Layer mash versus layer pellets

[Gracie_Chickie]

What is the difference between layer mash and pellets, just texture? Which is better? and is it ok for the roo to eat?

 

[rooster-red]

Texture is the difference, I think pellets are better because they seem to waste less.

Your roo will have problems from eating layer feed longterm. Too much calcium.

 

[jenichick]

It's really a personal preference, all my chickens eat layer pellets with no problems.

 

[mdbucks]

I thought crumbles were same as pellets just broken up, and Mash was all ingrediants put together but not combined, I know mash from feed mill you can see different ingrediants, where pellets and crumbles are uniform in color, mixed to a solid consistency then formed to pellet shape them broken into crumble size.

Pellets are spose to be less waste.

The effect on the rooster is debateable, but unless you are gonna keep him seperate from the hens and/or only feed for short amount of times is a chance we all must take.

 

[Picco]

The ingredients are usually the same in mash, crumble and pelleted form, unless otherwise stated. The pellets are just pressed mash, its processed in a machine but no other ingredients are added, typically. The crumbles are usually broken up pellets.

In my opinion the mash is too messy and leads to a lot of waste. The pellets work great for larger birds but I have found them to be difficult for my bantams to swallow. Pellets don't lead to waste because they can be picked off the floor if they fall out of the feeder so they are a good economical choice. I use crumbles because they are easily eaten by both my small and large birds and don't lead to much waste.

Layer feed can be detrimental to a roosters health because of the large amounts of calcium. This can lead to kidney failure but most roosters live long healthy lives on this diet. Their body probably adapts to the high calcium diet. I have several roosters that have lived long lives without incident so I doubt that the feed is in anyway hurting them.

 

[egglady]

When I got my chickens, they were used to eating mash, and didn't seem to know what to do with pellets. I just mixed a little of the pellets in with the mash, and kept increasing the proportion until they were totally on pellets. Definitely less waste!

 

[wischickenlover]

I use the layer crumbles. I don't like the mash as it seems there is a lot of waste with it since most of it seems to just blow away with the breeze! Just my two cents....

 

[firechicken]

For the roosters feed, I have read, that you want to shoot for somewhere around 9 or 10% protein. You can use a formula called pearson's square to figure out how much of certain foods to mix together to get your desired %. In the book "story's guide to raising chickens" It says 9% is good for roosters, and that if you get a 16% layer feed and an 8% scratch feed and mix it 1 part layer ration to 7 parts scratch then you will get 9%. You could do a search for pearsons square to figure out how to do it yourself with the food you have available.