Should I switch from organic? whole grains being wasted vs. pellets

[flickerloo]

I also use an organic mash feed that is quite powdery. My solution to it, since I don't want to switch feed (it's soy-free, non-GMO, organic) is to keep a little in dry form in their hanging feeder and to mix some with warm water every morning and offer it in a pan. It took a bit to figure out how much to make, but they eat most of it up in late morning, early afternoon, and then when it starts to dry out, I toss the remainder (less than a handful) on the ground, and they scratch for it

 

[nan4848]

The feed store that I order my organic mix from is also quite powdery. When I asked if they could keep it whole grain as much as possible, I was told they could, but the hens would pick out what they wanted and leave the rest. I decided to go with having it ground.

 

[TwoCrows]

I make my own feed from whole grains. I found that if I did not grind the grains, the chickens would only eat out the grains they desired and left the rest of the feed. I grind the grains down fairly fine. And because I add powdery supplements, the only way to bind everything together, just as posted above, I add a tiny bit of water. Not only can't the chickens pick out any single grain, but the water brings what looks like a powdery feed to a small crumble type feed. Each bite the chicken eats is 100% of the entire mix.