Chickens won't eat whole sunflower seeds

[Thomas W]

So i had about 10 sunflower plants, and the main reason I planted them was for my chickens. But when summer came and the sunflowers matured, I tried to feed them the whole seeds, but they would only eat them if I shelled them. I have hundreds of seeds, and that's a lot of work to shell all those seeds. Any suggestions to get them to eat whole seeds

 

[perchie.girl]

first of alll .... Shell a few.... crush a few.... and leave alot untouched. Put em in a bowl and let em have at it.

Sometimes difficult to feed them something new at first.

deb

 

[twilightgecko]

mine love sunflower seeds.. try putting them in something they love.. like a tomato half.. or a banana..

 

[jeria]

MMMM interesting, I am thinking of tossing sunflower seeds in next year around the sides of my run as they grow fast for shade. The hops I will be planting take a couple years to climb very high.

 

[centrarchid]

Make certain finches did not already extract the seed meats. Even my chicks at two weeks post-hatch will consume BOSS so something is up with the seed.

 

[lazy gardener]

OP states that he is shelling some of them, so, I'm thinking the seeds are mature, and have not been cleaned out by birds or weevils. I'm guessing the birds don't know what goodies lurk within.

 

[centrarchid]

Exploratory pecking / consumption quickly establishes to birds what items are good. That would be slowed if birds had prior negative experience with sunflower seeds.

 

[abbevilleoz]

Good morning Pondies!

 

[GC-Raptor]

My girls scoff em down like they were bugs. I think they think they are yummy bugs.. GC

 

[barred2rock]

Exploratory pecking / consumption quickly establishes to birds what items are good. That would be slowed if birds had prior negative experience with sunflower seeds.

Oh no! I think your chickens got mugged by a sunflower seed!