BEST FEED???

[DarleneE]

Hello everyone,

I have two hens. I have a 4yo Barred Rock and a 2yo Black Australorp. They both still lay although my older gal lays mainly very thin shelled eggs or soft shelled eggs. She's done this off and on from after about 2 years of age on. She lays big beautiful eggs every now and then with the thin ones being the more regular ones. They always have access to fresh oyster shell as well as to their own ground up egg shells. I'm not really concerned that she lays thin shelled eggs as they are my pets and I don't have them just to lay eggs!! Also this just has been the norm for her nearly all her life.
The problem I'm having is that the feed they've always eaten has lately come as a powdered mess instead of nice crumbles?? I don't know why this is the case but the last 2 bags and the current one is like this. Thus I'm wanting to change feed and would like to know what most backyard chicken owners are feeding their flocks?? They eat crumbles as I mentioned and not pellets.
Any advice as to a really good feed would be much appreciated. I am in Florida. Local would be great but I'm willing to order online if necessary to get them a great feed.

 

[Latestarter]

I would switch them over to pellets but do so slowly over time by adding more and more pellets and less and less crumbles until the swap is complete. If you time it for nearing the end of a bag of crumbles, you won't need to worry about wasting a bunch of feed (not that it's all that expensive, or a major concern in a pet application).

The 4 year old is really past the peak of her production years, and the BA soon will be as well. If your goal is pets that provide eggs, now might be a good time to add one or two new birds to your pet line up. Due to age considerations I'd personally try to purchase POL pullets to integrate in with your present two rather than chicks or very young birds.

Good luck moving forward!

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

You could try to ferment the bags of powdery feed that you currently have, there are numerous threads of it on this website. Some birds don't like to eat pellets though, so if you go that route do as Latestarter said, but buy a smaller bag to test it out first. Personally, I don't like pellets...... not sure what brand you have right now but I would switch to another brand and see how that works out.

 

[proudmommie31]

Ive always like Nutrena NatureWise feed, i get it at Tractor Supply. Pellets or Crumbles, whatever works for you. My sister in law gave me a older hen that she said barely laid anymore. Two weeks on that feed and she was as regular as my younger girls. I've recently started fermenting and there is zero waste now, crumbles/dust doesn't matter as it all gets put in the bucket. They love it. Another thing I like about this feed vs another we tried (purina flock raiser) is it has a sweet fresh scent when you open the bag, instead a more chemical/yuck smell.

 

[DarleneE]

Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas!! I don't do the fermenting but I do often wet the powder and use nice, cold refrigerator water to mix it with which they love cause I guess it cools them down from this awful Florida heat!! It makes what I call chicken oatmeal for them and at least the powder doesn't go to waste!! LOL
@Latestarter, no my chickens absolutely will not eat pellets. I've tried several times and they'll starve before they touch them!! They just don't seem to know how to eat them?? It's so funny cause they'll just look at the pellets then look at me really funny looking!! Heeeheeheeeee Anyways no I'm not interested in the chickens because of the eggs.. they are purely pets which "happen to lay eggs"!! We won't be getting anymore hens. In fact my husband wants me to relocate these two because it's very difficult to travel anywhere etc when you have two chickens that need to be cared for. However of course I won't do that as they are my babies!! Love them to death (and he does too... he just talks a bunch of bull sometimes lol)!! But no when these two are gone that'll be it for us. I got them to raise with my little grandson as a fun thing and we've had a ball with them. But time has passed and we're nearing retiring and will be relocating, etc and we just won't be able to have hens at that point. But thank you for the suggestion.

I have put them on Manna Pro layer feed for awhile to see how they do. It doesn't have all that powder in it and they are eating it well. So we'll see how that goes.

Thanks again to all who took the time to write to me!! I truly appreciate it!!

 

[DarleneE]

@proudmommie31, After this bag I'll try my local tractor supply store for the Nutrena feed and give it a try. That sounds like something I'd like. Thank you very much!!