what? and why?

[beach livin']

why are people still telling me i need to feed an additional layer mash to my girls? 'but not too much or you will burn their system". my girls allready get a layer feed in pellet form. am i missing something here? i thought mash was the same thing, jut in a more powdery crumble form. even my husband is barking at me to get layer mash, becuase that is what his buddy does that gave us the chickens. anyone care to enlighten me on this, 'cause they are driving me crazy.

 

[bloom_ss]

I was told the same thing a while back by a well meaning person and I came here and asked the same question as you are. I was told that the layer feed is just fine.

That's what I feed my chickens and they are all doing very well. You can feed them other stuff, but it isn't a necessity. As long as they are eating a good layer feed you aren't doing anything wrong.

 

[Oregon Blues]

It's exactly the same feed. The pellets are pressed into the pellets so the chickens waste less. That's the only difference. As long as it is the same brand, the mash and pellets and crumbles will all be exactly the same feed.

 

[elmo]

Who are these people and why do they say you should do this?

I've never heard of it, myself.

 

[darkmatter]

I've never fed anything other then scratch to supplement kitchen scraps and foraging. In the winter I will add a little cat kibble to the scratch to compensate for bug-protein they're not getting.

Yes, there is foraging during the winter, leftover squash, and Mangels that I planted for just that purpose. Plus, during the winter, they have access to my garden (shares a fence with a pop door) to glean/clean/till/fertilize.