Crumbles or Pellets

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
It might. I'm not sure if they would just eat around the pellets or not. I'd try it that way though because I've seen a few posts where older birds that had never been on pellets nearly starved before figuring it out. There were some health issues too because of the poor condition one of the hens ended up in from not eating.

ETA: How old are they? I switched mine over when they went from starter to layer and didn't have any problems. They've been back on crumble for the last few weeks because I needed a higher protien feed for my girls that are molting and couldn't get it in pellet form. No problems with them eating, just a lot of dust and spillage.

 

[95yj]

i have oeg bantams so they might choke on pellets anyway, but i don't mind crumbles. they do tend to dig alot of them out of the bowl but if i bothered to make them a hanging feeder i could stop that, and i keep their floor clean and make them eat the spare food off the ground before they get more. i feed gamebird crumbles cause i have pheasants and and it's easier than buying two types of feed, and the extra protein seems to be good for them, especialy in the winter.

 

[Lady_Cluck]

I had fed crumbles for years -- it was the only kind my feed store had. Then, I discovered another feed store that had pellets. I had always heard that pellets equal less waste, so, excited, I bought some.

The chickens had no problem switching. As long as there is something in their tummies they're happy. It might have helped that I switched the feed during the summer months, too, as they were more interested in grass and bugs and didn't seem to mind as much.

Pellets are the way to go, IMHO! Less waste, less dust.

 

[bukbugack]

Last month I made a quick switch from mash to pellets and it made two of my birds pretty ill. They had loose stinky stools with bad paste-butt, and were listless. I switched back to mash and gave them a 75/25% mix to get them back to normal.

 

[ChookHappy]

Quote:
It might. I'm not sure if they would just eat around the pellets or not. I'd try it that way though because I've seen a few posts where older birds that had never been on pellets nearly starved before figuring it out. There were some health issues too because of the poor condition one of the hens ended up in from not eating.

ETA: How old are they? I switched mine over when they went from starter to layer and didn't have any problems. They've been back on crumble for the last few weeks because I needed a higher protien feed for my girls that are molting and couldn't get it in pellet form. No problems with them eating, just a lot of dust and spillage.

They are 19 weeks old today! They started on a 20% medicated and swiched them to a 16% lay crumble w/ extra shell 3 weeks ago with seemingly no problem.

 

[chickeydee]

I do not believe it would hurt to just switch . The pellets are good because if you just toss them some you will see that that can pick it up better and it does not go to waste .

 

[ChookHappy]

Thank you very much! I'll be on the hunt for some organic pellets I went to a new to me feed store today a bit father than the usual one I go to and found a 50lb bag of organic scratch. They were out of the 50lb. organic lay pellet unfortunatly.