Hi There,
I've just bought three point-of-lay hy-line brown pullets from a commercial breeder. The little girls were brought up in a small space and (I'm guessing) fed only crumbles.
They peck at some cabbages and kai lan growing in their yard, but not to the point of eating anything near their fill, or even enough for a snack. Any scraps I throw in (mango, apple, cucumber, melon etc) just gets stared at. The fruit scraps have been ignored, but I know they're hungry because they will gobble down any crumbles I throw in. I've been giving them crumbles as a last resort to make sure they don't starve - I'll generally only throw in a handful toward the end of the day.
Having said that, they did eat a bunch of Kang Kong (Asian water weed) once, but it took three chickens two days to do so. They also dig around all day in the soil (not sure how much food they get from the sandy soil, but I'm guessing not much). I once threw in some cereal we didn't like and that was wolfed down, but the cereal is a once-off and it's the fruit and vegie scraps that I want them to eat. I guess the cereal looked reasonably familiar to them.
I don't want to remove the crumbles from their diet to try and coax them to eat scraps unless I'm sure they won't starve themselves. How much should three hens eat in a day?
Does it normally take time for new feathered friends to recognise scraps as good food? Any suggestions on assisting the transition?
So many questions! Any advice would be much appreciated!
Nad
I've just bought three point-of-lay hy-line brown pullets from a commercial breeder. The little girls were brought up in a small space and (I'm guessing) fed only crumbles.
They peck at some cabbages and kai lan growing in their yard, but not to the point of eating anything near their fill, or even enough for a snack. Any scraps I throw in (mango, apple, cucumber, melon etc) just gets stared at. The fruit scraps have been ignored, but I know they're hungry because they will gobble down any crumbles I throw in. I've been giving them crumbles as a last resort to make sure they don't starve - I'll generally only throw in a handful toward the end of the day.
Having said that, they did eat a bunch of Kang Kong (Asian water weed) once, but it took three chickens two days to do so. They also dig around all day in the soil (not sure how much food they get from the sandy soil, but I'm guessing not much). I once threw in some cereal we didn't like and that was wolfed down, but the cereal is a once-off and it's the fruit and vegie scraps that I want them to eat. I guess the cereal looked reasonably familiar to them.
I don't want to remove the crumbles from their diet to try and coax them to eat scraps unless I'm sure they won't starve themselves. How much should three hens eat in a day?
Does it normally take time for new feathered friends to recognise scraps as good food? Any suggestions on assisting the transition?
So many questions! Any advice would be much appreciated!
Nad