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[Chortle Chook]

I've been feeding my chickens Garvo or Matador but neither are supplied locally and I am spending a fortune in delivery charges. My local country store stocks 'Alan Page' layers pellets. Does anyone know if these are any good? I give my chooks extra greens and sometimes rice or pasta, so I am hoping that they won't miss out if I swap them off of Garvo. What do you think? Can I do a straight swap or would it be like giving a dog a new dry food and I should mix the new with the old brand for a bit?

[jimnpaula]

I'd say that the Allen & Page Smallholders or the Organic feed is among the better feeds, so if that's what you can get easily I think it would be fine to switch them. Probably best if you can mix the foods as you change but not absolutely necessary in my experience.

[Chicken shack]

I used to feed my Garvo when I lived in London, beleive it or not I could obtain it locally. When I moved to Norfolk the nearest supplier was nearly 50 miles away. I now buy feed locally depending on where I am out and about. They free range most of the day. I do travel about 20 miles to get the layers with flubvet every 3 months but I also buy their bedding there at the same time.

[Chortle Chook]

Thanks jimnpaula and chatty chicken, tomorrow I'll go shopping with confidence

[wez]

We've swapped ours to Smallholders and so far so good ... smaller pellets which are good as they're Pekins but the dropping consistency has improved and they tuck in so I'd say go for it

 

[Chickabee]

I can't get garvo or matador here. I use Alan and Paige, fancy feed or marriages. They don't seem to mind any of them. I never swap them gradually, as I don't know what I'll be able to get

[PixieDust]

I use Alan and Paige Smallholder mixed corn and Marriages Organic layers pellets. Both I believe are good makes. I personally tried to research Garvo but didn't find any evidence that it was GM free. I may be wrong though.

[Lewis]

The Smallholder Range by Allen & Page is a great feed - personally I wouldn't bother with Organic as it's expensive with no benefits.

 

Marriages also have a good reputation and I use their Flubenvet pellets to worm our girls. They'll get all their nutrition from their layers pellets so no need to give them pasta and rice; if you do want to give them treats I'd stick to vegetables

[Beantree]

The Allen and Page Smallholder layers pellets is our preferred choice. It has no GM products and doesn't have the chemical colourants, 'yolk enhancers', either. Bought in bulk from a livestock feed supplier we found at a County Show we paid only £7.30 a bag for it delivered, but had to buy 20 bags at a time though. Only applicable if you use that much in the three month self life, which we did at the time.

 

I agree with Iwescott that Organic, although a nice thought, is very expensive with no additional benefits for the chickens or the eggs. We also used Marriages Flubenvet premix for worming, but that is dependent on how many chickens you have as a 10Kg bag will worm 10 birds but only has a 3 month shelf life.

[Bramble]

Another fan of Allen & Page Smallholders here, too, just the "bog standard" in the yellow and white bag, haven't ever bought the organic one. My chucks seem very happy with it - I only ever struggled once to get that brand and had to buy an own brand countrystore version - that was a fair bit cheaper but there seemed to be some very bright red and blue flecks in it, so I reverted to A&P as soon as I could!

[PixieDust]

You can get a 5kg Marriages with Flubenvet from Farm and Pet Place. I can get 20kg of the ordinary Marriages pellets for £9 at my local farm suppliers. I also can get my Aubiose from there at £9.20 per 20kg bale.

 

We have an organic garden and as the OH is a estate manager & head gardener for a large farm and estate, he is happy to pay for organic gm free feed. It is our preference. He gardens the estate organically and sees no reason why our chooks shouldn't get it. As I say personal preference.

[Redwing]

Fancy Feed would be my choice after Garvo and Matador, their show pellets are ideal for fancy bantams (as opposed to laying hybrids) Marriages would be my next choice

 

A&P would be a long way down the list for me personally, that doesn't mean that they don't suit others

[merlina]

I've pretty much always given mine Allen & Page organic and they seem to do well on it

(I only eat organic and the garden's been organic for 50+ years, so that's my preference)

The hens seem to thrive on it

 

They have Marriages now and again and there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference

[kissinuk]

I use Organic Feed Company products, costs around £18 for a 20kg bag from Welland Feeds. http://www.organicfeed.co.uk/Products/Organic-Poultry-Feeds/Layers-Pellets-and-Meal.aspx

[The Dogmother]

The Smallholder Range by Allen & Page is a great feed - personally I wouldn't bother with Organic as it's expensive with no benefits.

 

Marriages also have a good reputation and I use their Flubenvet pellets to worm our girls. They'll get all their nutrition from their layers pellets so no need to give them pasta and rice; if you do want to give them treats I'd stick to vegetables

 

Me too. If you want an alternative to Garvo, which is similar but MUCH cheaper, then try Gablestock Co"Ooops, word censored!" Layers mash - I give mine this sometimes, just as a change to keep them interested, and it goes down really well.

[Redwing]

The Smallholder Range by Allen & Page is a great feed - personally I wouldn't bother with Organic as it's expensive with no benefits.

