change in eating habits

[tarragon]

My 4 little girls are now 14 days old! They are very sweet, and seem to be very healthy. Up until yesterday I have had to refill the quart sized jar of food every day, I frequently saw the chicks eating from the holes and scratching the food out of it onto the floor. Well, they scratched so much out that it was getting wasteful, so I put a block under the feeder, low enough that they could still reach it but not scratch at it. Since then I have not seen them eat out of it at all. Yesterday afternoon I removed the block, thinking they couldn't find the food since I had committed the criminal act of "changing something in the brooder". I still only see them pecking around in the shavings, eating spilled food. I have not had to refill the feeder yet (since the day before yesterday, remember I was refilling daily before).
They seem healthy and active. They spend all day jumping up on the perch, jumping down from the perch, scratching at the floor, jumping up on the perch, sleeping under the light, walking through the water dish, jumping up on the perch.....
They are growing, they look taller, they seem happy and fine, feathers on the wings are coming in, so should I worry? Do they slow down the heavy consumption of food at this age?

 

[dominiquePL]

Yes, that habit is so anoying!!! Good decision. I think they are now picking up food from the shavings. Check they crops to make sure they're eating.

 

[tarragon]

Well, today was brooder cleaning day, so I dumped the old food and refilled the jar when I replaced all the shavings. I also replaced the block under the feeder. Since then I have seen them eating from the feeder again. I don't know what the problem was yesterday, maybe they just weren't all that hungry!

BTW, what do you mean by check the crops to be sure they are eating?

 

[lady feathers]

They were just practicing up on their big chicken skills of scratching the gournd for food!

 

[lady feathers]

The crop is an organ found in chickens that acts like a storage center for food. They eat alot and fill up and then the crop empties gradually as the food moves along to be digested. If you look at some grown chickens it is easier to see before you become familiar with it. If looking at your chickens after a meal you might see that one of their "breasts" looks swollen, can't remember on left or right sde but seems all my hens are on the smae side. Anyway, this is the crop, so if yuo are worried again that your chicks/chickens raen't eating pick them up and feel across what would be considered their chest, full crop should bulge out and feel semi-solid, an empty one will be flat and you won't likley feel anythin in it.

The first time I ever noticed it on one of my girls was when aI first got chickens ad I thought something was wrong with my australorp cause she was "swollen and lop-sided", my husband laughed at me. He had grown up around chickens, obviously I had not