Does anyone feed there chickens Mash?

[twentynine]

I feed crumbles (mash) or pellets interchanged all the time. They don't waste unless I mix the two.

And no way do I put anything in the feeder but mash or pellet. The one time I mixed crack corn with the feed, the chickens billed out the feed, going for the cracked corn. So if they get crack corn and they usually do, I scatter it out across the hay in the bottom of the run. The chickens will then spend hours scratching through the hay looking for a tidbit of cracked corn.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I only ever feed the mash as my primary base feed. It produces less waste than the pellets or crumbles, IME. As with anything bought in bulk, the finer the grind, the more you get for your cash. (Think chopped nuts as opposed to whole nuts, coffee beans as opposed to ground)

Most of it has a cornmeal consistency and the birds clean it up just fine, there is little waste because it is harder to pick up and fall from their beaks onto the floor and any freshly ground whole grain is going to be fresher than the formulated feeds made, bagged and shipped from another location. I've never seen layer mash grow mold but have seen the pelleted feeds do so if stored in humid conditions.

 

[Chris09]

I'v had chickens for around 30 years now and have tried all the feed forms (mash, crumble, pellet and grain mix) but I keep going back to the Mash form.
I have had less problems with with mash, chicken do and look better on mash, and I pay around $18.00 for a hundred pounds of my custom mix that's 18% protein or I can pay about the same for the mills 16% protein.

I have found that most people that say there chickens wast more feed on the mash than on other feed types are either feeding to much to there birds (free feeding) or just not feeding it correctly.

When you start feeding mash you should dampen it to get it to clump that way the birds don't bill out feed looking for something also when you feed mash you only want to feed them enough feed to last them till night, feeding the this way wil make them a little hungry in the morning and they will eat there food instead of playing with it. .


Chris

 

[Fred's Hens]

Absolutely a mash!!! At 40% savings over commercial, shipped and fancy bagged feeds? Well worth it.

The dust is created by the local grinding. If you moisten the mash, it typically isn't as fine as it appears. Actually, one of our local feed mills' grind is coarser than the other feed mill. Moisten the feed in a bucket, getting a stiff oatmeal type result. The birds take in a bit of moisture as well as the feed. To pay 40% higher prices for the convenience of pellets doesn't seem worth it to me.

$32 per 100# for Purina versus $19.50 per $100 for local ground Hubbard? Flat out, no contest!

 

[Chris09]

Quote:

I feed crumbles (mash) or pellets interchanged all the time

Mash and Crumbles are two different types of feed.

Chris​

 

[johnson215]

my chickens love the mash:

... i bought it from the feed store my mistake,, thought it was layer crumbles and the chickens loved it. i usually just stick with the crumbles it seems to last longer than the pellets. they always have scratch to eat also...

 

[Chris09]

Fred's Hens :

$32 per 100# for Purina versus $19.50 per $100 for local ground Hubbard? Flat out, no contest!

LOL, good example Fred.
I would like to see some one try to 500 lbs of Purina for around $90.00.

Chris​

 

[GhostRider65]

Ok I will try the mash we need horse feed anyway and will have to stop at the feed store, So do you all know if they will mix it for you with more protein? I really think with our extremely cold winters here that a higher protein will help keep them healthier during the cold months of the year at least. Come January it will be well below zero for weeks or more at a time, with the wind chill it has gotten to -80 below here where cars/trucks will not start and nothing outside seems to work or dies, my horses water tank freezes over even with the stock tank heater cranked, and the furnace runs constantly just to keep up with a 68 to 70 degree temp in my house.. It doesn't get that cold every winter and we haven't had it that bad in almost 10 years, but they are predicting unprecedented cold and snow again for this year and I'm very worried about my chickens. The horses even wear blankets and stay in when the weather is below -35.......... I don't have warm blankies for 21 chickens. I also don't have a heated barn and can only offer heat lamps through that terrible cold. I'm praying that sub arctic cold don't come, but I'm trying to plan for it should it get that bad again.
I don't want them fat and lazy layers but I want them to get enough to keep up eggs and still stay healthy and warm. Any other suggestions would also be greatly appreciated. TY Kim

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
This time of the year you want more energy in the feed.
If you fell that you need a little more energy to keep them happy you can add about a table spoon or two of regular corn oil to a pound of feed.

Chris

 

[TDM]

It is well known in the commercial poultry industry that pelleted feed is less wasteful than ground mash. Here is a good article that explains the pro's and con's of pelleted versus mash feeds.

From: http://www.grandvalley.com/poultrypremix.html

The improvement in feed utilization averages to a 4-6 % advantage for commercial pelleted feeds compared to non-pelleted feeds.