Thanks. I got her caged as soon as it fined up and let her out when it started to rain again. I thought she'd go back on the nest but she didn't. I had tried her a couple of days earlier and she ran back to the nest as fast as her little legs would carry her.MyHaven .. good news about your Silkie
So loved this post, and I honestly wouldn't be worried about the greens they are not eating - if they are picking at grass and clover etc. 1 hour a day, and more on weekends, most likely they are full to the brim of green goodies. Odd though that they don't take to the vegies, although I have noticed mine are slow to tackle lettuce, pale cabbage and broccoli, but eventually have a good go. What mine absolutely adore ( and darn near knock me over to get at ) is watermelon. I could seriously overfeed them that. .... and yoghurt ... they adore it. Cheese is another favourite, and meat they eat like piranha's !! I don't give them enough meat though. I will try to be more vigilant with the meat treats, especially for my Barnevelder who is somewhat off colour at the moment, although is still eating well. Good luck with the vegie eating ... Do you give large chunks of leaves etc ?.- they might just want to play with it. I cut all vegies up into small bits for the girls - [ nothing wrong with me !! ].... they gobble all that down - but tend to throw large bits around the run. What we do for our chooks eh !!I posted this in the 'Feed' forum a while ago but thought I would try you guys and gals also as I have seen some good tips in this forum....
My Girls Won't Eat Their Vegies!
I have 2 x banties coming up to 5 months old. I purchase layer mash, layer pellets (bantam sized) and shell grit that I mix together and they love that. They love meat and eat hamburgers, sausages, steak, ham, chicken, bacon, roast beef, fish etc etc; they love egg (boiled and mash, shell included) but I can not get them to eat their vegies. I have tried chopped lettuce, tomato, green beans, cooked broccolli and cooked potatoes. Today, I put a small amount of watermelon in their run and their scared of it .. they ran away from it and I don't hold out much hope of them pecking at it! They free range in the garden for an hour a day and heaps more on the weekends when they mow their way through grass and weeds.
I got one reply to my post which was to mash the vegies in with the food they love which I was a little reluctant to try because I had a feeling they would then not eat it.
I gave it a go, mixed up broccolli and potato with roast beef (Sunday roast) and they didn't touch it. I know they would have eaten the roast beef on it's own. I gave lettuce another try yesterday, not interested.
Do I need to worry that they are not eating their vegies?
Is the grass they get probably enough?
Any tips on how to get them to eat their vegies?
Edit/PS: I forgot to mention that I have also tried cooking up some peas and corn .. again, not interested.
That's good enough for me MyHaven. Thanks for post. I will forget about the 'baking' shells to rid of bacteria. Hard boil the eggs, and grind the lot when cool - shells and all. Then they get the best of everything. Grandmothers were seldom wrong.
Gosh that is very interesting. Am not into hatching chicks so wouldn't know ... but I guess it's nature that makes them do it, like animals who lick off the enclosing membranes and sacs from their new borns and clean them. Nature is truly remarkable, isn't it ! And I have only ever had one egg eaten by our chickens, and that was obviously soft shelled ( from the little that remained ) ... they are careful with eggs - so I have found. I marvel that an egg laid the evening before remains in pristine condition for collection the next morning. My 2 ( currently laying ) chooks lay at the oddest of times - even after night fall !! .
Hi, I agree. No need to worry. They will be full and fussy from free-ranging. They are too well fed.I posted this in the 'Feed' forum a while ago but thought I would try you guys and gals also as I have seen some good tips in this forum....
My Girls Won't Eat Their Vegies!
I have 2 x banties coming up to 5 months old. I purchase layer mash, layer pellets (bantam sized) and shell grit that I mix together and they love that. They love meat and eat hamburgers, sausages, steak, ham, chicken, bacon, roast beef, fish etc etc; they love egg (boiled and mash, shell included) but I can not get them to eat their vegies. I have tried chopped lettuce, tomato, green beans, cooked broccolli and cooked potatoes. Today, I put a small amount of watermelon in their run and their scared of it .. they ran away from it and I don't hold out much hope of them pecking at it! They free range in the garden for an hour a day and heaps more on the weekends when they mow their way through grass and weeds.
I got one reply to my post which was to mash the vegies in with the food they love which I was a little reluctant to try because I had a feeling they would then not eat it.
I gave it a go, mixed up broccolli and potato with roast beef (Sunday roast) and they didn't touch it. I know they would have eaten the roast beef on it's own. I gave lettuce another try yesterday, not interested.
Do I need to worry that they are not eating their vegies?
Is the grass they get probably enough?
Any tips on how to get them to eat their vegies?
Edit/PS: I forgot to mention that I have also tried cooking up some peas and corn .. again, not interested.
My girls don't get into the scraps as much when they've been out. If they needed it they'd eat it. I bet they'd start to eat veggies if you grew them. I have to fence my garden off. All I can add on veggies is, while I give my girls cooked veg if its left overs I don't cook it especially. I think cooking takes a lot of the goodness out and it's not natural. Also chickens learn their behaviour and tastes by copying. Battery hens don't even know how to scratch or walk even if they have the strength. You can teach them to scratch by scratching your hand in front of them. You teach incubated chicks to drink by dipping their beaks in water. Either of those techniques may work with the watermelon. Ie 'peck' your finger at it or stick their beaks in it gently. I haven't had chicks for years before these last ones recently. I watched them more closely and was fascinated to see how they learned. Every new food from grasshoppers to watermelon that I threw in with them was ignored until mum pecked it. Then stand back or you'd loose a finger. . With grasshoppers mum would grab it, incapacitate it and drop it in front of one of her babies. With my next comment I will try not to offend anyone. In Australia feeding meat and kitchen scraps containing meat (called swill) to livestock, and that means our chickens, is banned. It has been linked to the spread and cross over of disease between species in other countries. I know a lot of people do it but I don't. My livelihood has depended on our country staying disease free. My girls only get veggie and fruit scraps. They get their protein from other sources. 1. Worms and grubs from free ranging - and the more they free range the more earth worms there are for the garden. 2. Laying mash. It should be a good balance of all they 'need'. If you are buying the mash from Northside Produce I think it is a bit low in protein. 16%. It was not enough for my pullets at 40wks to start laying. When I increased the protein I got eggs in days. There are different opinions about how much protein they need and it changes - winter, moulting etc. But for laying I think 18% minimum. 3. Protein additives - You will have seen my other posts about the soy meal I have been using of late. So far I love it to bump that mash up from 16%. Finally, and I know I've given you more than you asked for, it is important to remember that every treat you add to their diet you are detracting from the crucial elements of a balanced diet. I hope this helps and isn't an overload. Cheers
