Silkies Feed

[spicewood chick]

Hi

I have two silkies, one that has started laying and one that is probably 4 months old. I just changed feed from one laying feed to another and this one is just the large pellets and they dont seem to like it. Do I need to be feeding my Silkies a smaller feed or can they eat the normal laying feed, specially the 4 month old, she's a bit smaller and want to make sure its not too big for her. The other food I had was a laying feed but pellets were smaller and there were other little goodies in there that they liked to pick out and this new one is straight pellets that the larger chickens seem to like just fine.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I guess you just have to pay attention. My birds don't prefer the pellets, especially big ones. Aside from that I personally wouldn't have my young Silkie (or any breed) on layer feed. Too much calcium and not enough protein for a non laying and still growing bird.

Since I have all ages and genders most of the year I use a flock raiser with 20% protein and 1% calcium and I offer oyster shell free choice on the side for layers. I stick with crumble but not just because my birds seem to like it but also because I seem to get more possibility of mold in the bags of pellets.

Alternatively, you can consider fermenting your pellets.. which will turn them into a mash that everybody can eat. Takes a couple days for them to get used to it. Chickens are creatures of habit and ANY change can throw them off for a short while. Check the link in my signature line for some quick info and feel free to ask question should you decided to try it out.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi

I have two silkies, one that has started laying and one that is probably 4 months old. I just changed feed from one laying feed to another and this one is just the large pellets and they dont seem to like it. Do I need to be feeding my Silkies a smaller feed or can they eat the normal laying feed, specially the 4 month old, she's a bit smaller and want to make sure its not too big for her. The other food I had was a laying feed but pellets were smaller and there were other little goodies in there that they liked to pick out and this new one is straight pellets that the larger chickens seem to like just fine.

Another option to use the feed you have, you can put it in a ziplock bag and take a meat mallet to it and crack it smaller to see if that helps. Just a thought.

 

[Vikkslittlechicks]

Hi ya, I was wondering how you got on with your silkies. I’m having a similar problem with my girls. They just won’t eat the pellets so I’m looking into mash or crumble

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi ya, I was wondering how you got on with your silkies. I’m having a similar problem with my girls. They just won’t eat the pellets so I’m looking into mash or crumble

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I use crumble anyways because I usually have chicks. But I did buy pellets once.

It can take them a little while to adjust to a different feed shape since they are creatures of habit. Most of my birds did fine with the change... eventually.

I used a roller and smashed the pellets for the chicks that time. It was an extra pain but sometimes you gotta. I prefer crumbles... except for the dust left behind now that I don't ferment. Maybe I will ferment just the dust as a treat. But I also discovered I can moisten it and let it dry into a solid then break it back into the size I want.

Alternatively simply moistening the pellets might help for you. Good luck!