Growing up, I did not live in a farming community. At the time, there was only one place near our home to buy chicken food, and I use the term “near” loosely as this place was about 30 minutes away. This was also the only place I knew of at the time to get chickens. Each spring the feed store would get in a few dozen chicks and some ducks and those were my choices if I wanted to expand my flock. Sort of a one stop shop for all things poultry. If the feed store didn’t have it, it didn’t exist. Oh how times have changed…
My experience with mash as a chicken food stemmed from a goat food dilemma. The farm that we bought our first Angora goats from mixed their own feed. Angoras require slightly different feed ratios than other breeds of goat because they produce so much mohair. We eventually found a local grain elevator that would mix a goat feed to our specifications, and were really pleased with the results. Because we were buying our goat feed from this elevator, we decided to try their chicken food as well so we wouldn’t have to shop at two different stores. The varieties of animal feed, seeds and flours that the store provided were listed on a chalk board by the registers, so we asked for their “Layer”, paid and pulled the car around the side of the barn.
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Raising chickens with feed pellets is convenient with less waste. If one need large quantity of feed pellets, he can make them with
feed pellet mill
Since I have close ties with a local brewery we are experimenting with feeding dried brewing grains
ps
100 lbs for $14.00
i’m a rural chicken grower and I feed my chickens a mixture of wheat, cracked corn and rye grains, basically what ever is the least expensive at my local grainery, with a side of oyster shells. my chickens roam freely all over the place during the day I have 18 hens and one rooster who is a Banny the hens are standard size. The rooster is a charming fellow and my eggs are fertilized not all of them but most of them. The egg shells are really hard so I’m wondering why would I have to mash all of their grains and ferment them if all goes well they even lay during the winter (sparsely)and their coop isn’t draft free I suppose them running freely makes a difference. I really get paranoid about my girls when I read all of the suggestions and rules of chicken raising what to do I guess if it’s not broken don’t fix it
maybe rural is different than backyard?
they really love the hanging cabbage and hard vegetables during the winter it’s hysterical to watch them, egg yolks are really orange and very tasty
kt
Well put, Dan. That makes me feel even better about my first three years of huitnng, and last year, too. I had four successful years in between and…
ring die pellet mill i find in text,that is a nice post
I agree!
Raising chickens with feed pellets is convenient with less waste. If one need large quantity of feed pellets, he can make them with feed pellet mill.
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We support local and buy mash. We layer pellets and mash in the feeder and they love it. They eat every drop and none goes to waste
I know I’m a little late to weigh in on this topic. I have used all three forms. The Mash was more work but I preferred it for a number of reasons, #1 I got it local from a miller, he knew exactly what was in it and even from which farm all the ingredients came. #2 I was able to get it at a great price – about $.20/lb for his organic blend or $.12 for the non-organic. #3 I mixed in some flax and other seeds, used our daily fruit & veggie leftovers, threw them in a blender with water, yogurt, ACV, or whatever else to make the liquid portion and mixed it all up. They loved it, I never had any leftovers let alone waste and it made me feel better to think they were getting a more complete and varied diet.
I’ve used pellets and crumbles, but the local mill mixes their own “mash” and it isn’t ALL GMO grains, so I opt for that since I am trying to get around the GMO grains. I’ve added warm water in cold weather and they love it. I had a feed box made out of plywood and have it hanging on the wall in the coop. After feeding the mash they leave a little mostly powder, so to get them to eat it (don’t like waste) I’ve added 1/2 cup of organic olive oil and mixed it real well. They eat it right up. So, I guess I like the mash but it’s a little more work for me.
I have tried all 3 versions. I cannot always tell which ones my chickens like better, but I prefer the pellets. My first round of chicken went right from chick starter feed to pellets and never had an issue. This year my local feed store seemed to be out of pellets a fair amount so I used both the mash and crumbles. The mash seems so inefficient and so much ends up on the ground and if it gets wet, which it inevitably does, it clumps up in the coop and I don’t care for that. This years new chickens seem to prefer the crumbles, when I swithced back to pellets the older chickens were the only ones eating for a day, but after a day my chickens all ate the pellets.
I feed pellets in the run and crumbles in the coop. My chicken ladies prefer the crumbles but I haven’t been able to find the Organic,Omega rich feed in crumbles. I also make them a warm mash using the pellets on very cold mornings. I mix in alittle rolled oats, milk or cottage cheese with the pellets and warm water. My girls really enjoy getting a warm breakfast.But only feed what they can consume in about 15 minutes.
When I was a kid, mash was all there was but no one ever mixed it with water. I feed pellets to my hens because that is the only form organic is available in here. I also feed cracked corn which isn’t organic but that is all there is.
I feed my free range chickens whole corn. They forage on their own but come around for some corn every day. I have never had any sick chickens, so it must work here. Mine only lay in warm weather, as they live outside all year round.
I have used both pellets and crumbles,and have found my hens [9 red star].they seem to like the crumbles best. I get nine big brown eggs most every day! I am a big beliver in using the best feed i can afford.[purina layena]. I enjoy your newsletter. Alabama Pete.
I got six chicks this year. Since they have been in the yard and off chick feed they have not really eaten layer feed. I offer it, but it mostly goes uneaten and ends up being thrown out. I have tried several different brands with the same results. They look healthy and all are laying but one. I’m getting 3-4 eggs a day. Should I save my money and let them forage on their own or continue to offer it seeing that it is getting colder. Should I offer corn instead? Doesn’t seem to have much nutrition.
Thanks for the info! I alsways wondered why anyone would use pellets when my chicks don’t seem to like it. Now I know! 🙂
I use pellets. As mentioned above, less waste. They spend less time at the feeders. I have to introduce it slowly when moving them from crumbles chick starter as it is quite different for them, they need to adjust to the different shape/size. But they do well once they get used to it.
I use the small pellets for my adult hens. I put the feed in a “Rabbit Feeder” which is hung up off the ground and out of the weather. That way I only have to fill it up once a day for a back yard flock of 6.