The waterer drips a little, I can never get it level. It mixes with the crumble they scatter *everywhere*. Result? Very happy chicks! Unfortunately, they excavate under the blocks I use to raise the waterer above their scratching and mess, and tonight it tipped quite a bit. Scooped out the wet shavings, hit paydirt--a big chunk of crumble from 3 days ago. The whole brooder is frantic with scratching! Now, I use shavings, add a shallow layer every day, and scoop the whole bit out every 4th day (well, not quite keeping track. Missed today because I was busy.) So, the crumble isn't getting moldy. Not noticeably anyway. They love this stuff. Can I make it for them on purpose? Fresh, not 4 days old. They are 4 weeks old.
I hope it's OK for the crumble to get wet............Yesterday in the middle of the night our hot water heater broke. You guessed it: The feed bag was in the path of the water and it got soaked. I spread the crumble out on lids and laid it in the sun to dry. I plan to still use it because it's too expensive to just toss out! I'm sure the damp crumble you're re-using is fine as long as it isn't mixed with poo.........on the other hand, they might like that too.
Wet crumble was always fine for us. We did mix feed with water on purpose during the heat wave of '09, it was so hot that the chickens just refused to eat the dry food.
I wet all the feed that falls around the feeder in the evening before dusk. The chickens all come running!! They seem to love it nice and wet and then they clean up all around the feeder. Also when I have chicks just hatched, I will wet the starter feed in a shallow dish and tap my finger to it, like a Momma hen would do and they start eating right away.
They do like the poo! It's totally gross. They like the slightly liquidy poos that a couple of the chicks do. Blech. It seems like half the crumble ends up on the floor of their brooder. I'm going to soak the crumble today. Thanks everybody for the encouragement.
Updating. They love the wet crumble, I've fed it to them 2x a day on four lids so they all can get in there and eat without all the chickie politics. So far they haven't gotten bored, and the floor of the brooder is a little cleaner (actually a lot cleaner, but it's only been a couple of days.) I swear half of their feed ended up there! We'll see if their interest in the wet stuff lasts. For anyone reading this for information, yes, I still have their feeders filled with dry crumble. They just haven't eaten as much from them.
Ok I feel a bit dumb for asking, but.... Is crumble just the chick feed I have in my feeder or is it a special type? I'm using purina medicated chick food, can I moisten that for them?
I just put my girls out in a pen in the garage. I can't wait to see their reaction to some damp crumble. Maybe throw in a few mealworms as a garnish.
