I feed my birds crumbles as well as scratch, scraps, free range, etc. My question concerns the crumbles. When I feed my chickens the crumbles as soon as they dig in I have one Roo and one hen that always go to sneezing/choking? They're beaks hang open and they make high pitched sneezing sounds. It freaks me out because it makes me wonder if they aren't really choking until they get their bearings again. And my other birds don't have this problem. What is this? Anyone know? And also...I was thinking about switching to pellets from crumbles because of the waste, how difficult is that transition?
When my chickens are young they start out on crumbles but pellets are more economical because there is less waste. This is how I switch them over. I get them used to eating the pellets by throwing pellets on the ground, for them to peck at and play with, but still leave crumbles in the feeders. Then, once they are used to eating some of their food in bigger pieces, on the ground, I start mixing the pellets with the crumbles (in the feeders) and pretty soon they will eat just the pellets. Chickens hate anything new
