Chickens are terrified......

[donnap1967]

....of the little slice of watermelon I put in their brooder for them. lmao!

Poor things! I am such a mean mommy.

They are three weeks old and I have tried oatmeal, yogurt, berries and now watermelon over the last few days. They turn their beaks up at all of it and now they are terrified of the watermelon. They are hiding in the corner!!

I sprinkled chick crumbles on each thing I tried but no dice. Anyone else have scared-y chickens?

 

[DarkUnicorn]

Take a bite or two in front of them???

Seems to work when I'm trying to eat my lunch and the little ones always want some...

 

[patandchickens]

Clearly they saw some Fox tv special on "When Watermelons Attack!"

Poor things, no wonder they're terrified, you never know what large vegetables are going to do. Especially when sliced. It provokes them, you know...


Pat, who has ridden enough horses with stupid phobias (styrofoam cups, hoofprints, small white ponies) to have given up and developed sympathy for confused animals in general

 

[JennsPeeps]

My chicks only want watermelon when another chick has some. Suffice it to say, not a good feeding system!

 

[mythkat]

Put a bug on it?

 

[FloridaChickenChick]

Quote:
What a great picture. Three week old chicks (getting huger by the day!) cowering in the corner...

My girls loved their watermelon. I hope yours survive the trauma long enough to enjoy some nice fresh fruit!

 

[Davaroo]

All chickens are scaredy. They like routine and until they learn what that is, they freak out when anything is different.
Just give am a new piece each day - theyll get
to it soon.

 

[Jolyn]

My nine girls would not eat snacks when they were that young. In fact they didn't start eating them until they were about 8 weeks old. I started with cheerios...now they have had a few different things. They love water melon now.

 

[donnap1967]

Oh you wouldn't believe how traumatized they were.

I felt bad and at the same time I just had to laugh and shake my head.

They were fighting to get as far into the corner as possible, away from that evil watermelon.

I did try throwing a bug into the oatmeal I tried giving them (bleh, creepy crawly oatmeal) but no dice.

Giving them a little piece each day until they realize that it's food and not a hungry beast about to eat them is a good idea. I will definitely try that.

Thanks for the advice and the laughs!