Not sure where you got this information, but ranchers everywhere would disagree with you. Most ranchers don't feed their chins hay at all, so why aren't their chins all dying of impaction with only having pellets?
My chins would rip their cages apart if all they got was 1 tablespoon of pellets a day, not to mention the fact that they would be extremely underweight. Another thought, if your chins prefer the pellets over the hay, check your hay source. When I put hay in the cages, my chins demolish it and then go for their pellets. So if they like the pellets over the hay, maybe your hay isn't so great.
You can't compare apples with oranges. What they eat in the wild is absolutely nothing like what they are fed in captivity. In the wild, there are no pellets laying around with the proper balance of vitamins and nutrients. They forage for everything. We can't begin to compare what they get in cages with what they would get on their own in the Andes mountains.
I just wanted to comment on these few things because new people come on, see one comment, and think "yes, that's right" then follow that advice. I would never advocate giving a chin 1 tablespoon of feed a day and wouldn't want others to think it's okay either.
As far as the OP, I agree. Be careful not to play musical chairs with the chins diet. There's no need for gas drops. If you have a good quality pellet, good quality hay, and fresh water, that's what he needs. If your chin was bloated or impacted, he'd be dead by now with no other medical treatment. I also agree with poops are different sizes. I laugh when I see people say a "normal" poo is such and such (I see a tic tac referenced constantly). Well, maybe at their house, but certainly not at mine. Some have bigger, some have smaller.
