How Do You Safely Transition Chicken Feed? #sponsored
by Christy Caplan
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September 22, 2019 As a Certified Vet Tech (CVT), I’m trained to care for small animals, chickens included. One question we often get is how to transition animals from one diet to another. Transitioning food can be complicated and pet parents need patience. When switching feed for your chickens, you need to transition it slowly. You may be going from pellets to whole grain feeds or vice versa. It doesn’t matter how similar or different the types of feed are, your chickens will thank you if you do this slowly.
Digestive upset can happen in chickens.
Chickens have well-developed ceca and they are designed to create an ideal environment for the growth and reproduction of beneficial bacteria to ferment the food.
The plural of the cecum is ceca, which is useful to know because birds have two. The ceca are blind pouches located where the small and large intestines come together. Birds extract a little extra nutrition out of their meal, especially fatty acids, and B vitamins, through the fermentation process that happens in the ceca.
Chickens may do better when it comes to transitioning foods than dogs and cats as a result of this ‘system’. The cecum of a dog or cat is more rudimentary and susceptible to imbalances.
That said, look out for loose stools with your chickens! That will indicate you’re transitioning too quickly.
We interviewed experts at Scratch and Peck Feeds about the best method before we started our transition and here’s what they recommended for the ladies.
What ratio is best to start with when you transition?
Because of the new flavors and textures, start your transition slowly by mixing a 3:1 ratio of your flock’s current feed with the Scratch and Peck feed that is formulated for the age of your chickens.
How much time does the transition take?
Feed transitions can take about a month. Start at the 3:1 ratio and continue transitioning over the next month, each week introducing slightly more Scratch and Peck feeds to the mix and slightly less of the current feed.
What if your birds pick out the ingredients they enjoy the most?
If you notice that your birds are picking out their favorite ingredients and leaving the rest untouched, mix their feed with a little water to create an oatmeal texture. That will help combine the ingredients more so they can’t pick and choose
My birds absolutely pick out what they like and leave the rest. Sometimes I end up tossing feed at the bottom of the bowls. The above tip about adding a little water has worked well.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!
Disclaimer: This is sponsored. We received product and compensation in exchange for an honest review. I only share information about products that I believe in and already fit into our doggie & chicken lifestyle and routine.
Medical Disclaimer: I’m not a Vet so please check with your Vet or holistic vet when you start transitioning feed for any small animal.
Hi Christy! It’s good to see you back in my inbox! Though I don’t have chickens, I did find your post interesting. It makes sense that any small animal should be slowly transitioned to new food, not just dogs and cats.
Hi! Thank you! I couldn’t believe so many months had passed – I guess those chickens are taking a lot of time LOL! I was so surprised that I needed to transition them. I did some research and thought -ok I can do this! So far so good! Hope you’re well!!
Great post-keep up the good work. It’s always good hearing from ya.
Thank you! It has been too long since I had a post go up! I hope you are well and enjoying fall (where is summer?!)
Luckily, this was already our habit after having cats and dogs! We’ve only transitioned food when adding pullets to the flock, and putting everyone on the starter/grower feed. Then back again the other way when the young ones start laying (which thankfully, they finally are!).
Hi! How is your rooster? Now that I have nice roosters I’m a big fan. 🙂 Thank goodness I didn’t start with chickens – since so much applies and crosses over like feed transition. On the other hand, taking care of little dinosaurs can be so hard! I’m dealing with a bully chicken currently…. UGH!
He is doing great, thank you! He’s really a laid back kind of guy mostly, so great for our first experience with one!
They do present their challenges though, don’t they? We lost our first one to illness last week. We don’t know what was wrong with her, but the day before she died, she had rallied – was eating, drinking, moving around more. We had her in a cage but let her out that evening and she ran all the way to the coop like she wanted to go to bed. We decided to keep her in the house one more night, and the next morning she just passed. Very weird, and sad. It was one of our oldest girls, though still only 2 years old.
Have you separated the bully yet? I think that’s what you’re maybe supposed to do?
That is awesome! I have one great rooster that protects and keeps the order… the other one is ‘meh’ -he does a good job at protecting but he’s young and does a terrible job with our bully chicken. I’m SO sorry you lost one to illness. It’s horrible. I’ve had the same thing happen – everything is fine and then days later we ended up having to let her go she had pus and fluid in her abdomen and it was a total mystery. It’s so sad and even our vet was like ‘I have no idea what happened’ – I’m really sorry. I beat myself up about ours. UGH DAY 3 I took the bully out with her ‘friend’ and I’m not sure what to do! The bullying was SO awful if it happens again I’d be horrified so I think I’ll put her in our more established coop which is equally as scary as she’s younger and that coop has old birds that tend to be kind of scary… help!
Oh, that really sounds awful to have to deal wth. I wish I knew what you should do! Did you try putting her in that other coop, and how did it go? (you can email me if you prefer to reply)
Hi! I’m totally going to email you – after three days of “I can see you and not touch you” quarantine I just stuck the two birds I pulled out that were bullies (really just one and her bestie) and stuck them on roost bars in the new coop…. send positive thoughts! I’ll be up early to see how it goes!!