Layers Pellets - Any preference?

[lonicera56]

Hi all,
I was just wondering, any opinions of quality of layers pellets?
I have been using Farmgate layers, but my supplier has recently stopped selling them, my nearest comparable price-wise is Countrywide (actually their £2 a sack cheaper), but for some reason, I don't take to them so well & nor do my chickens. I don't particularly need organic, but prefer non GM.
Any tried & trusted suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Tim]

If I could feed anything to my birds, they would get Garvo Layers pellets - their food is some of the best I have seen but they are not easily available yet everywhere. Their mixed corn looks edible to me and smells delicious!

I have tried several layers pellets from cheap to expensive that are available locally. What I would say is be careful with the cheap- one example is BOCM Farmgate layers that comes in a green plastic bag. I bought 2 tonnes of this last year and found the pellets were very dusty. I had almost 1 inch of waste in the bottom of 6Kg feeders which was a nuissance to have to get rid of every day as well as a waste of money. I complained to my supplier (Titmis) and to the manufacturer on their stand at the National directly and their response said it shouldn't be this dusty and I should have spoken to them when I first had the problem. I have now switched supplier as I feel this is not a satisfactory response when I am buying 2 tonnes of feed from them... It might have been a bad batch, however with the huge variation in quality found in the raw ingredients such as wheat, to guarantee the composition stated on the labels of feed, they should have quality controls to test the finished product in place and surely this would have flagged up a problem if the pellets were too dusty...

This feed contains grit and of course grit is heavy - so although the price is good, you are getting less feed in a 20Kg bag due to the grit. This can be seen by the size of the bag against another feed.

Since then, I have had Marriages feeds (no problem) and the most recent tonne I took delivery of was Smallholder feed / Allan and Page and although it's a little more, the quality seems to be excellent.

They are both non GM.

Hope this helps a little..

 

[lonicera56]

Thanks for that. Now you mention it, I know what you mean about the dust in the Farmgate pellets. HAdn't put 2 & 2 together before!
I like the Allen & Page ones, but they are about £4 a bag dearer, but like you say, maybe the cheap ones are just false economy. I'll see what else I can track down.

 

[Tim]

Yes, they are more - but if you put the bags side by side and look at the size, you will find the Famgate are smaller.... this is because they include grit in the pellets and grit is heavy (and cheap!) so your pellets aren't lasting as long as the Allen and Page...

Just a thought..