Deep litter method

[denimangle]

I have lots of leaves & wood shavings should a 2" layer be a good start?

 

[armorfirelady]

I have lots of leaves & wood shavings should a 2" layer be a good start?

Yes. You can also bag leaves, pine needles, grass to use through the winter. Just be sure to poke some holes in the bad if they are wet so they dont mold

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I know! I've tried various things mentioned here and all they eat is raisins. They are still fairly young so I hope someday they realize they are missing out! and nope, small yard, lol!

Well, your hens will be healthier for not eating treats. But if you want, try soft things like an over ripe banana or persimmon. Or meal worms. Who's hen doesn't LOVE LOVE LOVE meal worms.

 

[schnebbles]

oh, ya, they do like those mealworms! I have a big tub of them (well, mostly beetles right now).

they didn't even like watermelon

 

[Beekissed]

Overfed, most likely...most any chicken will eat most anything that is edible if it's not too overfed. Chickens are opportunistic eaters and will eat almost anything if given the opportunity...but if they have continuous feeds and they can graze a feeder all the time, they will take that opportunity as the easiest one.

 

[schnebbles]

They do have food in the coop all the time but I guess I'm not out all the time to see if they go in during the day to eat. I never would have imagined overfeeding, hmmm. I've put various leftovers out that people say chickens like but they just look and ignore!

 

[Beekissed]

Take the feed out after they have had breakfast in the morning and leave it out until evening...then give them some kind of scraps or other kind of food they don't normally touch and see what happens. Could be they just might be hungry enough to try something other than feed.

My chickens get fed once a day and no more. They free range all day for whatever else they can find..and I do mean whatever they can find.

And don't waste time feeling sorry for them because they are hugely fat when they are processed. They will eat snakes, lizards, toads, kitchen scraps of any kind except onions and potato peelings, dropped fruit, grasses of all kinds, and will even eat pieces of their flock mates on processing day...like today. They will pick deer carcasses like a group of buzzards.

I don't know that I've ever had a chicken that wouldn't grab at anything that resembles food and fight for it among themselves. Watermelon is like crack cocaine to them and they will eat it clear down to the skin and just leave a thin,green piece of skin lying there on the ground. Rotten pumpkins are treated in much the same manner...like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Take the feed out after they have had breakfast in the morning and leave it out until evening...then give them some kind of scraps or other kind of food they don't normally touch and see what happens. Could be they just might be hungry enough to try something other than feed.

My chickens get fed once a day and no more. They free range all day for whatever else they can find..and I do mean whatever they can find.

And don't waste time feeling sorry for them because they are hugely fat when they are processed. They will eat snakes, lizards, toads, kitchen scraps of any kind except onions and potato peelings, dropped fruit, grasses of all kinds, and will even eat pieces of their flock mates on processing day...like today. They will pick deer carcasses like a group of buzzards.

I don't know that I've ever had a chicken that wouldn't grab at anything that resembles food and fight for it among themselves. Watermelon is like crack cocaine to them and they will eat it clear down to the skin and just leave a thin,green piece of skin lying there on the ground. Rotten pumpkins are treated in much the same manner...like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

lol I had to share a pic of a watermelon rind mine cleaned. lol Every one laughed about it. It was a hoot!

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Bagged up 8 lawn & leaf trash bags worth of dry leaves today. DH and I have it down to a fine science. We take a leaf blower and get them all in one spot. He then takes the mulching push mower with a grass catching bag on the back and runs over them. Two full grass catching bags = one lawn & leaf bag of leaves. Threw the filled bags in the old coop to store them until the girls need them. That should hold them for a while.

And not a moment too soon as it began to pour rain a few hours after we were done. Whew!

 

[denimangle]

thanks for your reply
good to hear pine needles I have a lot of them too