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[Blue-DiamondChick07]

My Hens are currently on Layers mash as their main diet, when do they switch to pellets? Or can they remain on mash alone? (not inc treats/corn etc) They're 21 weeks roughly..

[Daphne]

They can stay on layers mash for as long as you/they want - it has all the same goodness as pellets, just in a different format. The reason some people switch to pellets is that some birds fling mash all over the place. If you do decide to change then introduce pellets slowly, particularly if they've never encountered them before. Most birds dislike change and some flatly refuse to.

[Blue-DiamondChick07]

My Hens are really messy with their mash yeah! It goes everywhere, but they do enjoy it. Was just wondering if mash was like a baby food...

[Daphne]

No, basically it goes like this: baby chick to 6 weeks - they're on chick crumb. Then from 6 weeks to POL they're on growers mash or growers pellets. POL onward they're on layers mash or pellets. You can also get other 'special' things like breeders pellets but if you've got standard egg layers and you're not going to breed your own chicks you don't need to bother about this. Essentially, for each growth stage, the balance between protein, fat, vits, minerals, ash etc changes slightly. The idea behind the pre-formulated foods is that automatically you have the best balance for that stage in the birds' life.