Overfeeding chickens how to stop

[demonic]

My family and I overfeed and spoil our chickens a lot, and we decided it’s time to stop. We would feed them rice meat and vegetables everyday at around 2 and call it “lunch” .... and they have gotten used to that being their main food and their pellets being their side food. Neighbors have recently been complaining so They are not in their real run at the moment and are in a small Run temporarily before we get a fence built so they aren’t getting that much exercise To burn those calories. My chickens are healthy at the moment, perfect weight, lay nice eggs, but we want to stop before it gets out of hand and something happens. Do I slowly decrease their food daily or just completely stop at once? If we are late to giving them “lunch” they start complaining and making caw-caw noises so I’m thinking we slowly decrease their food day by day. In their current temporary run they don’t have access to grass and only dirt and stone/rocks. I don’t know how to get them to start adjusting to realize that the pellets should be their main food now that they adjusted to this “lunch” though

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Hmm. Minimize treats to about 1tbsp a day. I occasionally feed my hens popcorn, but not to often. They really should be eating mostly their pellets. Try and stop giving them the lunch each day, but free feed the pellets. You can give them a tbsp of treats a day though, but stop that if you notice problems. Some people on here say no treats, but I also love to spoil the hens.

 

[Kiki]

Stop completely at once...all treats.

 

[Kiki]

Hmm. Minimize treats to about 1tbsp a day. I occasionally feed my hens popcorn, but not to often. They really should be eating mostly their pellets. Try and stop giving them the lunch each day, but free feed the pellets. You can give them a tbsp of treats a day though, but stop that if you notice problems. Some people on here say no treats, but I also love to spoil the hens.

What most people don't understand is by over feeding treats you aren't spoiling them as much as you are hurting them...causing them not to get a balanced diet with not a good thing for a long list of reasons.

 

[demonic]

Hmm. Minimize treats to about 1tbsp a day. I occasionally feed my hens popcorn, but not to often. They really should be eating mostly their pellets. Try and stop giving them the lunch each day, but free feed the pellets. You can give them a tbsp of treats a day though, but stop that if you notice problems. Some people on here say no treats, but I also love to spoil the hens.

Yeah they know what time it is whenever they see a certain food bowl. So Maybe in their food bowl I’ll decrease mostly the rice and meat and put pellets in there instead so there main lunch is pellets and vegetables and slowly decrease even this healthy alternative each day

 

[Lemon-Drop]

What most people don't understand is by over feeding treats you aren't spoiling them as much as you are hurting them...causing them not to get a balanced diet with not a good thing for a long list of reasons.

Oh... so is it hurting them that I give them treats? I’ve been slowing down on the treats recently, at most usually a few mealworms a day... and occasionally a handful of popcorn (no butter or salt, of course!)

So should I stop even that? Mostly why I’ve slowed down the treats is that mealworms are expensive, but I use them to call the girls in from free ranging.

 

[Kiki]

Oh... so is it hurting them that I give them treats? I’ve been slowing down on the treats recently, at most usually a few mealworms a day... and occasionally a handful of popcorn (no butter or salt, of course!)

So should I stop even that? Mostly why I’ve slowed down the treats is that mealworms are expensive, but I use them to call the girls in from free ranging.

If you are feeding treats daily and feeding any combination of treats that are more than one tablespoon worth than yes.

 

[Kiki]

Oh... so is it hurting them that I give them treats? I’ve been slowing down on the treats recently, at most usually a few mealworms a day... and occasionally a handful of popcorn (no butter or salt, of course!)

So should I stop even that? Mostly why I’ve slowed down the treats is that mealworms are expensive, but I use them to call the girls in from free ranging.

Have you seen this?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...nd-lethargic-drooping-wings-and-more.1463932/

 

[Lemon-Drop]

If you are feeding treats daily and feeding any combination of treats that are more than one tablespoon worth than yes.

It’s not daily, I don’t free range them too often (they have 100+ square feet per bird in their run) but when I do it’s close to a tablespoon. Maybe sometimes more. I give them treats probably 2 times a week. Sometimes I give them each 1 mealworm more often though.

Rarely, but sometimes, I’ll give them a bit more than a tablespoon. Like on their birthday or Christmas.

 

[Chickstarrs]

Yeah they know what time it is whenever they see a certain food bowl. So Maybe in their food bowl I’ll decrease mostly the rice and meat and put pellets in there instead so there main lunch is pellets and vegetables and slowly decrease even this healthy alternative each day

That's what I would suggest. Feed them at the same time with the same bowl but replace with the pellets. Another idea is to put hot water with the pellets to make a mash. My chickens think that is a wonderful treat (even though it is really the same pellets). Maybe yours will accept that as a wonderful lunch too but much healthier for them.