I only have Bantam chickens. They, the older ones., used to lay eggs. from my few chickens I got all the eggs I could use and gave to my sister. In Jan. of this year for health reasons, I started on Dr. Esselstynes reverse and Prevent heart problems, since I have Angina. With that diet, No meat, No Dairy, Whole fruits and veggies. Working great.
the chickens stopped laying eggs. Could they read my diet??????????I have 3 hens, and one laid enough eggs under the shelf that supports the egg nests to encourage her to set. I didn"t know where her nest was until one morning I heard peeping. She hatched 5 babies. I thing maybe 2 roosters and 3 pullets. Still no eggs. They won't eat egg mash pellets. I feed them Chicken Scratch and They also eat the finely cracked corn (I think, my son gave it to me and no label. ) They also eat the Wild Bird Feed that I put out for the guineas treat.
Do any of you have any ideas to encourage the chicknes to eat. I'm no supposed to eat eggs, but I feel free range chicken eggs would be good for me.
Donna
non-egg laying chickens
Donna, I don't have any ideas, but I'm bumping this up so someone else who may have some will see it. I take it that you have laying pellets but they won't eat them? I'm not sure if scratch and corn have enough protein to support laying. And are the hens not eating, or just the young ones? The little ones need a lot of protein - we started ours off with 24% and then went down to 20%, whereas layer pellet are in the 15-16% range.
GHgal, Thanks for your input. What are you feeding that is hi-protein feed. I mixed the egg mash pellets in with the chicken scratch, they eat the scratch and leave the pellets, all of the chickens eat that way, it is a self feeder.
Donna
Try offering only the layer pellets. I expect that they will soon decide that pellets are better than nothing.
I agree! Amazing what a little hunger will do to mend the ways of picky eaters. They won't starve to death although they may go on strike for a couple of days. In the end they'll eat what they're supposed to eat.
I just get chick starter and chick grower feed from my local feed store; it's already formulated for their needs and there's a handy chart on the back that tells you when to switch to the next type.
My standard chickens won't touch pellets--I've tried and tried. I think you have to start them on them--otherwise they just don't seem to recognize them as food. They will eat crumble until it is dust--but nothing seems to move them about pellets. They are free range and I guess they can get enough from the garden to allow them to be picky--but it is also the bugs and plant material that makes free range eggs higher in Omega 3s and other nutrients.
It would seem that it might be even harder for bantams to eat pellets--have you tried layer crumble?
Hmmph, that's all we have ever fed, except that our young ones always start on something that's more like crumbles. They switch over to pellets easily, though. Naturally the Catscan chickens would have a different take on things!
Mine also love sunflower seeds.
I wonder if you could moisten the pellets just at first so they were easier to eat?
My chicks get crumbles, the hens get pellets. I've had no trouble switching them over. I like the pellets because they waste less and the sparrows don't eat pellets. Layer crumbles might be a better option for your picky eaters.
I remember, a while ago, several of us were complaining about our chickens' refusal of pellets--Maybe being in CA and free range they can always get enough to maintain their high gustatory standards?
I really would prefer pellets--for the reasons porkpal gives--I have half a bucket out by the coop--it is the remnant of my last attempt to move them to pellets...
This message was edited Nov 15, 2009 12:16 PM
Mine aren't in CA (poor things) but they are free range. That's the reason we do pellets, too; it seems like there's less waste. Try moistening them? Do they eat other hard foods like sunflower seeds? Ours also love crickets and other bugs when they can get them.
They eat scratch, crimped oats, all the windfall fruit (figs, oranges, lemons, apricots, persimmons, cherries, asian pears) grass, bugs, wisteria (yes I know it is suppose to be toxic--they strip it bare and then beg for more) and everything and anything that wanders or twines into the yard. And there is always something--we are in the start of our rainy (winter) season and the leaves are just starting to fall and all the weeds are popping up--the fruit trees will be flowering again in a few weeks and we will start putting out the tomato transplants in the south in February...so we are a little more likely to be enablers of picky eaters.
I think I see the problem..... Why eat hamburger when there's all that caviar around?
Well Catscan I have tried pellets also. More than once, and yes crumbles are much more wasteful than pellets but my girls will not eat pellets either. They treat me like I just tried to poison them when I put pellets out. I have half a bag left and I have to grind them to get rid of them. Westcoast chickens are a pain. Think maybe I'll just have to move east. LOL...Haystack