Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
al elements needed only in small amounts are easily contained within the pellet. They
are always fully consumed by the birds, unlike crumbles and scratch grains, assuring
that most of the nutrition is going straight to the bird and not being deposited on the
ground to be cleaned up later with the litter.
The drawback to pellets is cost: they are often more expensive than other types of
feed. Also, pellets are usually not obtainable as organic feed. If they can afford it, in
some areas raisers can have pellets custom-made using organic feeds or design their own
particular feed ration, choosing the content and percentages of the ingredients.
Available in 40- or 50-pound (18 or 23 kg) bags, pellets are the best choice for feed-
ing adult birds. They usually contain the proper amounts of calcium in a form that is
easily dissolved in the bird's digestive tract. Check with your supplier before purchasing
pellets to be sure there's plenty of calcium and that you don't need to provide an addi-
tional source of calcium through the use of oyster shell. This is particularly important
when saving eggs to hatch, as too much calcium will make the eggshells too thick and
hatching difficult.
THE SHORTER THE SHELF LIFE,
THE BETTER THE FEED
As with all processed feeds, the longer the time between the making of the pellet or
crumble and the feeding of it, the greater the nutritional drop-off. Purchase feed pel-
lets and crumbles as soon as you can after they are made and your birds will be all
the better for it.
In some states, a manufacture date stamp on the bags gives you an idea of fresh-
ness. If you have only a few fowl, don't buy many bags of feed at a time just to save
a few cents when it is on sale. Start with a bag or two and you will soon learn how
much you use and in what time frame. Then you can budget your purchases to make
sure your feed does not get stale.
Keep in mind that feed stays fresher in the cold of winter and becomes stale more
quickly in the hot, humid summer.
A source of grit is generally not needed when feeding pellets or crumbles.
Crumbles
Crumbles are the feed you'll find most commonly available at feed stores. They are pel-
lets that are then crushed to provide a smaller size suitable for more sizes of birds. Young
chicks find crumbles easily edible; chicks at any age can pick up a small crumble, and as