Main Takeaways & Extra Info:
- Crumbles and mash are just different ways to feed starter to chicks. One isn’t necessarily better than the other.
- It’s important that whichever you feed, the chick starter has at least 18% protein.
- I feed a mash because I want to make sure my chicks can eat it (particle sizes are small enough)
- Grinding the food into a mash might preserve some of the nutrients better.
- Crumbles have gone through an extra step of grinding, and then heating and compressing the ingredients, so some nutrients might be lost. (You can always ask the manufacturer about this)
- Our chick starter has not been heated – just ground so baby chicks can eat it. (View our chick starter here)
- With any chick feed be careful about getting it wet and leaving it to mold. Always change the feed out daily!
Additional reading:
High protein treats for chickens
Watch all the Baby Chick Series Videos here
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
