Chickens not eating...

[abundantfarms]

About a couple months ago I changed my Flock over to pellets from crumbles, and started feeding them a bunch of fresh food. I stopped the fresh food recently because their egg production was declining, and now they’re barely eating the pellets!
Anyone have any experience/ideas?
Thanks!

 

[CatWhisperer]

Switch back to crumbles if your pelleted food is fresh. If pellets are over 5 months old maybe try a fresher bag or different brand.

 

[GC-Raptor]

About a couple months ago I changed my Flock over to pellets from crumbles, and started feeding them a bunch of fresh food. I stopped the fresh food recently because their egg production was declining, and now they’re barely eating the pellets!

Dump the feeder and wash and dry thoroughly and fill with fresh feed.
I had feed go bad 5 months past mill date, that was stored in a spare room in my house.

If your bag of pellets was stored properly and it's not damp or moldy and smells good when you open the bag, add a small amount to feeder and see if they eat it, if not it could be stale or maybe they just like Crumbles better.
If you give Scratch Grains as a treat scattered on the ground, toss some Pellets down with the Scratch. Otherwise just toss some Pellets down.
If they won't eat the pellets, the Pellets are bad.
Pick up a new bag of feed, Crumbles if they ate them before. GC

 

[rosemarythyme]

Also possible they're holding out waiting for the treats that you used to feed them. Once they get hungry enough, they'll eat the food provided, even if they don't like it.