Switching brands of feed

[sremington18]

New to chickens but was wondering if I could switch between brands of crumbles without any problems? Like dogs and cats do if you change their food too quickly?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You won't generally see any digestive upsets by switching. You may have problems with the birds not wanting to eat the new food. Sometimes the new stuff tastes better, and other times it tastes worse.

Generally you are best mixing old and new for a while if at all possible.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I agree with @oldhenlikesdogs . Mix the feeds 50/50 for a week or so until the old feed is gone.
Then add new feed to feeder daily till the new feed completely replaces the old.
A gradual transition is more important if the new feed is lower in Protein. GC

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

I agree, probably best to slowly transition. However, I’ve changed feed/brand without transitioning, and never had a problem.

 

[rosemarythyme]

One possible issue with a slow transition is you may find more waste... the birds might dig through the feed to get to the feed they're familiar with, rather than eat the new stuff. So now I just transition to new feed completely, rather than doing 50/50. If you give them no other options (like treats) that'll help force them to try the new feed.

 

[GC-Raptor]

One possible issue with a slow transition is you may find more waste... the birds might dig through the feed to get to the feed they're familiar with, r

She did say both feeds are crumbles.

If she was switching to pellets, I would say to scatter some pellets on dry ground with Scratch Grains or Cracked Corn.
That worked excellent when I switched my first Flock to pellets, they gobbled up the pellets and Scratch the first time. GC