Pellets and Crumbles

[lincolnsilkies]

I have had my chickens on crumbles since they were chicks i have a mix of chickens 10 silkies 3 bantams 4 wyndottes 2 polish well i thought i would switch to pellets but... they acted like they couldnt eat them so i put them back on the crumbles and it is so messy so my question is can they eat the pellets or am i stuck with feeding them crumbles they are all between 4-7 months old Thanks

 

[AngelzFyre]

You can switch them to pellets but it will take some time for them to get used to them if they've never had them.
I tried before but mine went forever and wouldn't eat the pellets so I weenied out. All the people I've talked to that feed pellets say they WILL eat them and won't starve, but I couldn't take it! Mine are still on crumbles and still do waste feed...hopefully you'll have better luck than I did.

 

[gryeyes]

I didn't do anything special to help my chickens adjust to pellets, I just changed over to pellets and they ate them. Now, the pellets I'm feeding are "All Flock" and are smaller than other pelletized feed I've seen.

What I really like about the pellets is that they are always snapped up by the chickens when they're spilled out of the feeder. (Darn geese, messy eaters.)

 

[AngelzFyre]

What brand are they if you don't mind me asking? I would absolutely love for mine to eat pellets and not waste feed! All I've seen here available are the larger pellets and mine will not eat them at all, I've tried leaving them in there for over a week and they just would not eat any of them! My neighbor feeds pellets and I gave the rest of the bag to her..of course her's ate every bit of them!

 

[slurrywidow]

I didn't do anything special when I made the switch either. Knowing what little "piggies" I have I wasn't worried about them starving. Sure enough they did just fine. I did notice a dip in how often I had to fill the feeders but after a couple of weeks I realized it's because they don't go through as much feed with the pellets. My guess is because they didn't spill/waste as much.

 

[daddy_roo]

My chickens have been on pellets since I have had them, but one thing you can try is to mix the pellets in with your current feed and put the feed in a trough of some sort. Kinda ease them into it.

 

[MIKE555444]

My chickies didn't like the change at all... they decided they would boycott eating... that didn't last to long LOL and now they eat like little pigs. It sometimes take a little while i suppose

 

[lincolnsilkies]

Will the silkies and the little bantams be able to eat the pellets? i have some standard size also and know they will be able to i was just concerned about the bantams and my silkies? Thanks again everyone for all the info!

 

[Hey...Girrrl's]

I feed mine the crumbles....You can alway try mixing in pellets with your crumbles.... Ease them into the pellets....I have noticed there are a few pellets that have not been crushed and my girls will still eat them....Good Luck

 

[slurrywidow]

Quote:
My silkies did just fine eating the pellets. One other thing I thought I'd mention, all of my birds seem to make MUCH less mess/waste when I use hanging feeders. I hang them about chest level and they can't get their feet up there to fling food everywhere. Goes without saying that I use the chest level of the smallest ones.