles. I'm going to have to find a pellet to see if they'll eat it.
 
honestly i don't know my chickens' age.. but i think they are about 3 months old?

i use the basic feeder with the divider + hanging it off the ground

little feed waste this way

i use starter crumbles..

there's no grower feed here.. just starter and layer at the local store around here

i just picked up the layer feed from the local buyer's club and it looks like crumbles as well.. :)










 
Thank you! Your crumble has more texture to it than the stuff we have. I swear it is WAY more dust than food. I'm going to call the place tomorrow and talk to them to see if they have it not so finely ground up. If they don't we'll need to change to something else. Thank you for the pictures, that really helps!
 
Raise the feeder to to the height of the chicken's back to cut down on waste. If your feed sticks, maybe you need a bigger pipe. The only pellets I know of are layer pellets, which I use because they don't scatter them into the dirt like they do the crumbles.
 
xpchick said:
Thank you! Your crumble has more texture to it than the stuff we have. I swear it is WAY more dust than food. I'm going to call the place tomorrow and talk to them to see if they have it not so finely ground up. If they don't we'll need to change to something else. Thank you for the pictures, that really helps!
Click to expand...

this is the manna pro chick starter from petsmart (30lb green bag -- picture in my previous post)

crumbles look like this to me... maybe other brands will look different ..

either that or maybe they left it outside for too long ???

there's a local feed store (nutrena feed) just 1/4 mile from me but when saw they put the feed bags outside in this desert heat.. i didn't bother

 
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Always check the 'manufactured by' date on the bag, so you are buying fresh feed. It might be on the sealing strip on the bottom or top of the bag. Don't buy anything older than one month, and fresher is better. Some of the vitamins will be lost over time (even a few weeks) so be careful. Anything damp, moldy, or with bugs, should go back to the store! I also like the big yellow feeders from premier1supplies.com; there's no spillage! I feed Flock Raiser, because it works for birds of all ages, and it's fresh from my local feed stores. Mary
 
I feed gamebird grower and cut it to about eighteen per cent with wild bird seed mix. There is oyster shell and granite grit free choice. My birds free range. Here in east TN our winters are pretty mild and at most we have a week of snow on the ground.
 

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