Chicks scream for wet food- do I give in?

[SuperC]

So, I think I have created little Diva Monsters . My apx 3 weeks old (give or take a few days) chicks scream at me for wet food and I’m torn between giving in and also making them learn that screaming for wet food (when they have endless supplies of dry food) won’t work. It’s the SAME STUFF, just damp! I’m not sure how to handle it. Do I cave and mix up wet mash 6x a day, or can I train them back to dry crumbles again?

For first few days I had my babies, they excitedly ate the dry crumbles and some powered oats (which I hand fed the oats). Then one day I made them a plate with the crumbles wet (thick wet not watery wet) and they LOVED IT! Cue the feeding frenzy. So I started giving it to them at dinner time as well at breakfast. They had a constant access to the food tray of dry stuff and happily ate at it, but they lived for the wet stuff that I gave every afternoon.

Then they started begging for the wet stuff- I say beg, but its more of a “every chick stands along the mesh wall & screams at me like they were teenage girls and I’m Elvis”. And if I walk close to the main food container near the cage it gets even more frantic(they are in a wire mesh brooder on a table in the kitchen area so they can see all we do) So in order to hush them up a bit, I started doing it around lunch time as well (Bad on me, I know, but I didn’t realize the monsters I was creating). Now, they will only peck at the dry crumbles and seem to scream at me for wet stuff first thing in the morning when they see me, when I’m making lunch and then again at dinner. Then again in the early evening at the “sundown” snack time. They are starting to demand it whenever they see me. Once I give them the plate of mash they all happily settle down and peep and peck for 30+ minutes, (& I always give them more than they can eat before it dries out so they are not under eating)

I homeschool & my husband works from home and so the 4-7 times a day mash chaos frantic yelling of 6 chicks is a lot. (We already have a constant screamer Anne, who we are tying to live with, but when 6 do it it becomes untenable).

I’ve tried ignoring it for 30+ minutes and leaving the area until they calm down (as to teach them I won’t cater to it), but it’s not practical for me to constantly wet down the food, serve on a clean plate (because they poo on the plate at some point and I don’t want to feed them off a dirty plate) and in a few weeks they will be out in the workshop getting ready to transition to the outdoors and I can be trudging up there multiple times a day for wet food feedings. But the endless loud calls for wet food isn’t a great living situation for any of us so I give in and feed them to shut thrm up and perpetuate the situation.

Any tips on how to reign them back in to dry food as the main source of food? They also get daily rations of homegrown lettuce, and a daily trip outdoors for some grass and weed pecking, and have grit and all that stuff- but all they want is wet crumbles. Any thoughts or tricks to simmer them back down and have them eat dry crumbles again?
Chick Photo for cuteness tax.

 

[RoyalChick]

My grown hens will murder for wet mash too. Long term it is good they like it as it is a convenient way to administer any supplements they might need over time.
When wet isn’t provided they will eat the dry if it is available.
I personally don’t think you should worry about them screaming at you. Give them the mash and watch them have fun knowing they are tanking up on good feed.

 

[DobieLover]

First of all, I would move them out to the coop and finish brooding them there. Then you won't hear the screaming and won't have to deal with all the dust. Ugh!

I feed dry starter/grower crumbles in long homemade troughs suspended from the run roof and feed fermented broiler mash in a heated dog bowl. I keep oyster shell on the side for the active layers. Year round. Nothing changes.

The fermented feed is always dove into first. Literally. Several hens will actually get in the bowl. But they all eat both and they are only fed once in the morning. Whatever is left when they go to roost is there when they come off in the morning.

Adding the dry powder that they leave behind in the troughs to the wet fermented mash is a great way to reduce waste as well.

 

[SuperC]

First of all, I would move them out to the coop and finish brooding them there. Then you won't hear the screaming and won't have to deal with all the dust. Ugh!

I feed dry starter/grower crumbles in long homemade troughs suspended from the run roof and feed fermented broiler mash in a heated dog bowl. I keep oyster shell on the side for the active layers. Year round. Nothing changes.

The fermented feed is always dove into first. Literally. Several hens will actually get in the bowl. But they all eat both and they are only fed once in the morning. Whatever is left when they go to roost is there when they come off in the morning.

Adding the dry powder that they leave behind in the troughs to the wet fermented mash is a great way to reduce waste as well.

