Chickens aren’t eating their layer feed

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I normally give them two scoops of layer feed, and a scoop of cracked corn. There’s close to 50 chickens in the pen.
Things to consider:
1. I do not add in treats except what bugs they can scratch up in the pen. It’s definitely not a kid eating dessert for dinner issue.
2. I have not switched layer feed recently. They get the TSC brand stuff, and they have loved it before for years.
3. This feed is perfectly fine. It has no mold, has been stored in incredibly dry containers, no critters can break into it, etc.

Why are my chickens being picky?

 

[azygous]

Age of this flock? If they are old enough to be molting, their appetites may be suffering due to molt.

During molt, egg laying decreases and often stops all together. General activity level also decreases. Therefore, their nutritional needs also decrease since demand on their bodies decreases. Feed consumption will naturally increase as days lengthen.

It is better not to offer cracked corn with the commercial feed since it dilutes the amount of nutrients they need to be consuming from their commercial feed, and not offer it every single day. That way, the chickens will consume the commercial feed in proper amounts to effectively support their nutritional needs.

 

[K0k0shka]

1. I do not add in treats except what bugs they can scratch up in the pen. It’s definitely not a kid eating dessert for dinner issue.

I'm afraid it sounds exactly like a kid eating dessert for dinner kind of issue. Cracked corn is dessert. It's a treat, not something to be fed in large amounts, and 1/3 of what you offer is a very large amount. So you are in fact adding treats, in much greater amounts than what's recommended for treats (over three times the recommended amount of 10%). Your chickens are eating the corn preferentially and leaving out the layer feed. I'd recommend you cut out the corn entirely, until they start reliably eating the feed. Then you can reintroduce the corn, as a treat only, at no more than 10% of their daily intake, and not every day. Corn is not necessary if you feed a complete formula poultry feed. It's just for fun, but just like dessert and kids, they prefer it over regular dinner and may refuse their regular dinner in favor of the candy.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You should be feeding by weight, not volume. 1/4 pound of pellets or crumble per day, ignore the roosters unless you have a lot of them. And ditto on the other advice given, no need for corn.

 

[TheDandyLion]

You've probably already checked it, but....one additional question that came to my mind. What is the mill date of the feed? I ask because when I went to pick up a bag of feed at TSC in October they had bags with mill dates back in February.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

You've probably already checked it, but....one additional question that came to my mind. What is the mill date of the feed? I ask because when I went to pick up a bag of feed at TSC in earlier October they had bags with mill dates back in February.

Huh… no, I haven’t.
That could be the problem.
I’ve been doing my feed thing for over three years, and nothing like this has ever happened. I will grab the feed bags from the trash tomorrow morning and see what it is