Crumbles or pellets?

I agree.

I think a lot gets waisted with the crumbles.

 

They do make a mess, but if you let the feeder "run dry" before you give them more, mine usually clean up their mess. Chickens are stubborn so getting them to take to pellets can take a few days. Good luck!

 

From what I understand crumble is better than pellets. It was explained to me at a chicken class I took that the pellets don't full break down and digest, therefor wasting a lot of the nutrients in the food. But I do agree that it is messier and I do *sigh* at the wasted food on the ground sometimes.

 

Use pellets. Less is wasted and it saves you money in the long run

 

how does one use mash? I have heard to feed it dry and some say to add water, also can crumbles be used as a mash with water?

 

My hens don't eat mash dry, but they love it with warm water in the winter. All chicken feed is essentially the exact same thing but in a different form. First the grain is compressed into pellets. Then broken up into crumbles. Then broken up more into mash. If you just crush up the crumbles a little more, then you can add some water and your chickens will love it. But feeding mash dry, just doesn't sound all that appetizing to me...

 

Layer PELLETS. I went the cold turkey method. Once I was out of crumble, I put in pellets. The chickens are dumb but not that dumb to not eat/starve..

 

I agree. Pellets are better (less waste).

I used crumbles for my first 50lb bag and they wasted a lot of it. Then switched to pellets and never looked back. With the feeder I made there is absolutely no waste. See the link in my signature line for a $3 bucket feeder!

 

Crumbles are more messy in my opinion as well. They do seem to like the crumbles a bit more though.I tend to give them a less amount so they clean it up if i have the crumbles instead of pellets. Of course they are always looking for bugs as well so i'm not too worried about them starving by any means when i give them less. Plus cracked corn as well. Main thing is just watching them to calculate how much they eat. My chickens are kind of pets but i do want high egg production as well. So yeah i use both crumbles and pellets. I just make sure they eat it all of whatever i'm giving them. I've used that method for 3 years and haven't had any problems.