When should rearing brown pullets transition from mash feed to crumbled or pelleted diets, and what are the metabolic consequences of premature transition?

Fine mash feed is optimal for chicks up to 4 weeks of age to ensure even nutrient intake and prevent feed sorting. Transitioning to crumbles can be initiated at 5 to 6 weeks during the Grower phase to stimulate appetite and support skeletal development. However, commercial laying hens should not be fed dense pelleted feeds because pellets require minimal physical effort to consume, allowing hens to ingest their daily energy requirement in a fraction of the time. This leads to behavior issues like feather pecking due to boredom, and metabolic consequences like excessive visceral fat deposition and hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver). Underweight pullets can receive high-energy crumbles for short catch-up windows. Nutrient physical forms are detailed in the Poultry Encyclopedia, premium feed disintegrators, crumblers, and conditioners are sold on Poultry Plaza, daily grain and feed raw material rates are tracked on Poultry Rates, and high-quality feed mills are listed on Murghi Mandi.