Laying Mash

Crumbles vs. Pellets

I started my girls on the chick starter crumble. When they were 5 or so months old, I switched them to the lay crumble. As I mentioned, someone gave me 40 lbs. of lay pellet for free, so I thought I would try it. The pellets are about the same size as the rabbit pellets my kids bunnies eat. My hens have had no problems with the switch. I know when you change feed with dogs or cats, you are supposed to do it gradually, so I was a bit concerned. However, the feed company was the same, so I think it's likely that the formula was the same, and the only change was the shape. 

The girls are over a year old, and don't seem to have any problems eating the larger pieces. It seemed like with the crumble (mash) they dumped a good fourth of the feed out of the feeder and wasted it. I don't get nearly that amount of waste with the pellet, and since I keep shavings on the floor of my coop, I suppose they can find the pellets more easily to pick out. Or maybe they just can't do as much "sorting" (i.e. spilling!!!). I do think the pellets would be Way too large for younger chickens, though I don't know about bantams. Maybe another reader out there would know??? Of course, yesterday, Pixie swallowed a fairly large scorpion whole! Ah the joys of being a hen in Arizona....