Crumbles vs Pellets

[Chaoticchickens]

I have a pair of bantam cochins, and I give them layer crumbles, grit, and a little handful of scratch once a day. However, they are VERY wasteful with the crumbles. They flip the feeder, scratch it out, and or scratch it all around and then it is mixed with bedding. I give crumbles because that is what the breeder gave them, and I have been hesitant give pellets for fear of them choking on them. So my question, are pellets safe for BANTAMS to eat? Without choking etc. I have put their feed in the little chick feeders too, and they still manage to waste it. And a lot at that.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Outside of the fact that that hens will waste more crumbles on average than they will waste pellets there is little difference between crumbles or pellets. It's just easier to feed crumbles with automated feeding equipment mostly because by the time the pellets go through the several different handling equipment what you have left anyway is crumbles or crumbs.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have a pair of bantam cochins, and I give them layer crumbles, grit, and a little handful of scratch once a day. However, they are VERY wasteful with the crumbles. They flip the feeder, scratch it out, and or scratch it all around and then it is mixed with bedding. I give crumbles because that is what the breeder gave them, and I have been hesitant give pellets for fear of them choking on them. So my question, are pellets safe for BANTAMS to eat? Without choking etc. I have put their feed in the little chick feeders too, and they still manage to waste it. And a lot at that.

Hang a 1lb. coffee can by both the top and the bottom, in the dry and where your birds can only reach it while perched on the roost. Now only put 1/2 (0.5) pounds of pellets in the can. Your birds must poke their heads into the can to get a beak full of food and the high sides of the metal coffee can will act like a backstop to stop pellets from being wasted.

I'll bet you that your bantams can swallow a blue berry or smallish grape in a heart beat. A laying pellet should be chicks play for a bantam.

 

[barneveldrerman]

I give my hens half crumble and half pellets with some grit and grain mixed in. It seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[Mikeychix]

All crumble is is broken up pellets, so there isn't much of a difference. If they can swallow grit, thn they're fine with pellets. My hens have no problem eating pellets.

 

[Balloonjuice]

I start my chicks on crumbles and move them to pellets when they're large. If there is such a thing as starter pellets, my feed store doesn't know about it. I move them to lay pellets as soon as 12-14 weeks.