Switching to pellets???

[ecocheapomom]

This is our first time raising chickens so each step is a learning experience. Our New Hampshire's are a little over 11 weeks now and we have them all set up in the coop. They have been on chick feed which was mash although once I asked for chick feed at the store and they gave me crumbs, but they seemed to do fine with it. Anyway, I went today to get them their first bag of grower and when I brought it home it was pellets.
Are they too young for pellets? I put some in the feeder and also tossed a bit on the ground in the run and they didn't seem to want to eat it. They have been getting grit for a while, but should I do more of a gradual transition and go back and get some more crumbles?
Any advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[KellyHM]

DH bought some pellets on accident one time...it took mine about a day to realize it was food, but they figured it out when they got hungry.

 

[cassie]

You would probably be a lot better off to feed crumbles and not feed pellets at all. Sometimes they quickly fill up on pellets and then have too much time available to get into trouble. Like picking each other.

 

[dave3877]

i feed mine pellets and they do great. if you have a waste problem put the feeder in a big dish or something like it to collect the excess and they will eat it.

 

[ecocheapomom]

Quote:

DH (who knows even less about chickens than I do because I'm the researcher and he's the do-er) said the same thing which is his answer to all things food - "When they get hungry, they'll eat it."


Mine have been very neat about their food since we switched to the hanging feeder. I will have to see about them filling up too fast though. We haven't had any pecking problems (knock on desk) and I don't want to start.

 

[MariposaMama]

I got a bag of pellets instead of crumbles by mistake once, and you'd have thought I was trying to poison mine by the way they acted. I ended up buying a bag of crumbles for their feeder and tossing the pellets around the run like I would scratch just so they didn't totally go to waste. Now I make sure to check the label before I leave the feed store so they don't accidentally give me the "bad" kind again.

 

[dave3877]

mine eat anything but i like pellets they asre cheaper lol