How much do you pay for feed??

[3KillerBs]

I’m leery of lower protein feeds. I accidentally bought 16% and my girls were eating feathers.

One time when some family crises prevented us from getting to the farm store we bought a bag of cheap layer at Wal-Mart.

I was going through 50# in a week but it only lasted 5 days. I think they ate more to make up for what they weren't getting.

Yes, my crumble was very disappointing, it was 30% dust that they would not eat and wasted alot of feed. The pellets are wonderful!

If you have a feeder with a deep pan and an inward-rolled lip they can't toss the unwanted feed away like they do with a shallow pan with a flat lip.

Then, when you get to the end of the bag and have accumulated a bunch of dust in the bottom of the deep pan you can make wet mash so nothing is wasted.

My birds think wet mash is a treat.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

One time when some family crises prevented us from getting to the farm store we bought a bag of cheap layer at Wal-Mart.

I was going through 50# in a week but it only lasted 5 days. I think they ate more to make up for what they weren't getting.



If you have a feeder with a deep pan and an inward-rolled lip they can't toss the unwanted feed away like they do with a shallow pan with a flat lip.

Then, when you get to the end of the bag and have accumulated a bunch of dust in the bottom of the deep pan you can make wet mash so nothing is wasted.

My birds think wet mash is a treat.

Mine do to but my dust is throughout the whole bag to its constant

 

[NanaK]

One time when some family crises prevented us from getting to the farm store we bought a bag of cheap layer at Wal-Mart.

A while back I think it was Wal-Mart I saw their layer feed was only 15% protein. I haven't bought any. My marans will feather pick if they do not get enough protein.

Mine do to but my dust is throughout the whole bag to its constant

I've gotten crumble feeds like this. They will eat it some of it wet but I do not want half a bag like this.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

A while back I think it was Wal-Mart I saw their layer feed was only 15% protein. I haven't bought any. My marans will feather pick if they do not get enough protein.

I've gotten crumble feeds like this. They will eat it some of it wet but I do not want half a bag like this.

Yep that's why we're going with pellets for sure

 

[3KillerBs]

Mine do to but my dust is throughout the whole bag to its constant

I've had the occasional extra-dusty bag. I've also gotten battered bags of pellets.

I don't usually care which one I get (sometimes one costs more than the other), but sometimes I've got chicks too young for pellets but already off chick feed so I feed crumble. I always buy 2 bags at a time and sometimes use pellets in the feeder that doesn't have a good lip and crumble in the deep-pan feeder.

If they throw too much feed of either kind I don't refill the feeder until they've cleaned up.

A while back I think it was Wal-Mart I saw their layer feed was only 15% protein. I haven't bought any. My marans will feather pick if they do not get enough protein.

Yeah. It's pretty junky feed.

It just happened to be a case of buying Wal-Mart feed or not feeding the chickens for a few days.

I thought it was interesting how much faster they went through the cheap feed. They knew they weren't getting what they needed.

 

[NanaK]

It just happened to be a case of buying Wal-Mart feed or not feeding the chickens for a few days.

Oh yes I know. Sometimes we have to just do the best we can.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'd love to go back to pellets, but my quail need crumble and my turkey grower obvious is meant for chicks, so it's crumbles for me

 

[aart]

Have had plenty of dusty bags of crumble, never had a problem with them eating it.
I do have a pretty good bill-proof feeder tho.

 

[Folly's place]

Me too. I prefer Flock Raiser, and wish it came in pellets, when we don't have chicks to feed. But the feed works for us as crumble anyway.
Mary

 

[Sally PB]

I pay about $19 for a 50 lb bag of Kalmbach flock raiser crumble. Non-GMO, 20% protein. I've never had "billing" issues with my birds. And they love mash; it's their favorite "treat." Very little feed gets wasted here.