Chickens won't eat layer feed pellets

[rcm1201]

My 7 chickens (5 are ~6 months and 2 are 3 years) won't eat the feed I provide them. They take it out of the 5 gallon bucket and spread it all over the run floor. They devour scratch like they haven't ate in days but I only give them a little in the evening as a snack. They are inside of an enclosed run without any free range as I live in a neighborhood. Is this a cause for concern or will the eventually start eating the food they spilled on the ground if they get hungry enough? These darn things wasted an entire 5 gallon bucket in a single day by throwing it all on the coop floor.

My feeder looks like this (not mine, just a representation). Haven't had any issues when they were on grower crumble.

 

[DLA]

I have those kind of ports on my feeders and use pelleted feed, they're supposed to reduce waste and for mine they seem to. I hardly see any spillage. Is there maybe something wrong with the feed that they don't like it? Does it smell fresh? What kind is it, maybe include a picture of the label with the analysis. Eating old spilled and possibly moldy food would not be good for them. Leaving spilled feed also draws rats, mice, raccoons, possum so that's no good. When I transitioned them from grower crumble to the pellets I got one of those rubber trays and mixed pellets and a little water with a small amount of meal worms mixed in to get their attention to kind of make a mash. Added less and less water for a few days and pretty soon they were eating just the pellets no problem and not spilling.

 

[rcm1201]

I have those kind of ports on my feeders and use pelleted feed, they're supposed to reduce waste and for mine they seem to. I hardly see any spillage. Is there maybe something wrong with the feed that they don't like it? Does it smell fresh? What kind is it, maybe include a picture of the label with the analysis. Eating old spilled and possibly moldy food would not be good for them. Leaving spilled feed also draws rats, mice, raccoons, possum so that's no good. When I transitioned them from grower crumble to the pellets I got one of those rubber trays and mixed pellets and a little water with a small amount of meal worms mixed in to get their attention to kind of make a mash. Added less and less water for a few days and pretty soon they were eating just the pellets no problem and not spilling.

Its NatureWise, new and fresh - the spillage is intentional. They are like crack addicts with the scratch snack and I think I had some scratch mixed into their pellets so now they just empty the entire 5 gallon food container looking for the few morsels of scratch. That is my assumption.

 

[nuthatched]

Stop feeding the scratch, they know of they don't eat the pellets, you give them tasty snacks. They'll eat when they're hungry enough.

 

[Kiki]

My 7 chickens (5 are ~6 months and 2 are 3 years) won't eat the feed I provide them. They take it out of the 5 gallon bucket and spread it all over the run floor. They devour scratch like they haven't ate in days but I only give them a little in the evening as a snack. They are inside of an enclosed run without any free range as I live in a neighborhood. Is this a cause for concern or will the eventually start eating the food they spilled on the ground if they get hungry enough? These darn things wasted an entire 5 gallon bucket in a single day by throwing it all on the coop floor.

My feeder looks like this (not mine, just a representation). Haven't had any issues when they were on grower crumble.

Stop giving them a ratch.
Stop giving them all treats and they will eat their feed.

 

[Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies]

My chickens do this very lightly with their layer feed. I too have a feeder like that, but it's elevated so whenever they pull their fluffy heads out the feed just so happens to fall out onto the floor. Tips: Switch the treats to meal worms or just something as simple as a cherry tomato every now and then - leaves removed! As long as it doesn't resemble chicken food, they shouldn't think that there's scratch in the feeder somewhere. I hope this helps!

 

[Perris]

or you could try giving them some real food
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/