Mash or pellets

[seedcorn]

Quote:
Feed companies will tell you that you get better conversion on crumbles/pellets over mash. It has to do w/surface area on the ingredients. For most back yard flocks, I have no problem believing it makes no difference tho.

 

[magikchick]

I have fed both but prefer pellets. My chickens don't seem to care either way.

 

[beautifulbirds]

What happened to feeding REAL FOOD?

Mine get a stew twice a week and I feed lettuce, bread, tuna and whatever else I have.

I don't believe that something that has been in a bag for 18 mths, or more (look at the packaging dates), is real food.

Just a thought...

 

[seedcorn]

Maybe in NZ feed last that long but here in IND, it is gone fast.

"real food" for a chicken would be seeds, bugs and dead things.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
Feed companies will tell you that you get better conversion on crumbles/pellets over mash. It has to do w/surface area on the ingredients. For most back yard flocks, I have no problem believing it makes no difference tho.

Thus the reason that they stock the mash right next to the register and the crumbles and pellets upstairs!

I have far less waste from the pellets than the mash. My girls had the tendency to scoot the mash all over the place looking for their favorite little tidbits. Much more ended up on the floor than with the pellets, plus the girls often clean up the floor of the pellets whereas they left the mash on the floor.

 

[standardbanty]

Crumbles.....!!!! pellets somehow get wasted in my coopss...ecspeacially with banties

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
The problem with "real food" is that unless you have the time and money to weigh and measure the correct ingredients, they aren't getting a diet that has all the necessary nutrients in the appropriate amounts.
My chickens free range all day for their real food: seeds & leaves, bugs, worms, fruit from our trees (apples, peaches, figs, persimmons, & mulberries) and the occasional unlucky amphibian or mouse

Not to mention leftovers from the kitchen and their treat of scratch. Then they have layer pellets available in their coop 24/7, to make up for anything they didn't happen to find while foraging that day.
We get their feed from our local farmer's co-op, which mills it right next to the retail store. It's not 18 months old.

 

[missourichickenmama]

Quote:
Chickens don't want to eat food? Unheard of!

 

[missourichickenmama]

Quote:
The problem with "real food" is that unless you have the time and money to weigh and measure the correct ingredients, they aren't getting a diet that has all the necessary nutrients in the appropriate amounts.
My chickens free range all day for their real food: seeds & leaves, bugs, worms, fruit from our trees (apples, peaches, figs, persimmons, & mulberries) and the occasional unlucky amphibian or mouse

Not to mention leftovers from the kitchen and their treat of scratch. Then they have layer pellets available in their coop 24/7, to make up for anything they didn't happen to find while foraging that day.
We get their feed from our local farmer's co-op, which mills it right next to the retail store. It's not 18 months old.

same here.BTW i feed them pellets.