Crumbles or Pellets ?

[Hivoltage]

Hi, been feeding the hens crumbles since they have been chicks. Almost bought a bag of pellets yesterday but decided to stick with crumbles. Are there any reasons / rules to use one or the other ?

 

[rjohns39]

Hi, been feeding the hens crumbles since they have been chicks. Almost bought a bag of pellets yesterday but decided to stick with crumbles. Are there any reasons / rules to use one or the other ?

Not really. crumble is basically chopped up pellet. pellets tend to be less mess. What's important is what's in the pellet or crumble. folks use a variety of different methods based upon their situation. Personally, mine get 3-4 weeks of starter then go to an 18% grower until they start laying, then i'll generally transition them to a lower calcium layer and provide oyster shell and grit on the side, free choice.

 

[Stayc]

I think the crumbles take longer to eat the pellets may make less mess. Ive always done crumbles but im also considering pellets next time i buy food. If you have bored chickens stick with crumbles. Thats All i really know. Maybe some expert will have more info for us

 

[Kwarner12]

I switched my girls over to pellets, pellets just don't make as much of a mess and they seem to eat it just fine. They still wait for me with excited anticipation when it's feeding time. I think it's personal preference, but I would pay attention to what is inside the food. That's what is important.

 

[Hope Hughes]

I agree with @rjohns39
I only give crumbles with chicks and switch to pellets.
I feel you waste more with crumble then with pellets and the crumble is really dusty!
We used to only buy crumble but the pellets have seem to work better for us. ​

 

[Hivoltage]

Thanks....pellets it is next time I buy.

 

[Birdinhand]

pellets result in much less waste, IMHO. our hens would go through crumble pretty fast and after watching how they just tossed it around I decided to switch and it seemed like I was filling the feeder a lot less often.

 

[Folly's place]

I'd love to feed pellets, but the all- flock feed I use only comes in crumbles. It's been such a good choice for my flock, I'm not changing just over this.
Mary

 

[AlleysChicks]

Mine like both. I prefer pellets due to less waste for the older LF birds. I feed my chicks and bantams crumbles.

 

[GC-Raptor]

When I switched to pellets, I tossed some on dry ground mixed with scratch grains and my 16 week old pullets gobbled them up. I also mixed the pellets with crumbles in the feeder 50/50 for a couple of weeks. GC