Pellet or Crumble?

[Monstertone]

Which do you feed your chickens (pellets or crumble) and why? I've had them both and don't understand why there's two different types of feed...

-Tom

 

[Reinbeau]

Mine hate the pellets, so I stick to the crumble. Some feel there's more waste with the crumble, I figure if they won't eat it, that's even more wasteful!

 

[Sillystunt]

Crumbles are just pellets mashed up. Mine prefer the crumble? I mix it with some scratch and they go to town! They used to eat pellets but started to snub them. I have no clue why!

 

[gritsar]

Mine have been on pellets since they started getting layer feed and I have no plans to change that.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

We use pellets. Started with crumbles but there was too much waste.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Mine love the crumbles and I have to say I have no waste. I have one of those round plastic gravity feeders with the sections as well as a lip around the inside to help keep them from scratching and billing it out. I have watched them eat and they just gobble it up, no digging or billing through it and I never find any on the floor. They love it!

 

[OrpingtonManor]

Both feeds are fine as long as your birds eat it. If you want to switch to pellets, do it when they first start laying, not later. I just had this discussion with my vet yesterday.

I tried to switch to crumbles early last summer, when my birds were a year old. They wouldn't eat them, plain and simple. They starved themselves, lost huge amounts of weight, and stopped producing eggs. Eventually, one of the birds ended up with egg yolk peritonitis from being egg-bound with a shell-less egg. She is now fighting for her life, and probably won't win the battle.

The vet said, birds are entirely visual about what they eat. it's not about the taste or smell. If they haven't identified something as food when they are young and learning, they will not eat it. So mine didn't see pellets as food, and starved themselves. You can't just wait it out. They really will die of starvation if they don't see food. Luckily for me, I switched back to crumbles in mid-July, and all but one bird gained weight, and is back to laying just fine.

 

[PandoraTaylor]

I use both.
Pellets are great for the Large Chicken Feeders 3lb or 11 lb, I have never seen the feeder clogged with the pellets.
My chickens don't seem to bill out the pellets as much as I see them tossing crumbles out to find something better.
The Crumbles don't always move down correctly, they seem to Draw moisture from the air and clog up the large feeders.

However I keep them on hand for morning mash and for emergencies. I also have a bag of medicated chick starter for emergency stored in a 5 gal bucket in my cold shed.

 

[Monstertone]

Thanks for all the great info!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That is so true. When I offer my year and half old birds a new treat, chances are they turn their beaks up at it. I can sometimes encourage my two most trusting hens to try something new, but that's about it. If I can get my rooster to try it, the hens will watch him and only eat it after he "tells" them it's okay.