Chickens stopped eating their feed...

[Shenanigans80]

My chickens have seemed to have stopped eating their feed. I have not changed the brand, I get them a layer feed. I did change from crumbles to pellets, could that be a factor as to why they stopped eating it? Have not had to fill their feeders in a week. The weather has been warming up and they venture into their run more, so I was thinking that with them foraging for bugs and what not that they don't need their feed as much. They do get scratch as a treat a few times a week. When should I become concerned?

 

[Kelsie2290]

Are you still getting the same number and quality of eggs? Do the girls seem to be any hungrier than usual? Have you seen them eating the pellets at all, did you mix the crumbles with the pellets for a few days to get them used to it? I have a lot more waste with crumbles than with pellets, so maybe they were wasting a lot. And like you said, when the weather warms up, the first few days especially they eat a lot less food since they are finding so much outside. Also, if you had wild bird problems eating the food, they aren't as bad when the weather warms up.
As long as they are acting normal and laying I would just keep an eye on them and their condition to be sure they aren't losing weight (maybe weigh a few) and hope it was just the switch in food shape leading to less waste.

 

[Shenanigans80]

Are you still getting the same number and quality of eggs? Do the girls seem to be any hungrier than usual? Have you seen them eating the pellets at all, did you mix the crumbles with the pellets for a few days to get them used to it? I have a lot more waste with crumbles than with pellets, so maybe they were wasting a lot. And like you said, when the weather warms up, the first few days especially they eat a lot less food since they are finding so much outside. Also, if you had wild bird problems eating the food, they aren't as bad when the weather warms up.
As long as they are acting normal and laying I would just keep an eye on them and their condition to be sure they aren't losing weight (maybe weigh a few) and hope it was just the switch in food shape leading to less waste.

Thanks for response! The egg number varies and has all winter long, it has slowly picked up. They don't seem to be any hungrier than usual, they all go wild like they are starving when they get the scratch, but so do my silkies who have no problem eating the pellets. I don't see them eating the pellets and I even sprinkled some on the ground like I do with the scratch and they all walked away from it. I too had a lot of waste with the crumbles vs the pellets. Maybe that is what was happening, I don't know. When we first switched to the pellets, I did see them eat it. Wild birds aren't a problem as they cant get to the food, their coop and run is all enclosed to help keep them safe from predators.