I'm on my 3rd 10# bag of starter crumbles for my 4 wk old chicks. when do I change the feed for them and is chicken mash the same as crumbles?
Quote:Are they female? I believe that you can leave them on starter till they begin to lay or switch over to a grower feed at about 6 weeks old till they start to lay. When they start laying you can switch them over to a layer feed. pellets are pellets (small cylinders of food) crumbles are crumbled up pellets mash is wetting down any food till it is soft Imp
Mash is also a generic term that people use for feed. Back in the day before pellets were able to be easily made, chicken feed consisted of ground grains that resembled coarse flour. The standard name for that was mash. Very few commercial feeds are in this form today simply because of the huge amount of waste but the term is still out there. Your two standards for laying feed or chick starter today are pellets and crumbles. If they are going from a starter crumble onto a layer feed, I recommend a layer crumble to keep the particle size consistent. Keep them on a starter/grower ration until they are at least 16 weeks or they start to lay.
Mash is a mixture of finely ground grains and other nutrients; finer than 'crumbles'. A lot of feed mill's sill grind the own mash (starter, grower, and layer) and sell it for a fraction of the commercial name brand feed. Chris
