Is laying mash crumbles better than pellets? What works best?

[wvchickenhouse]

Do you need to mix cracked corn with your laying mash? Are crumbles better than pellets?

 

[ChickenScratchin]

I like pellets better - they waste less.

 

[southerndesert]

We also prefer pellets due to less waste and we mix nothing with the feed itself, but do give small amounts of scratch from time to time.

 

[Beekissed]

My chickens always seemed to prefer laying mash.....the powder residue left over from the pellets seems to be wasted, as does the birds picking up a pellet and dropping it before they can consume it. With the mash, they consume what they have in their beaks and don't seem to drop it out. I have wire mesh over the feeders to prevent shoveling and flicking.

I mix whole grains of wheat, barley, oats, BOSS and a little cracked corn in my laying mash to provide texture and give the birds something they have to work at to digest. I like to believe it keeps their digestive tract healthier....imagine eating finely ground seeds that are compressed into a shape, all day every day. It would be easily dispersed in the gizzard as there is nothing really to grind....the gizzard barely has anything to do at this point. More easily digested, I'm sure, but no bulk fiber.

I don't provide as many whole grains in the summer months when forage is plentiful~ I feel they get their roughage well enough then.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
What type of laying mash are you using?

Some concentrates you will have to add rolled corn to.

Chris

 

[wvchickenhouse]

I'm using a Purina Layena (pink sack).... they seem to eat it really well. I like to give them some variety...cracked corn, pumpkin, and veggies when I have it. They love red sweet bell peppers!

 

[crazyhen]

Mine refused to eat the pellets. I use the pink bag layena as well. If there is fine stuff left in the feeder I remove it and mix with a bit of water to make a mush. They like that. I put scratch in the run. That way they can litterally scratch about for it and it seems to give them pleasure. I also give mine greens that I grow. They can eat a whole bucket full except for stems in one evening. My egg yolks stay nice and rich in color and the eggs are wonderful. My new flock I got this year has just started laying pullet eggs and I am on cloud nine.

Gloria Jean

 

[OldGuy43]

Our hens wouldn't eat the pellets, crumbles works best for us. Part of the problem may have been that their top beak had been clipped and they couldn't.

 

[Bobbykiki]

I seen to have alot of waste with both mash and pellets. Can i use chicken wire as the screen to prevent them flicking it out? Also my girls are currently on pellets but free range all day on a half acre, but i am only getting 5 eggs from 11 birds! ( and somedays its only 1 per day) could it be that they eat the scraps out of the compost rather than the Lay pellets??

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

IME the crumbles were spilled and spred around the coop, the pellets however are not wasted as much. My girls are messy eaters and prefer to eat off the floor instead of out of the feeder.