Chickens not eating feed

[Frank Hengels]

Hello I have 12 Chickens between 18 and 24 weeks old. They have approx 6000 sq feed to run. In the evening they get a treat of groats, meal worms, sunflower seed, oyster shell and some crimped oat, not alot. they eat it all. I've put out in different feeders two different feeds. There are alot of plants to eat. any help would be appreciated. Also all the birds are healthy.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello I have 12 Chickens between 18 and 24 weeks old. They have approx 6000 sq feed to run. In the evening they get a treat of groats, meal worms, sunflower seed, oyster shell and some crimped oat, not alot. they eat it all. I've put out in different feeders two different feeds. There are alot of plants to eat. any help would be appreciated. Also all the birds are healthy.

Welcome to BYC!
Stop feeding all treats now. Put the oyster shell out in a free choice feed container and put the flock on a complete diet that offers 18-20% protein. Something like Flock Raiser, All Flock or a good chick starter. Make sure the feeders are clean and the feed kept dry.
Lots of fresh clean water at all times. Do not break down and give them treats. When they get hungry, they will eat the feed you gave them.
When they are eating regularly you can CONSIDER offering a SMALL treat each morning and no more.

 

[One Lucky Momma]

Hi there and welcome to the flock

I’m understanding your question to be why aren’t your birds eating the official food. So, 6000sf could be a smorgasbord or a food desert, and if it’s the former, your birds could be getting a lot of what they need from natural sources, which they prefer.

They could easily exhaust the natural buffet in short order and at that point you may see an increase in their interest in the processed food. And while your treats are obviously quality stuff, you might want to cut back for now. The oyster shell isn’t a treat, though, it’s a calcium supplement that’s necessary if your flock feed isn’t labeled as ”layer”. And you don’t need to go out and buy layer rations if you offer that oyster shell free choice on the side.

In any case, your birds should be going to roost at night with full crops. If you haven’t been checking, do this after they’re up on the roost so they’ll let you handle them without getting too bothered. It’s easier, I think, with the bird facing away from you. Feel the right side of their chest - the crop should be a full, roundish bulge that will protrude from the chest wall.

AND (sorry for long post) there‘s a ton of information on BYC pertaining to feeding your flock, in both the forum and articles. Go through some of that when you have a few hours to kill... fair warning - it’s addicting!

 

[centrarchid]

They are eating something. Area not enough for good foraging alone. If they have free-choice access to what you describe and ability to forage, then their nutritional intake can indeed be balanced, pricey, but balanced.

 

[neo71665]

So your basically feeding them all treats? Thats like giving a kid the choice of cake, ice cream, candy, or black eyed peas and wondering why they don't eat their peas.

 

[centrarchid]

So your basically feeding them all treats? Thats like giving a kid the choice of cake, ice cream, candy, or black eyed peas and wondering why they don't eat their peas.

OP is providing what amount to feed stuffs. If they were combined into a feed formulation then they would likely represent a nutritionally incomplete mixture, I think. It depends on the proportions used of each. Some mixtures might prove to be complete. If the chickens are able to exercise choice, then odds are they are able to approach balanced nutrition by that alone. The nutrients I would b most concerned with are vitamins in that case, and the forage, although limited could very well provide what the feedstuff mixture provides.

I could create complete diets, at the exclusion of soybean and corn products, based on only what almost everyone here calls treats. It would take a mixture and likely would require supplementation with vitamin and mineral premixes.

With my free-range chickens I could switch entirely over to scratch grains and the birds grow and produce like they do on the flock raiser pellets currently used. The difference would be the chickens would range much further, on the order of a couple hundred yards further in all directions to meet their needs. If the scratch grains were also withheld, they would range an even larger area.

 

[Frank Hengels]

Welcome to BYC!
Stop feeding all treats now. Put the oyster shell out in a free choice feed container and put the flock on a complete diet that offers 18-20% protein. Something like Flock Raiser, All Flock or a good chick starter. Make sure the feeders are clean and the feed kept dry.
Lots of fresh clean water at all times. Do not break down and give them treats. When they get hungry, they will eat the feed you gave them.
When they are eating regularly you can CONSIDER offering a SMALL treat each morning and no more.

They have oyster shell and grits free choice, plenty of fresh water. They feed choice of Purina Layne, Texas natural feed(which they were raised on) and layer crumbles from a local feed mill. They get no scratch. had gone two weeks without any treats. that is when I made up what I gave them.

 

[Frank Hengels]

It is obvious you didn't read the whole post, they had gone two weeks with no treats. By the way what I started giving them in the evenings is very little less than a cup between all the chickens.

 

[BuckeyeAmy69]

Dobie Lover gave great advice above. Chickens that free range will not need to eat as much feed. Are they eating some of their layer feed, or none at all that you can tell?

 

[mommiesrcool]

Hello I have 12 Chickens between 18 and 24 weeks old. They have approx 6000 sq feed to run. In the evening they get a treat of groats, meal worms, sunflower seed, oyster shell and some crimped oat, not alot. they eat it all. I've put out in different feeders two different feeds. There are alot of plants to eat. any help would be appreciated. Also all the birds are healthy.

if they are forging then they wouldn't eat as much food but like the others said just try to limit less treats, and you already stated that grit and oyster shells were available so your all good on that