Babies only wanting to "scratch" for food....

[m1chelle1]

GM BYC Fam,

So I'm seeing something new with my 4 day old babies and wanted to ask the community. This is the third flock of mixed baby chickens that ive raised, and ive never had an issue getting the babies to eat out of the feeder, in fact they always preferred the easy feed access.
With this batch of chicks, every since DAY ONE, they have been pretty much ignoring the feeder and have been scratching to find their food. I started sprinkling food in the brooder just to make sure theyre eating, and for them to find and of course now they just eat that food (which is ok!). But its strange because it looks like these babies prefer scratching and searching for food instead of eating directly out of the feeder. I just find it strange as ive never seen this behavior in babies so young and right from the start.
Yes-- im going to add that they all know where the feeder is and how to access it and that food is in there, but they just dont eat out of it. Its very strange.
Do you maybe think theyre looking for Grit??? Ive NEVER fed babies added grit just because ive not thought it necessary, but the farm i got these ones from recommended it, right away for babies, which i thought kind of odd...

What do you think? For reference there are a few EE's one OE, and some salmon favorelle.

thanks all!!

Cheers,
M

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My babies love to scratch for food! It's a natural instinct, while they do eat out of the feeder too, any food that is spilled out, they love searching for that.
Yes, I'm also a big fan of providing chick grit first thing, they will take a few pieces as needed. I just sprinkle that in a corner for them, of course they scratch that around too.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

GM BYC Fam,

So I'm seeing something new with my 4 day old babies and wanted to ask the community. This is the third flock of mixed baby chickens that ive raised, and ive never had an issue getting the babies to eat out of the feeder, in fact they always preferred the easy feed access.
With this batch of chicks, every since DAY ONE, they have been pretty much ignoring the feeder and have been scratching to find their food. I started sprinkling food in the brooder just to make sure theyre eating, and for them to find and of course now they just eat that food (which is ok!). But its strange because it looks like these babies prefer scratching and searching for food instead of eating directly out of the feeder. I just find it strange as ive never seen this behavior in babies so young and right from the start.
Yes-- im going to add that they all know where the feeder is and how to access it and that food is in there, but they just dont eat out of it. Its very strange.
Do you maybe think theyre looking for Grit??? Ive NEVER fed babies added grit just because ive not thought it necessary, but the farm i got these ones from recommended it, right away for babies, which i thought kind of odd...

What do you think? For reference there are a few EE's one OE, and some salmon favorelle.

thanks all!!

Cheers,
M

My current chicks are being raised by a hen... so that probably has something to do with it.... but I’ve not had a lot of luck with the chick feeders with them...

I’ve just been feeding in a dog dish.... and they get in there and scratch ... they kick a lot of it out... but the others clean it up ...

...today they’re out in the run with the hen scratching up a storm though... so they might be “too grown up” for the dog dish when the come back in...

 

[m1chelle1]

My current chicks are being raised by a hen... so that probably has something to do with it.... but I’ve not had a lot of luck with the chick feeders with them...

I’ve just been feeding in a dog dish.... and they get in there and scratch ... they kick a lot of it out... but the others clean it up ...

...today they’re out in the run with the hen scratching up a storm though... so they might be “too grown up” for the dog dish when the come back in...

View attachment 1773960

yeah, maybe. i just find it really strange because they dont eat from the feeder (which is just a small dish) at all. And they were scratching in the bedding for feed before i even put feed in the bedding so it just seemed strange that they refused to eat the food in the feeder. They didnt even attempt to scratch out the food in the dish so they could scratch around for it!! they just proceeded to ignore the feeder food completely, and try to get food from the hay. Just never seen chicks do all this intent scratching this early, is all. I did add grit, in case they were eating some actual hay and need the grit in their gizzard for some reason
i figure there must be a reason theyre ignoring the convenient feeder to go search elsewhere. I hope this is a sign of excellent foragers and low feed costs in the future-- Score!!!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Maybe they have itchy feet

 

[SueT]

They sound very normal. (Just in case, make sure their feed is fresh, check date on bag... )
I add water to the feed, to make a mash. Chicks usually love it that way and don't waste as much...

 

[danceswithronin]

All of my chicks eat from the feeder, but they have all historically preferred scratching for their food in the brooder, and I actually started just broadcasting feed in to my adult flock this spring instead of putting it in feeders because they all seem to get a lot more enrichment out of finding it themselves.

It's a bit of a waste of food compared to feeders because I always make sure to put in well and above enough feed and scratch grains for everyone (more than they probably eat) but I prefer that to strictly rationing them and finding out the lowest hen on the totem pole is getting shafted for food.

Plus I've noticed that broadcasting feed eliminates any squabbles over the feeder, everyone can just pick their own corner of the yard to eat in.

So if the chicks prefer scratching, I say let them scratch.

 

[m1chelle1]

All of my chicks eat from the feeder, but they have all historically preferred scratching for their food in the brooder, and I actually started just broadcasting feed in to my adult flock this spring instead of putting it in feeders because they all seem to get a lot more enrichment out of finding it themselves.

It's a bit of a waste of food compared to feeders because I always make sure to put in well and above enough feed and scratch grains for everyone (more than they probably eat) but I prefer that to strictly rationing them and finding out the lowest hen on the totem pole is getting shafted for food.

Plus I've noticed that broadcasting feed eliminates any squabbles over the feeder, everyone can just pick their own corner of the yard to eat in.

So if the chicks prefer scratching, I say let them scratch.

i did that with my adult flock and like it best to. they def preferred that to a feeder. Yeah, i mean i have to let they eat from the ground, its the only way the buggers will eat, haha!
but still find it strange they refuse to eat from the feeder..oh well!

 

[m1chelle1]

They sound very normal. (Just in case, make sure their feed is fresh, check date on bag... )
I add water to the feed, to make a mash. Chicks usually love it that way and don't waste as much...

im going to try mash today to see if they will be interested in that