Well, I can’t move them out yet- I’m building the coop from scratch and it’s not ready (& it’s too cold out here and they don’t have much in the way of feathers yet. Plus, i LOVE having them in the house- (minus the screaming). This is my first batch of chicks ever and I’m so in love that I even have a baby monitor to watch them when they go to bed and check on it a few times a night to make sure they are warm and cozy enough. Interestingly, I don’t have all the dust and mess everyone talks about. I buy the dust free wood and even after 3 weeks I don’t have a dust issue. But in 2ish weeks they go out for the workshop to finish off in a larger brooder for a few weeks before they go to the coop). But I need to get my coop moving along!

It’s my goal to feed them fermented food as the mainstay of their diet once they are a bit older (I don’t want that smell in the house! lol). I buy and use local raw milk for my family, and I will use that to ferment the feed with some ACV and will give them that as a main food source with dry food, scratch grains and some kitchen scraps as add ins when I feed them.

Thankfully with just 6 chicks the feed bill is low (I’m only 1/2 way thru a small bag of organic starter crumbles) but as they age I want to make sure we are keeping waste down.

 

[SuperC]

My grown hens will murder for wet mash too. Long term it is good they like it as it is a convenient way to administer any supplements they might need over time.
When wet isn’t provided they will eat the dry if it is available.
I personally don’t think you should worry about them screaming at you. Give them the mash and watch them have fun knowing they are tanking up on good feed.

I just don’t want to teach them to scream for stuff and not stop because they know it will work (like a flock of toddler tantrums ). But maybe it’s not worth the fight and should just feed them wet on demand

 

[NatJ]

I just don’t want to teach them to scream for stuff and not stop because they know it will work (like a flock of toddler tantrums ). But maybe it’s not worth the fight and should just feed them wet on demand

Personally, I would decide how often is convenient for you to give them wet food, do it that many times each day, and ignore the screaming the rest of the time.

As long as they have the dry feed available, they have the option to eat it rather than go hungry. At some point they probably will.

Maybe go down to once per day for the wet feed (morning or evening, but pick one and be consistent.) That will probably get them back to eating the dry food, because they will have enough hours each day to decide that they really are hungry enough to eat it.

 

[RoyalChick]

I just don’t want to teach them to scream for stuff and not stop because they know it will work (like a flock of toddler tantrums ). But maybe it’s not worth the fight and should just feed them wet on demand

I wouldn't do it on demand - I would do it when convenient for you.
As @NatJ said - do a morning and afternoon 'serving' and then ignore their screams the rest of the time.
I think you are overthinking the 'teaching' aspect to this. They will know that you are the source of all goodies and will mob you whenever they see you - pretty much whatever you do. My adults don't let me touch them - but they cluster around my feet whenever they see me in case I am about to deliver goodies. I actually don't deliver goodies that often, but they all remember that one time.
Do what is convenient for you and leave them dry food all the time.

 

[Penpal]

I would stop feeding them the wet food altogether for the time being. YOU are the alpha. Stop giving in. Give them dry and call it good. Getting the food wet brings out the flavor, so it tastes better. Fine, but give them dry until you are ready to give them adult food.

When they are off the baby food, if you decide to feed home mixed instead of commercial you can ferment it. Same thing happens, the fermented tastes better and they will ignore the dry until they are starving. For this reason, you will want to start with dry so they know it's food, then introduce fermented.

 

[K0k0shka]

They have trained you well Be strong, don’t give in. All of mine love wet mash, at any age. I have a mixed flock of several generations of chickens and they still get wet mash every day. BUT. Only once a day, and I decide when. Usually in the morning, to get it out of the way early. After that, they know there’s no more, so they don’t beg. When I have chicks in the house, I make sure to visit them often (I work from home). On one of those visits I give them wet mash, but on all the others I don’t, so they don’t come to associate my presence with wet mash necessarily. Once the mash is out of the way in the morning, they are calm the rest of the day and we can just hang out peacefully. I did the same with my cat. She knows when her feeding time is, and will meow your ear off, but the rest of the time she’s totally chill and doesn’t beg. Critters love a consistent routine.

 

[CathyChick]

Your post is hilarious. I got my first batch of chicks last Friday so am learning as well. I don't have an answer for you but thanks for the entertaining posts! I thought I was over the top being a new adopted mommy for these babies until reading about the baby monitor Not laughing at you, I'm really happy to read how much you love and care for them. I'm very much the same.