Is there a difference between "crumbles" and "chick starter"?

[Ridgerunner]

A lot depends on the manufacturer and what they call it so far as Starter/Grower/Layer/All-Ages/Flock Raiser/Game Bird etc goes, even feed called the same thing will vary to some extent.
What they call the sizes Mash/Crumbles/Pellet seems to be pretty standard, even if the size of the pellet or crumble will vary a little.
Except for Layer with the extra calcium most chicken foods are actually pretty darn similar and the biggest difference is the protein level.
Protein is money, so most more specialized feeds are made to have the lowest protein percentage possible and still have the chickens do well.
The 16% for your usual Layer seems to be where the cost of the feed is balanced out by the egg production in commercial operations.
Extra protein doesn't hurt most birds, and may actually help increase egg production and size, and it is good if they are molting or under stress etc. You do have to watch some big breeds and birds like Cornish X especially which can grow too fast, or layers, some of the commercial layers especially since they can have problems if pushed to mature too early.
Chick Starter is usually around 18-20% up to 24% protein and is usually formulated for growing chicks to about 8 weeks, but it can be fed to older birds. The 24% is usually used for turkeys and other game birds, though most people seem to like to feed them an even higher protein% with feeds made especially for them.
I actually feed a 20% chick starter that is made in pellet form by a local mill to all my birds, except young chicks which get chick starter in crumble form. I do cut the protein level down using grain to adolescent birds and some layers.
Grower/Finisher specifically is usually around 15%-16% protein and is for birds 8-18 weeks or so.
Layer is usually 15-17% but you can get higher, most commercial brands say for birds over 18 weeks. A lot of people do start to feed it until they chickens actually start to lay, especially breeds that are late starters. Other people never feed Layer, just feed one of the others and offer oyster shell on the side for the Layers.
All-Ages or Flock Raiser type foods are usually around 18% protein and can be fed to pretty much everything, just have oyster shell on the side for laying hens.
There are various Turkey feeds, Game Bird feeds, Conditioner Feeds etc, and those can have a lot higher protein% like 28-32%, if you want to up the protein% for your chickens because they are molting or something, these can be a good way to go.

Great post!!! I avoid the really high protein feeds around 30% protein though because that much protein can mess up the kidneys and liver if fed for very long. There is a reason chickens are not listed on those bags.

The way the major brands make chicken feed it to determine the ingredients they want to use for the specific type to get the protein, calcium, fiber, fat, amino acids, and all that right, then grind that up to a powder. That’s called mash.

If they want pellets, they mix mash with water to form a paste, extrude that through dyes, and quickly dry it. They break it off as it dries and you have pellets.

To make crumbles they crush the pellets a little bit but not to a powder like mash.

The main reason they make the different forms of feed is the different form of feed suits different automatic feeding systems. Some machinery can handle pellets better than mash, for example. If you feed mash, the different components might sort themselves out due to gravity so they often dampen it to keep the ingredients properly mixed, but that requires different machinery than for crumbles or pellets.

The form of the feed, mash, pellets, or crumbles, has nothing to do with nutritional content. Nutritional content has nothing to do with the form of the feed.