chicken will not eat the egglaying food

[Jiang]

I just switch from growing food to egglaying food but the hen ( 6 month old) will not eat the food , any idea? Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you are here!

I think they are not hungry enough.

Most chickens do not like change. They are very suspicious of anything different. The food probably looks different, pellets instead of crumbles. They do not understand that it is food. Eventually one will probably try it, like it, and then they will all decide it is pretty good. If you have some of the Grower left over, you can try to mix the two. That might help them decide the Layer is also food, but that does not always work. Many people report that their chickens picked the Grower crumbles out and left the Layer pellets behind. Mine were the opposite. Mine picked out the new pellets and left the Grower crumbles behind.

You can try sprinkling a few pellets on the ground in front of them to see if that will get them to try it, but that also might not work. If you leave them alone, they should in time learn to eat the Layer pellets. I had to quit offering them Layer pellets to get them to finish off the Grower crumbles.

Good luck!

 

[RIBill]

I was concerned about the same thing happening. I just added a scoop to one side of the trough the first time. Each day, I added another scoop on that end, sliding the crumbles down. By the time the pellets reached from end to end, they all got the idea.

I second the "not hungry enough" idea. We fed them carrots, weeds, seeds, etc. at the end of the season. Some days they ate no food at all.

 

[catdaddy66]

First,

I agree with the others regarding the difficulties of switching feed. I came to the conclusion that (after careful research and consideration) layer ration is not necessary for chickens to lay. I did not say that it was not recommended, nor healthy, only that starter/chick feed can be used thru the life cycle of the bird. If added oyster shell is available the hens will do what comes natural. This is how mine are raised and have all birds laying (12) at 7 months. I personally like the idea of higher protein in the starter, and there is no need to keep feed separate for layers and non-layers. There are many ways to properly provide nutrition to flocks so keep reading and learning to prepare to make your own decisions for your specific need(s).

 

[Ohhhdear]

I accidentally bought a bag of laying pellets instead of the crumbles my hens are used to eating. Of course, never having touched pellets before, they refused to eat them, even when it was the only non-forage food available. Egg production dropped as they took a couple days to think about laying pellets as food.
So, what's a mother to do?
I added enough hot water to a 2 quart pitcher full of pellets to make a crumbly mash and they ADORED it!! Warm, yummy, tasted just like their old crumbles, stuff-the-crop full bowl of chicken treats made from the pellets.
I made enough the first batch to freeze a couple gallon zip loc bagsful of "mash". I break off several big chunks and mic it warm for the girls.

Yes, I now double check the bag in the store to see it says "crumbles" instead of "pellets".