Chicken feed crisis - please offer opinions

[Candiss]

You are soo sweet but I think if they get that hungry they will eat.

Like today, I dont exactly like ramen noodles but I am not getting to take lunch and guess what all I have in my desk are ramen noodles. I would much rather have "real" food, but off to the microwave I go..

because I am hungry..

Candace

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
They are meaties. It is probably good for their health if they go a little hungry all the time.

Are the pellets longer than a grasshopper? Do the Silkies turn down grasshoppers? I found a plum pit in the gizzard of a 15 week old cockerel I butchered. That great big old plum pit is not what killed him.

I can't help you much with this. Every batch I've raised so far prefer the pellets over the crumbles, but they will eat crumbles if that is all that is available.

 

[gritsar]

I went to southwest feed first, even though it's further out than the co-op. When I called this morning the manager said (a lazy man I've never seen move out of his chair at the counter) said all they had was pellets.
Get there and they do indeed have three bags of crumbles, so that's what I bought the babies. I asked that they order more and keep it in stock. I saw the guy write it down in their order book.

Ridge, the idea was to put the meaties outside each morning with the other birds and force them to forage by not allowing them access to the feed during the morning hours. Then put out a feeder for them in the afternoon. I usually break down and give them their feeder around 11 A.M., after seeing them do nothing but sit there. Starting today I gave them a little scratch, but they won't get their regular feed until they go back to the coop at dusk.

The silkies seem to do okay with the pellets, but I look at them and look at the pellets and still worry. As for grasshoppers, they beat them into chunks first.