Feeding transition question

[SLOchicks]

So, my 3 chicks are 8 weeks old today...Happy Birthday! I'm almost done with a bag of crumbles and asked the local Farm Supply store (where I bought the chicks) about their next type of feed. They sold me a bag of Nutragena Nature Wise All Flock 18% pellets.
In reading the back of the bag, it says that layers should start on this feed at age 18 weeks. Is it ok to try them on this now? Is there some transition food I can give them? They have been getting treats every day like watermelon, lettuce, chick treat mix, oatmeal, garden worms, dried mealworms, etc. Thanks for your help!
Katie of SLOchicks

 

[HEChicken]

Nutrena All Flock is a transitional food that can be fed at all life stages. I love it because it is pelleted where most others like it are crumbles.

 

[earlyredrooster]

Nutrena All Flock is a transitional food that can be fed at all life stages.  I love it because it is pelleted where most others like it are crumbles.

So you prefer pellets? I thought about switching from crumbles to pellets to see if I could save on feed, even though my birds run free and don't eat much feed anyway every dollar counts.

 

[HEChicken]

So you prefer pellets? I thought about switching from crumbles to pellets to see if I could save on feed, even though my birds run free and don't eat much feed anyway every dollar counts.

Yes! I find pellets to be better in every way. Crumbles are messy, they scratch them out of the feeder and they get lost in the ground or bedding etc. Pellets they can see so even if they bill them out, they peck them all up and eat them so there is a lot less waste. I have access to Nutrena All Flock and I like it but it is costly. My feed store special orders Purina Flock Raiser in pellets. I start chicks out on starter/grower but by the time they are a few weeks old, they have transitioned to pellets and that's all they ever get from there on.

 

[earlyredrooster]

Yes!  I find pellets to be better in every way.  Crumbles are messy, they scratch them out of the feeder and they get lost in the ground or bedding etc.  Pellets they can see so even if they bill them out, they peck them all up and eat them so there is a lot less waste.  I have access to Nutrena All Flock and I like it but it is costly.  My feed store special orders Purina Flock Raiser in pellets.  I start chicks out on starter/grower but by the time they are a few weeks old, they have transitioned to pellets and that's all they ever get from there on.  

Do you not give them laying pellets, or does the all flock have that mixed in as well?

 

[HEChicken]

The Nutrena All Flock is a pelleted feed and I like it but it is pricey. Purina Flock Raiser comes in pellets but most feed stores only sell it in crumbles. I talked to my feed store about it and they now special order in the pellets for me (and a few other people started buying them once they were on the shelf). So most of the time I am feeding Flock Raiser pellets, but occasionally get the Nutrena All Stock pellets. As a matter of interest, I have yet to find a chick too young to be able to eat pellets. My chicks are all raised by broody hens and either the hen will break up the pellets for them, or they dig through the feeder looking for the small bits that occur naturally. If I have a lot of chicks at one time I'll get a bag of medicated chick starter for the chicks just in case they need the medication, but if a hen goes broody "out of season", I just start the chicks on pellets from day one and I haven't lost one to starvation yet

 

[HEChicken]

Do you not give them laying pellets, or does the all flock have that mixed in as well?

I'm sorry - I realized I didn't answer this very well in my previous post. I DO feed layer pellets. I have a flock of 100 chickens, ducks and turkeys who all live in one coop. In the coop is a feeder that dispenses layer pellets. However when hens are raising chicks, ducklings or poults, the youngsters can't reach into the feeder, can't compete with the adults for the food and I don't want them eating layer pellets that young anyway. So - when a hen goes broody, I set her up in a temporary coop for the first few days until she and the chick have bonded. While in the temp coop, they get chick starter or a pelleted grower formula. Then, once they are turned out to free-range with the flock, I set up a creeper so that the chicks have access to their own food, that the adults cannot get to. They very quickly learn where this food is and figure out how to get in and out of the creeper! So the food in the creeper is also a pelleted grower feed, which they eat until they are too big to get into the creeper. By then they are close enough to the age they can start eating layer pellets that I just don't worry about it. The cockerels are going to be processed for meat at the age of 16-18 weeks anyway, and while I do keep most of the pullets, I haven't had any issues with them starting to eat layer pellets around 13-14 weeks, even if it isn't optimal. It is just the best I can do, without keeping all the birds in individual little pens.

 

[earlyredrooster]

I'm sorry - I realized I didn't answer this very well in my previous post.  I DO feed layer pellets.  I have a flock of 100 chickens, ducks and turkeys who all live in one coop.  In the coop is a feeder that dispenses layer pellets.  However when hens are raising chicks, ducklings or poults, the youngsters can't reach into the feeder, can't compete with the adults for the food and I don't want them eating layer pellets that young anyway.  So - when a hen goes broody, I set her up in a temporary coop for the first few days until she and the chick have bonded.  While in the temp coop, they get chick starter or a pelleted grower formula.  Then, once they are turned out to free-range with the flock, I set up a creeper so that the chicks have access to their own food, that the adults cannot get to.  They very quickly learn where this food is and figure out how to get in and out of the creeper!  So the food in the creeper is also a pelleted grower feed, which they eat until they are too big to get into the creeper.  By then they are close enough to the age they can start eating layer pellets that I just don't worry about it.  The cockerels are going to be processed for meat at the age of 16-18 weeks anyway, and while I do keep most of the pullets, I haven't had any issues with them starting to eat layer pellets around 13-14 weeks, even if it isn't optimal.  It is just the best I can do, without keeping all the birds in individual little pens.

Thanks for the advice, I kinda figured pellets were more cost effective it just seems logical.

 

[SLOchicks]

Thanks to all for the information. I mixed the remaining crumbles with the pellets and they are going down just fine