Accidently ended up with crumbles instead of pellets

[dewey]

I didn't realize it until I opened the bag. I didn't pay attention as the bags were loaded (lots of rabbit feed bags, just 1 bag of chicken feed). The girls were thrilled, of course, to have their beloved crumbles today, but it's so wasteful compared to the pellets for my girls...so I'm thinking of mixing a little of it with water and eggs, etc., fresh each morning as their daily "treat" and eventually using it up that way in combination with feeding their regular pellets. There's only 5 girls so it'll take a while to use it up that way. Or should I bake it into cakes, or? It's so hot right now that baking isn't real appealing, lol. I thought about mixing both together dry but they'll just go for the crumbles. Any suggestions so as not to be as wasteful with it?

 

[Tanichca]

Feed every other day, its what I do. on the in between days, provide fruit, table scraps, eggs, whatever.

 

[dewey]

Do you mean feed the crumbles every other day and nothing the next day but veggies, etc.? I'm confused about how that will quickly use up the extra feed I have. Thanks.

 

[NellaBean]

I think the point of that is to "convince" the chickens to scrounge for the waste. When they don't have a feeder full of crumbles waiting for them, they will break down and pick up the scraps.

I only buy pellets too. Hate crumble.

 

[emys]

I'd mix with water and make it a thick paste - they don't seem to fling the paste around, just eat it.

 

[ChickenAl]

We must have very neat girls as they hardly toss anything out of the feeders. They love the crumbles and hate the pellets. We have Amber Links and Golden Comets. Might be the breed of chicken that causes each to eat in their own way.

It takes some experimenting, as we have found, to settle on which type and brand of feed the girls will do best with.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
Ah, I see, thank you, it makes perfect sense to me now.

Normally I wouldn't have an issue doing that, but the only thing with starving them out right now is it's so dang hot (to be 112+ wed), so lots of stress from heat, plus 2 are molting, so I hesitate to add any other stress to them.

I can't believe I didn't pay more attention, and as I think about it, it could have been a chemo moment where maybe I said crumbles instead of pellets. I love the pellets, too.

So far, mixing it with water into the paste seems to be the least stressful option, for all of us, lol.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
Interesting to think about the different breeds and use of feed. You're lucky! The crumbles are actually more visually appealing to me, lol. Right now I have BR's & EE's. They love crumbles and starved for a couple of days when I switched them over to pellets (fairly typical), but I've never known a chicken to starve itself to death. Mine go through 2x or more the feed with crumbles. Good for your girls!

 

[ChickenAl]

Ours eat about twice as much too. It may be more expensive because of the amount they eat, but I have noticed they do not tear into the greens like they used to when they were on the pellets. You would have thought they had not eaten in a month when I would toss dandelions in their run. Now, they go for the dandelions but not like they are killing each other to get at it. When I first made the switch back to crumbles last Wednesday, they were at the feeder for 20 solid minutes and still pecking at it an hour later. With the pellets we would hardly see them touch it. Very difficult to figure out if it is just that they love their crumbles that much or if they are overdoing it because of something lacking in the feed. And what what's so bad about the pellets that they did not eat it with the same desire, or was it that they got enough nutrition from less? It'll drive me nuts trying to figure all this stuff out.

 

[202roosterlane]

I have the same situation. They prefer crumbles but will nibble on pellets. I think they will get used to it. I think they fill up on pellets faster as to why we don't see them eating as long as when eating crumbles. Not sure though LOL. I just feel like they waste more crumbles. I buy lettuce to chop up and put in there and the race is on like they were starving. But I am def gonna try the watermelon idea.