Chickens HATE Black Oil Sunflower Seeds!!!!

[Akane]

Mine free range and get all sorts of goodies and still go nuts for boss. However I seem to have raised the only chicks who hate yogurt and my chickens wouldn't touch cabbage even in the dead of winter.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

My birds didn't like the large ones, but I found a bag of the smaller ones at TSC and now they LOVE them.

 

[Tinkspirit70]

Mine arent thrilled with them either, I threw them down on the ground for treats and no go, then I put in the feeder with the crumbles and they will grab at them but still not thrilled, they wont eat yogurt either??? but they love tomatoes, watermelon, bread and pasta )

 

[OregonChickenGal]

My chickens love them, and so do the wild quail and doves.

 

[TheWaddler]

Its funny, mine are the same way. Had seeds laying in back yard for days they wouldn't eat and I did the same thing....bought a #50 bag of em. I've seen alot of treats mentioned and mine do not like many of them....yogurt, BOSS, raisins are ones off the top of my head I can remember. They freak out over watermelon and tomatoes tho.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Chickens need to learn to eat new foods. Chickens raised by their mother in a flock have an easier time of it, because their mother eats the good things in front of them and that teaches them that particular food is safe and good to eat. Hatchery chickens have to risk death by sampling unknown and potentially poisonous foods on their own. They have no idea when they start living with us, that we are screening their food supplies and only giving them the safe foods. Eventually, I do think they get that idea, after we feed them lots of tasty foods over a period of time. At that point, they usually decide to trust us and at least try whatever we bring them.

Some chickens are more adventurous and they will try things sooner. If you are lucky enough to have at least one in your flock, they will be the flock "guinea pig" and get the others eating a new food sooner. For foods that you don't mind eating, you can eat it in front of your chickens and they will see that it's safe for you to eat. That doesn't mean they will like it, but it does mean they shouldn't snub it as potentially toxic.

I think chickens usually take to hulled sunflower seed right away and take more time to learn to eat the sunflower seeds in the shell. I would try taking some of the seed and giving it a whack with a hammer, to crush the seeds and expose the inside kernel. See if they like the kernels. Once they are eating the kernels, you can try giving them a mix of cracked and uncracked seeds. I'd even do the cracking in front of them, so they understand that the the kernels are hiding inside the shells and it's okay to just eat the seeds whole.

It usually only takes a few minutes to do things in a way that teaches chickens, so I usually do it that way. It ends up being faster for me in the long run.

 

[australorpchick]

My chickens don't like BOSS either. They won't eat mealworms or regular cabbage, it has to be bok choy. They're selective on their oatmeal flavors as well. Peaches N' Cream won't get eaten, but they like blueberry and banana. Picky birds.

 

[perolane]

My chickens won't touch the sunflower seeds either...I guess some of us may have "aliens"!

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Ditto. Mine didn't know that they were food at first, they were exepecting bright yellow corn, not black stuff. After a while I think they learned to prefer the BOSS over corn though!

 

[ELShens]

I have to throw "Chicken Croutons" (cracked corn) on everything the first time. I'm going to try some BOSS i'm always looking for a good chicken treat. I think my birds are oddballs because they don't like cabbage or watermelon. They do love spinach and salad greens but even those needed a little something on the frist go. I gave them some avocado with chicken croutons at lunch today so I'm curious to see what they think or if they just picked all the corn off.