Mash, Pellets or Crumbles? Poll!

[jtakacs]

From what I've read, 16% protein mix and free choice calcium (oyster shells, etc)

Buy I'm new too...

 

[oldbird1]

Hi I have all ways used crumbles 12 to 14 weeks then pellet and they usually takes a few days before their happy with the pellets oldbird1

 

[KramerHens]

I buy a mix of grains - Layer Feed - that include crushed oyster shells. It's not pellets, mash or crumbs. I guess it's 'whole food' for hens....

 

[PheasantsFirst]

I have really just started the Chicken thing. I bought some crumbles and they lasted a while. I bought some pellets and they went through them very fast. I have tries scratch grains and they eat it all but the corn. The corn lays around for ages. I would have to say at this time I like the crumbles best.
Now a question? What is the best brand or type of crumble to get for chickens that are for laying?
Thanks!!!

I've also noticed that the chickens go through pellets faster, It may have to do with them being denser.(the volume of 50lbs of crumbles is more than 50lbs of pellets) For brands of food, generally they are fairly similar, but I think a local brand is usually fresher.

I'm being a little dumb here. I know mash that is what I have feeding them, T hey waste a lot of feed. I keep trying different buckets to cut down on the waste. So what is the difference between the pellets and crumbles.

hopefully this picture will explain, the crumbles are kinda like broken up pellets.

 

[DeesHens]

"Other" - Scratch and Peck which is mainly organic whole grains which my birds love. It is non GMO, no soy & no corn. I give it to them fermented in the morning and then dry in their feeder in the afternoon until they roost at night. They also eat lots of grass, insects, earth worms, organic fruit and veggies plus organic no sugar greek yogurt and raw organic sunflower seeds. Cheers! ~Dee~

 

[plyhrdbll3]

Here is my mix 50# of each crumbles,pellets,cracked corn,and scratch. They seem to like that a lot. But also my 11 birds are spoiled. I give them cooked oatmeal every morning and at night they get cooked spaghetti or a can of corn green beans or peas. These bird are flat out SPOILED!! But are very happy and healthy.

 

[fshrchik]

I feed mash. I put the feeder level with the back of the hens. As I am unable to feed a mix of whole grains that I make up and am purchasing feed anyway, mash is the form I choose as it takes longer for the birds to eat their fill. This means it gives them something to do for a longer period of time. Of course, they also get some scratch each morning. They also are able to free range 98% of the time for a few hours each day. Now, that being said, we're in Maine and the chickens don't much care for snow. They don't go far when there's snow on the ground.

 

[orlandoeggs]

I use a ground feed from a feed mill so you can have it made just what you need for the ration, plus its fresher and cheeper.

 

[fenwickchic]

O.K. First let me say I got my chicks on Good Friday and started them on chick crumble, then bought organic grower pellets from our local feed store. I wasn't happy with the pellets although the pullets and roo ate them just fine. I didn't way them eating soy because I am eating their eggs and I don't want soy! I don't give them anything I wouldn't eat and I am buying as much non-GMO/organic as I can. I recently found Countryside Organic feed in VA and although it is a long drive, I think quality food is vitally important. I heard that fermenting the feed heightens the nutrition content by making it more digestible. I still have organic layer pellets and my 17 year old daughter prefers to feed them those. Since she opens the pop door in the a.m. before school she gives them pellets. That said, when I go to feed the chickens around 1 or 2 p.m. I give them fermented mash (Countryside Organic). The practically jump up and down waiting for me to take the feeders inside to fill them. There are usually some pellets left in the feeders. I empty the pellets, wash the feeder, then add chopped veggies. I chop whatever is available from my garden and my neighbor's garden so they have been getting (kale, tomatoes, carrot and green pepper scraps, organic apple, sunflower/pumpkin seeds, turnip greens, cabbage, zucchini, etc.). I put the raw chopped veggie mix in one half and then add fermented mash in the other side. They drive into the veggies first!!! They love the fermented feed too. My chickens have free ranged up until a week or so ago when we had to put them up on the patio next to the house and winterize the tractor and put in deep liter. So, now that they are no longer getting the bugs and worms they were getting, I've bought a dried worm block. I am going to try sprouting once the garden items have been exhausted so they have greens and I am going to make a homemade flock block from a recipe I found. I may hang a cabbage if I can find an organic one as I heard that the chicken have fun with that and it keeps the winter boredom down. My husband thinks I'm nuts chopping all those veggies up. It is time consuming but I want to keep it small enough that they don't drag it onto the floor and into droppings. It works! They eat it so fast, none gets wasted or ruined by chicken poo.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

hopefully this picture will explain, the crumbles are kinda like broken up pellets.

Crumbles are exactly fractured pellets ... feed company reps say that's how they make them. Mix all the ground ingredients, press them into pellets, then fracture the pellets. I gather it helps keep the ingredients evenly distributed for more reliable nilutrition.