Pellet Feed affect egg laying?

[gkeesling]

I always have fed my hens 16% Layer Crumbles that I get at Tractor Supply, Rural King, or some place like that. Out of 19 hens I was getting between 14 and 17 eggs/day. I happened to pick up a bag of 16% Layer Pellets at Tractor Supply. I Just grabbed a bag and didn't properly read all the label. When they started eating the pellets my egg production dropped down to 10 - 13 eggs/day.
I can't think if anything else that changed during that week. Does a change in feed like that affect egg laying quantity the way it did, or maybe something else changed that I have missed?
I went back to the crumbles and got 17 eggs again. go figure.

 

[Bridget399]

Has the weather gotten really hot?

I'm hoping someone offers their 2 cents, I would like to know if their is any difference between crumbles and pellets... seems like I have so much waste with crumbles.

 

[gkeesling]

the weather actually got cooler last week when they were eating the pellets. that's part of what baffled me. I was getting more eggs in 90 degree weather than in 70 degree weather.

 

[Whirlwind]

I don't know about it affecting laying??

I always switch mine to egg-booster laying pellets from tractor supply when they are about to start laying. Seems like less wasted food. Never had a poblem with it. It does seem like it takes them a few days to get used to it tho. Now the weather does seem to affect them. Hot really slows things down here.

 

[leafsleeve]

I have recently done this same thing, for a few days my eggs decreased, until my hens got used to the pellets. After 2 or 3 days they were all back to laying again.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I feed a mixture of crumbles and pellets. We have alot of chickens . large breed and bantam. The bantam like the crumbles and some of my younger chickens do as well. To cut down on the waste I mix it and it seems to be working. I really don't think pellets vs crumble changes the egg production thou

 

[Amy's Animals]

It shouldn't have made a difference as crumbles are basically just crumbled up pellets. I've always fed my chickens pellets, it reduces waste, and even my silkie is laying 5+ eggs a week!

I can't see why the production would have decreased.

Was this a different brand of feed? If so, they may have eaten less of it because they aren't used to it or because they don't like it very much. I would give them a couple weeks to get totally adjusted to the pellets before making the final decision of how it affected production