I have five red star chicks right around 5 weeks old. I'm feeding them starter mash from one of the galvanized mason jar feeders. They manage to empty the mason jar within a couple hours of refilling it. The frustrating part is how much of it ends up on the floor. All five birds will stand there on an inch deep of food staring out the cage and cheeping at us like we owe them more food. I see them scratching a bunch, but they never seem to eat much off the ground - just pick through for whatever particles they think are good and leave the other 99% behind. When I do fill up the jar again, they pounce on it and while eating some, they pull most out on to the floor with their beaks in what appears to be a search for something.
Do I not feed them as often and force them to get hungry enough they learn to eat from the ground? Accept that a huge portion of their food eventually goes to the trash? Or add something to their feed that they appear to be missing so they don't feel as strong a need to keep searching?
Do I not feed them as often and force them to get hungry enough they learn to eat from the ground? Accept that a huge portion of their food eventually goes to the trash? Or add something to their feed that they appear to be missing so they don't feel as strong a need to keep searching?