Chickens almost exclusively eating scratch

[MrsEarthern]

My birds are about 25 weeks and are now almost exclusively eating scratch.
They were free ranged and got scratch and kitchen scraps before I got them at 16 weeks, and are now mostly penned to the run.
When I got them I had them on medicated flock raiser, and they did not seem to care whether it was crumbles or pelleted, they would eat anything I put into the run or feeder. About 20 weeks old, I gave them the Backyard chicken digestive in their water for a week and they seemed to become more active since then and eat from sun up to sun down except for about 2 hours in the afternoon while they flop.
When the bag of flock raiser got low I picked up a small bag of pelleted all-flock and mixed it 1:2 with the flock raiser crumbles for a few days and then 1:1 until the flock raiser ran out, was giving about 3 tablespoons scratch per advice of breeder and local Feed&Seed, no issues.
Got low on the all-flock, and when I went to pick some up I couldn't find any anywhere, 1 month+ shipping if I ordered online. Had a few days where the chickens were only eating scratch, about 5-6 tablespoons each, kitchen and garden scraps, and foraging.
Two weeks ago, I gave in and got the lowest calcium layer pellets (Formax 16%) stocked from the Feed&Seed; they will hardly touch it.
They have been eating about 3 tablespoons of scratch, and I've been letting them out to forage in the evening and help in the garden when I'm weeding, but how do I make sure my two ladies are eating the feed? I did not offer scratch for two days, and the only result was that the chickens would not let me pet them before bedtime.

Thank you!

 

[Kiki]

I would completely stop feeding scratch and only offer a pelleted or crumbled feed immediately.
Hopefully changing their diet now will prevent deadly issues that are bound to happen if you continue to feed only scratch and table scraps.

 

[Stacaroni]

Have you tried the ever popular wet mash? It's regular feed with a secret ingredient: water. Somehow water magically transforms the feed into an irresistibly delectable treat with an oatmeal consistency. All of my chickens go nuts for it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Update: The chickens were previously eating about 1/4 pound each of the previous feed.
When I hung up the feeder they started eating the new feed again, I had put the usual amount in and next day most of it was still there; so I added a cup of water and they ate a good bit of it but day three they couldn't reach so I added a little more water and they started eating again. They eat little pockets out of it where the feeder holes are but it's too thick to fill in the gaps.
So we are now on day 4 of this same serving of feed, day three of it being wet.
How often should I dump it?
I intend to give them a little less feed tomorrow so it's not wasted.
As for sprouted scratch and fermented cracked corn, I understand that most recommend only about a tablespoon per bird per day- I assume that is for standard sized birds such as my flock?
Thank you!

Wet feed won't flow in a gravity feeder and the wet feed that sticks in there will mold and spoil.

If you feed wet feed you need to feed it in bowls -- offering only as much as they will eat before it can spoil and cleaning the bowls between batches.

I really think that if you were to clean and dry your feeder, fill it with dry feed, hang it back up, and let them alone -- offering nothing else whatsover in any quantity -- you'd soon find that they were eating what was available.

They might gripe and complain because they're used to you reswarding that behavior by giving them candy and cake, but within 3 days they'd eat what they have available. No healthy animal will starve itself in the presence of food.

AFTER they learn to eat the healthy feed you've put into their feeder you could, if you wanted to, reintroduce treats in limited quantities. But only if you're willing to keep it limited and not let them train you to feed them on candy and cake again.

 

[Kiki]

They will eventually eat the pelleted or crumbled feed if you stop giving them options to eat other stuff.

 

[nuthatched]

Remove everything except the real food, no scratch, no scraps, and don't let them out to forage too early. For two weeks or more. Just pass on the scratch. They've gotten spoiled.

 

[WallyG74]

Put their food in a feeder that they can’t poop in. Fill it up, walk away.

 

[3KillerBs]

Is the layer feed more nutritionally dense and they just don't need as much of it or..?

Actually, the layer feed is relatively low in protein -- bare minimum levels -- and it has too much calcium for birds that aren't laying.

The flock can eat chick feed their entire lives if you can't get all-flock.

My experience is that when I have to buy layer because I can't get their regular feed they go through the bag considerably faster because they eat more to compensate for the lower protein levels.

But there is also an effect where, depending on the design of your feeder, you may see a savings using pellet -- if the feeder allows considerable spillage.

And there is also a point, right after the girls reach point of lay, where their growth slows so they don't eat quite as much -- just like when human teens reach full adult size and stop seemingly eating their own weight daily.

 

[3KillerBs]

Put their food in a feeder that they can’t poop in. Fill it up, walk away.

This.

No healthy animal will starve itself in the presence of food if you simply withdraw the chicken candy.

If possible, hang your feeder from a chain so that you can continue to adjust it's height as the birds grow.

I hang mine at the level of the taller hens' backs and put a block nearby for the shorter birds to stand on.

 

[MrsEarthern]

I hung it up and it instantly became attractive again.
Am also sprouting some grain and fermenting some cracked corn.