Mash, Pellets or Crumbles? Poll!

[JakesMama]

Myself and my girls prefer pellets. The brand I buy is Bar Ale and they have mini pellets, so it's easier for them eat and they don't waste food like they did with crumbles. Also, when I tried crumbles, most if my girls would start sneezing or coughing and would have to run to the water to wash it down.

 

[HeyLittleHen]

Mine have pellets and seem to enjoy them.

 

[write2caroline]

Early on I preferred pellets over crumbles but this fall, I started experimenting with mash or fermented feed and I definately prefer it to dry feed.
Caroline

 

[Rezia]

I used to feed crumbles, but I've found that my chickens waste less feed when I feed pellets.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

WOW! quite a mixture! that's awesome!

 

[TeaChick]

IDK what mash is. Someone please tell me?

I started my chicks on crumbles. Then I started free ranging, so they got dog food as a supplement to bugs and such. They also like apples, so those became "peep treats" at our house.
Now, I ferment whole dried corn for them and I just use the dog food to get them to do what I want them to do.

I have some pellets from a friend for a sick chicken (she's better now). I'll just use that up when I put her in with the other chickens (today or tomorrow).

So mine are getting fermented corn until I run out of that. Then, we'll see.

But I voted other b/c I don't feed any one thing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Teachick, the standard way the big commercial companies make chickenfeed is to mix all the different ingredients they want in it and grind that up to a powder. That’s called mash.

If they want pellets, the wet it to make a paste and extrude it through dyes, flash dry it, and break it off into short pieces. That’s pellets.

If they want crumbles, they crush the pellets some, but not enough to take it back to mash.

Why do they do this? Glad you asked. Different styles of automatic feeders work better with different types of feed.

There is another issue or two. If that powdery mash stays dry, it can sort itself into the different ingredients based on specific density so the chickens might not get a balance diet. The pellets and crumbles keep it mixed up.

Also, if you cut the top beak off a chicken kept in crowded conditions so it can’t eat other chickens (called debeaking), they can’t handle pellets or crumbles really well. But they can handle damp mash really well.

 

[Twinklin]

I use dry crumbles for chicks and fermented pellets after about 20 weeks. I hope to start ordering organic soy free mash from the local buyers club. I will most likely ferment that as well.

 

[TeaChick]

Teachick, the standard way the big commercial companies make chickenfeed is to mix all the different ingredients they want in it and grind that up to a powder. That’s called mash.

If they want pellets, the wet it to make a paste and extrude it through dyes, flash dry it, and break it off into short pieces. That’s pellets.

If they want crumbles, they crush the pellets some, but not enough to take it back to mash.

Why do they do this? Glad you asked. Different styles of automatic feeders work better with different types of feed.

There is another issue or two. If that powdery mash stays dry, it can sort itself into the different ingredients based on specific density so the chickens might not get a balance diet. The pellets and crumbles keep it mixed up.

Also, if you cut the top beak off a chicken kept in crowded conditions so it can’t eat other chickens (called debeaking), they can’t handle pellets or crumbles really well. But they can handle damp mash really well.

Good to know. Thank you very much, Ridgerunner!

 

[Junibutt]

My chicken don't like pallets unless I starve them first. So I switched them to organic feed which I don't think is crumbles but just a bunch of grains mixed together. My problem is that they leave the small particles/powdery stuff behind so I am worried about them not getting a balanced diet.