Switching Chick Feed?

[jenkassai]

Hello all! I am going to need to buy more chick crumbles this week. Can I just switch the chicks to a different feed, or do I need to do it gradually, slowly mixing more and more of the new food in? Nothing wrong with what I started with, it's just out of the way and there are a couple of feed stores on my way home from work.

Thx!

 

[Dawn419]

Hi jenkassai,

I usually try to gradually get our birds used to different feed by adding it gradually but there have been times when I wasn't able to go that route and just gave them the new feed and never had a problem. A few of our girls turned their "noses" up when we switched them from crumbles to pellets but got over the change once they got hungry enough.

Hope this is some help!


Dawn

 

[CatDaddyAlbert]

Having had that experience with some bitties that were shipped to me that were on one feed and I used another....it will, sometimes, cause pasty butt. I would look at each one daily. I am sure they will eat it OK, they will just be a bit slow more than likely., but they will eat it. They are ruled by their stomach. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pele]

Thankfully, I have never met an animal more ruled by it's stomach than a chicken. You could convince a chicken to do anything if you offer it food. Along that vein, chickens will eat pretty much anything.

You can switch the feed no problem. They probably won't even notice the difference, they'll be so busy eating. Just make sure it fits their dietary needs, and is appropriate for their age. They'll take care of the eating part.