 

Marriages also have a good reputation and I use their Flubenvet pellets to worm our girls. They'll get all their nutrition from their layers pellets so no need to give them pasta and rice; if you do want to give them treats I'd stick to vegetables

 

Me too. If you want an alternative to Garvo, which is similar but MUCH cheaper, then try Gablestock Co"Ooops, word censored!" Layers mash - I give mine this sometimes, just as a change to keep them interested, and it goes down really well.

 

Yes would also recommend the Gablestock mash, it has micronised linseed in it alongside some other good quality ingredients. I am a big fan of micronised linseed, most of my animals and birds have it in their food.

[Chortle Chook]

Well I got a small bag of Alan and Page Smallholder layers pellets and put some mixed with my Matador. Then a few days after they had been eating that, I put some Matador on its own in one side of the Grub and some Alan and Page on its own on the other side. Chooks went for the Matador. It also smells nicer (more mealy, less dusty) so for now I am back to that but the jury is still out on whether I'll keep up with the carriage charges.

[Space Chick]

Fancy Feed would be my choice after Garvo and Matador, their show pellets are ideal for fancy bantams (as opposed to laying hybrids) Marriages would be my next choice

 

A&P would be a long way down the list for me personally, that doesn't mean that they don't suit others

 

Another one that has relegated A&P right down my list.

 

I fed Garvo for a good few years, but my supplier will only buy in every 2 months, which meant I had to find space for 8 sacks of feed and not having a shed or garage this was a struggle

 

So I tried my girls on A&P and noticed my egg yolk colour getting paler and my hens were less active and seemed more lethargic. So I decided back to Garvo, and my hens (and yolks) are back to normal and I learned a valuable lesson.

 

(Although I have negotiated with my supplier that I will buy 4 bags every month, and he will store the other 4 for me, so less of a storage issue )

[redsunset]

I only have one choice up here. Just a bag of pellets, called Country layers pellets about £9 something per 20kg bag? I may get shot down for this but have been making hot mash with the pellets and 'reduced price' veg in a big soup pan for the chooks and also buy greens, again reduced veg section every week and a bag has been going further. Chooks love it and also throw out fresh greens as no grass just now and the odd wholemeal loaf in crumbs.

They get a large jug of grain in the afternoon, again same brand about £9 a bag to keep them warm at night? No experience of the fancy pellets, sorry as not available up here.

[Chortle Chook]

I have been making hot mash with the pellets and 'reduced price' veg in a big soup pan for the chooks and also buy greens . . . . Chooks love it and also throw out fresh greens as no grass just now and the odd wholemeal loaf in crumbs. They get a large jug of grain in the afternoon

That is exactly how my old Gran used to feed her chooks long before fancy pellets were available anywhere and they really thrived and gave us wonderful eggs. I'm just being a typically modern urbanite in looking for fancy pellets the way I look for extra good dry dog food.

[PixieDust]

I may be wrong but don't some of the brands, I think Garvo is one, contain colourants which enhance yolk colour? I know A & P and Marriages don't, so maybe that is what is causing the yolk colour difference?

[The Dogmother]

You're right, a lot of them do contain natural colourants.

 

My view is that if the birds like it and seem to thrive on it, then stick with that product. Having said that, mine are usually on Smallholder pellets, but every now and then I give them Gablestock co"Ooops, word censored!" mash to ring the changes and keep them interested. I don't feed mash usually as it's too messy and wasteful.

[Daphne]

I used to use A&P Smallholder as it had small pellets - ideal for the poland bantams. I have won prizes for my eggs and egg contents so I think the feeding regime can't have been too bad, although admittedly all my birds were kept on grass and had access to good quality mixed pasture, which I believe is a massive bonus.

 

Other than that, they'd tuck into the Marriages pellets with flubenvet just as well. I did once look after some Omlet girls who came with Omlet organic feed (mash I think). It did look and smell delicious and the girls were very hale and hearty and productive. It reminded me of the old days when my Nan kept 20 or so layers. They were fed on boiled up veg s"Ooops, word censored!"s with a scoop of what we called bran mash, mixed in. I just love the smell

[Cat tails]

I feed a brand-less feed from my local feed shop. The main reason is that I can buy it per kg. (€0,90 per kg) He also stocks mixed grain and grower pellets which can be bought per kg. With only 3 little bantams, a whole bag of feed would last me months. And since I only own a motorcycle, dragging around 10 kg bags of feed wasn't really appealing either.

 

They are doing fine on the pellets and I agree with Dogmother, if they do good on a feed, then why change. A friend of a friend has had chickens for decades and they never get pellets, but just s"Ooops, word censored!"s, leftovers and such.

Mine get lots of greens too, like endive, broccoli and sprouts.

[UKMARCH]

This thread is interesting I use smallholder layers too and have tried another type when I haven't been able to get it and the hens haven't been so keen. I see a lot of people recommend Garvo I have looked at these before but the ingredients seem to contain genetically modified soybean which put me off as I have layers.