Chicken oddities: what’s something you wish your chicken/chickens didn’t do?

[chickenrunsquad]

Loved reading through this thread! For me, I wish my chickens knew that the food that is in their feeder is the EXACT SAME FOOD as the pellets in my hand. They must think the ones in my hand are premium grade and only for special, royalty chickens, while the food in their feeder is garbage and therefore for peasants.

Also they dislike grubs and mealworms. How???

 

[kattabelly]

Loved reading through this thread! For me, I wish my chickens knew that the food that is in their feeder is the EXACT SAME FOOD as the pellets in my hand. They must think the ones in my hand are premium grade and only for special, royalty chickens, while the food in their feeder is garbage and therefore for peasants.

Nah, that's useful. Lowest effort treats ever. Handy when you want to catch a chicken or make it go somewhere.

 

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

My hens have a habit of kicking every last bit of nesting material out of their nest boxes and then accidentally breaking their eggs under themselves lol

 

[Beckys Birds]

Loved reading through this thread! For me, I wish my chickens knew that the food that is in their feeder is the EXACT SAME FOOD as the pellets in my hand. They must think the ones in my hand are premium grade and only for special, royalty chickens, while the food in their feeder is garbage and therefore for peasants.

Also they dislike grubs and mealworms. How???

I wish mine understood that the pellets in the bottom of the feeder are exactly the same as the pellets inbtje top and stop composting the ground with their expensive feed. Because they are starving to death if the feeder is empty even though there are pellets all over the ground.

 

[chickenrunsquad]

I wish mine understood that the pellets in the bottom of the feeder are exactly the same as the pellets inbtje top and stop composting the ground with their expensive feed. Because they are starving to death if the feeder is empty even though there are pellets all over the ground.

! Its hilarious when they'll look at me as if I'm starving them but there's a whole mess of feed at their feet.

 

[Beckys Birds]

! Its hilarious when they'll look at me as if I'm starving them but there's a whole mess of feed at their feet.

Yes! And we don't refill the feeder until they clean up the mess. They get mad! And we have tried so many different feeders. Trying to minimize the waste. None work with my girls. Entitled much?

 

[ChickenChick46]

Loved reading through this thread! For me, I wish my chickens knew that the food that is in their feeder is the EXACT SAME FOOD as the pellets in my hand. They must think the ones in my hand are premium grade and only for special, royalty chickens, while the food in their feeder is garbage and therefore for peasants.

Also they dislike grubs and mealworms. How???

This! My chicks are only 2 weeks old, and every time my hand goes in that brooder, they're jumping on it to eat from it. Even when I'm not holding their feed. Like y'all, it's in the feeder, the same thing! But no, they just look at me. I thought it would be cute to hand feed them, lol. But I think they're trying to manipulate me with those sweet little faces.

 

[BDutch]

Yes! And we don't refill the feeder until they clean up the mess. They get mad! And we have tried so many different feeders. Trying to minimize the waste. None work with my girls. Entitled much?

3 feedings stations (mixed flock):

1. I give them wet chick crumble once a day. No spilling and they think it’s a treat.
2. There is one feeder with layer pellets. It holds over 1 kg and its deep where they pick up the pellets. If I fill it with crumble they make a mess. The pellets are all the same, so they dont try to pick the best bits.
3. A bowl with chick crumble thats too deep to spill the feed. The left over goes in the the wet crumble dish.

 

[SnackMeat]

Standing in their food dish + burying it under run litter when they start scratching nearby!!

They get fermented whole grain feed, which doesn’t lend itself to most commercial feeders, so I use heavy ceramic bowls. They don’t get tipped over, but boy, do they get pine needles and bark tracked in!

I use fermented feed too. I am planning on running a half tube as a trough raised up and secured to wall, maybe on hooks for easy removal to hose off.


But currently putting our feeder bowls on top of bricks, sometimes more like a two step pyramid, they can't kick stuff into the bowl. The only downside is sometimes someone jumps and lands in it. But otherwise, helps a lot.

 

[SnackMeat]

Ah so making sure she was ok.

I’ve got one hen, Betty, that I have to bathe at least 3 times a month. Her bottom gets..unpleasant. Again I think it’s for purpose. She knows after a bath she gets green beans and tuna all to herself.

I've read with silkie mating, it can help to cut the feathers around the vents to help everything go where it needs to. Can you cut down the butt fluff a little help yourself out with the dingleberries? We used to do that with some of our fluffier dogs.