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Hello

Have had the chickens for a couple of weeks now, and all is going pretty well. They're always entertaining, and have got quite sociable. They seem to have stopped enjoying their layers pellets though, although they get very excited by sprinklings of grain and bundles of salad burnet. I'm worried they won't be getting all the nutrients they need if not eating many pellets - is this the case?

Jon

Hi Jon,
I have only had my hens for 7 weeks, but they are still gobbling up their pellets along with everything else. Perhaps stop the treats for a few days so they go back to their staple diet, as the pellets contain all they need. Hopefully someone with more experience will post, but that's what my research tells me. Rgds, Pam.

I'd second what Pam has said!!

The pellets provide everything they need and the rest are just treats - we only give the treats in the late afternoon.

Same here - we provide pellets in the morning then a sprinkle of oats and barley about an hour before dusk. It's enough to fill their crops and no more.

Chickens have their favourite foods, just like humans and pigs, and if you give both pellets and grain, then they'll eat their favourites only.

Be very wary about feeding them corn at all except in the coldest of weather (well below zero) - they'll go to fat very quickly.

Ours are kept in their large pen until around midday, then, when they've laid their eggs, they get to free range around the place so long as one of us is out with them. We have too many predators to leave them out when we're not there and if we let them out before laying, we're lucky find one third of the eggs.

How do you get the buggers to go back in the pen when you want them to, Stoney?

Chickpea wrote:How do you get the buggers to go back in the pen when you want them to, Stoney?

Barley and oats. I walk around the outside of the pen banging the bucket and calling them, then go into the pen to throw the barley and oats on the ground. The chickens come swarming in, squabbling about who's going to have the goodies first. Does the trick every time.

agreed! Ours come rushing - it's a brilliant sight... makes me laugh everytime!!

Mine too! Well they squawk every time they see me in the afternoon they are such greedy pigs. And if I have let them out to free range, they 'fly' across the garden to me - I just love that sight!

...mine are the same too - makes me feel great to see my ladies come squawking and flapping their wings when they see me - love it!!!

My only problem at the minute is they've decided to stop laying. I've got 9 ex-battery hens, 4 banties and we added 6 pure breed (2 welsummers, 2 marans and 2 light sussex point of lay) about 6 weeks ago which have all settled in nicely together. We didnt expect the new girls to start laying for a few weeks but just recently we've gone from getting about 70 eggs a week down to about 7 - 10 eggs a week. Is it the time of year???

Thanks for the advice - i'm withholding the treats today :)

My only problem at the minute is they've decided to stop laying.

I have a similar issue, in that they haven't started laying yet! We were told they'd start in a week or 2, and it's been nearly 4 (bought p.o.l). Starting to think thye're duds ;)

Millymollymandy wrote:And if I have let them out to free range, they 'fly' across the garden to me - I just love that sight!

Most ours are like that, but we also have one that was a velociraptor in a previous life and would be positively scary if she was 10-20 times larger. Instead, she just looks funny.

Give 'em time, they'll be OK!

Nev

like everyone else said - I feed pellets in the morning so they get eaten and only give treats in the afternoon if there gone. When my girls were free ranging I'd just rattle a pot of food to have them running over their so funny, everytime the back door opens they all rush to the front of the run assuming someone is bringing food

My lot just go into their coop themselves when it gets twilight or slightly before. Only once in all the time I've had them have they not done this, and this was last week. Two of the new girls couldn't work out how to get back to the gate, so instead of flying over the top they huddled down by the fence together, very frightened.

The only time I have to chase mine is if I want to give them some medicine or check their health during the day.

Martin's patent method- (much cheaper too, no bribery involved) - you go down the field until you're the "other side" of them, and then very slowly advance, driving them up the field using two very long canes, one in each hand - you hold them out to each side, and just gently tap them up and down on the ground! We used to get 2,000 into the houses in about ten minutes!