All my chickens want is bread, oats, and bugs

[SAMnELLA]

They don't seem to eat the pellets, or corn anymore. They go crazy for bread and they are healthy, laying eggs, no problems. I'm just wondering why I'm spending money on pellets they don't want.

 

[MrsBachbach]

They don't seem to eat the pellets, or corn anymore. They go crazy for bread and they are healthy, laying eggs, no problems. I'm just wondering why I'm spending money on pellets they don't want.

You could try a crumble instead. With crumbles you could mix a few oats with them with a little warm ACV flavored water or maybe a touch of molasses once in awhile instead, and make a mash for them if they get bored with the crumbles. Don't want to mix up more mash than they would eat in a day though.
Funny they don't want corn. Is it whole corn, cracked or scratch? My chickens tear scratch up when they get it. You shouldn't make it part of their daily diet though.

 

[chickmomma03]

I suggest trying the crumbles. Mine don't want the pellets either, they want crumbles. Mine get small amounts of treats, but I watch them to make sure they eat crumble too. Mine love bread, veggies, fruits, a little meat every now and then, and some other things, but I don't give them a ton of treats either. They get a small treat in the morning, and a small treat in the evening. They don't get treats first thing in the morning though, they get them after they've been out for a little while (I wait about 2-3 hours after opening the coop before I bring out morning treats). Mine aren't free range (can't) so it's easier for me to monitor (I'm home pretty much all day every day).

I would back off on treats if you're giving them a lot of them too. They're only suppose to have a SMALL percent for their daily intake. If you're giving them a lot of bread you need to reduce the amount too, they're only suppose to have a little bread if any. They might be filling up on treats and then just don't want anything else. Not sure how much you're offering/giving as far as treats, so this is just IF you're giving them a bunch of them.

I don't mix treats in with the food, it's always given separate and away from the food too. Their food and water are in the coop, and they have a spare under chairs in the run. I put the treats on a plate in the middle of the run for them so they don't think they're going to get it in the coop or instead of their food. For me, this has been what has worked though.

 

[SAMnELLA]

Well I switched to the pellets because they weren't eating the crumbles. They were waisting a lot so I figured, try the pellets. Same thing with the corn, I was feeding cracked corn, but they quit eating that and I heard that whole corn was more nutritious, so was giving some corn, (not a lot) but now they just look at it like "meh". Maybe I should try "scratch" with the different grains in it ? I only give the bread in the evening before they roost.

 

[chickmomma03]

Maybe they don't like the brand? Or maybe they don't like the feeder? My younger pullets are messy eaters, but I found a solution to that with the feeder I bought. Now they don't knock too much out. I hung the feeder too and all of them like that better (and it keeps the ants from trying to build a nest under it since it's off the ground).

 

[DanEP]

They don't want the pellets because they don't have to. remove all food besides the pellets and when they get hungry the will eat the pellets. It helps to look at pellets like veggies for the kids, If you serve dessert first their going to fill up on that and not have room for the veggies but cut out the dessert and they will eat the veggies when they get hungry. I'll bet if you stop all treats for a week you'll find their eating pellets just fine. then you can start back up with the treats at a 10% rate and your girls will be just fine.

 

[Blooie]

They don't want the pellets because they don't have to. remove all food besides the pellets and when they get hungry the will eat the pellets. It helps to look at pellets like veggies for the kids, If you serve dessert first their going to fill up on that and not have room for the veggies but cut out the dessert and they will eat the veggies when they get hungry. I'll bet if you stop all treats for a week you'll find their eating pellets just fine. then you can start back up with the treats at a 10% rate and your girls will be just fine.

x2 They have you right where they want you. Chickens are not going to starve to death - their survival instinct is just too strong.

 

[microchick]

Blooie you took the words out of my mouth. What we have here is a well trained human. I can say that because my birds have me well trained also so you have to get sneaky with them. Ours get bread in the evening before going into the coop for the night then they get a 32 ounce glass of 'treat' which for them is scratch mixed with sunflower seed and uncooked oatmeal put in the coop. You would not believe how fast those birds beat a trail to that coop knowing that the 'yummies' are waiting for them. The roosters have began to keep watch on the house waiting for me to come out in the evening and call for the hens when they see me.

Stupid bird's?

Not on our farm.

During the day they get veggies and on rare occasions table scraps but they eat their crumbles during the day.

I agree they won't starve if there is good food around. Take the bread away from them so they just have their pellets to eat and then after they have gone back to eating their pellets, work the treats back into the schedule.

Heck, if somebody offered me hot fudge sundaes during the day, I wouldn't eat healthy food either!

 

[chickmomma03]

Quote: Haha! My cockerel calls the girls out too when he sees me coming with morning treats and evening treats (it's very small portions, but they love it). He tries sometimes to get me to give them more, but I stand firm on it lol. I'll toss a little clover in sometimes for them to munch on and some grass since they've killed all the grass and clovers in the run, but I don't count that in as treats, I count that as "roughage" for them.

 

[SAMnELLA]

Well, at least it's 100% whole wheat bread LOL . I give it to them in the evening only but I was just wondering why they LOVE bread so much. Thanks