- Oct 16, 2012
- 17
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Hi, I currently have 7 one-week-old chicks (from the same clutch) living inside with their mum. For the first few days they were fine with eating the mash I provided them with, but since then they haven't been eating much of it. They still make plenty of 'hungry' cheeping noises and the mum is doing what seems like her 'I'm trying, darlings' cluck most of the day .. It's like she doesn't see the mash as appropriate 'food' and is constantly trying to find other morsels for them. Because they live with her, basically the only thing they eat is what she clucks at, so the organic mash sits by not getting eaten!
Has anyone experienced similar problems? What do I do to get them eating the mash? With encouragement they will pick at it for a bit, then get bored and look for something else. I don't want to separate the mum her from her babies, I want that to happen when she is ready ..
She feeds them grass when let outside (their enclosure is right near the back door), but I get the feeling what she's really looking for is creepy crawlies, which there isn't much of in that area of the yard, and they don't seem to want to stray too far ..
Has anyone experienced similar problems? What do I do to get them eating the mash? With encouragement they will pick at it for a bit, then get bored and look for something else. I don't want to separate the mum her from her babies, I want that to happen when she is ready ..
She feeds them grass when let outside (their enclosure is right near the back door), but I get the feeling what she's really looking for is creepy crawlies, which there isn't much of in that area of the yard, and they don't seem to want to stray too far ..