Pellets or Crumble?

[KarliR]

Hey!

Our first few hens came to us eating crumble, the next set of girls we got were on pellets. We are curious what the difference is and what should we be feeding? They all range from about 7 months to 13-/14 months old. We have slowed down on our egg laying this past week and just looking for any advice.

Thanks

 

[pdirt]

In order to make those pellet shapes, the feed is finely ground and put under high heat and pressure to make those pellets. The high heat destroys a goodly amount of vitamins and denatures fats (denatured fats can become carcinogenic). I would never feed pellets, it's wasted money in my book. Mash is your best bet (least amount of processing) and crumbles second best choice.

The main reason people like pellets is they seem to waste less feed. A good feeder design and/or feeding plan will go a long ways toward feed wastage reduction.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Pellets do tend to have less waste since there are fewer fines and the birds can pick them up off the ground.
Mash is a finer grind and has the most fines.
Crumbles are made from pellets. Once the pellets are made, if they want to produce crumbles, they run the pellets through a crumbler. That keeps the fines bound up in the crumbles.
Most mills make 2 feeds initially. Mash which is more finely ground and pellets. Some don't make mash at all since it is used primarily for cage hens.
Pelleted feed needs a binding agent added before they meet the steam and pelletizer. The heat isn't high enough to damage the vitamin content significantly and stabilized vitamins are added so they aren't affected by heat as much as natural vitamins.
After the feed is made, it is analyzed and there is no significant difference in vitamin, mineral, fat, protein and energy content between mash, pellets or crumbles.
Pellets and crumbles are virtually the same nutritionally.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

I use pellets, they waste a lot less that way. I don't think there is a difference in the nutritional value.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Pellets do tend to have less waste since there are fewer fines and the birds can pick them up off the ground.
Mash has the most fines.
Crumbles are made from pellets. Once the pellets are made, if they want to produce crumbles, they run the pellets through a crumbler. That keeps the fines bound up in the crumbles.
Most mills make 2 feeds initially. Mash which is more finely ground and pellets. Some don't make mash at all since it is used primarily for cage hens.
Pelleted feed needs a binding agent added before they meet the steam and pelletizer. The heat isn't high enough to damage the vitamin content significantly and stabilized vitamins are added so they aren't affected by heat as much as natural vitamins.
After the feed is made, it is analyzed and there is no significant difference in vitamin, mineral, fat, protein and energy content between mash, pellets or crumbles.
Pellets and crumbles are virtually the same nutritionally.

X 2 - nutritionally, it's a non-issue, it really just comes down to personal preference. For the issue of feed waste being more with one form than another, an adjustment to the type of feeder being used can help to address this (ie a "no-waste" feeder that controls the ability of the bird to bill out feed which tends to be more of an issue with crumble form than pellet).
I use crumble for the simple fact that I don't feed layer ration - choosing instead to use a grower crumble (Flock Raiser at the moment), which comes in crumble form.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Pellets do tend to have less waste since there are fewer fines and the birds can pick them up off the ground.
Mash has the most fines.
Crumbles are made from pellets. Once the pellets are made, if they want to produce crumbles, they run the pellets through a crumbler. That keeps the fines bound up in the crumbles.
Most mills make 2 feeds initially. Mash which is more finely ground and pellets. Some don't make mash at all since it is used primarily for cage hens.
Pelleted feed needs a binding agent added before they meet the steam and pelletizer. The heat isn't high enough to damage the vitamin content significantly and stabilized vitamins are added so they aren't affected by heat as much as natural vitamins.
After the feed is made, it is analyzed and there is no significant difference in vitamin, mineral, fat, protein and energy content between mash, pellets or crumbles.
Pellets and crumbles are virtually the same nutritionally.

Great response!