Fixing bad behavior? Help!

[BigBlueHen53]

True, but who wants to have to be in the coop at daylight and back at dusk to move the feeder and water? Bringing in the feed at night just means any vermin feed during the day. Doesn't stop feed theft, just changes the time of day the theft occurs.

Why is this so hard? DH goes out in the morning to open the coop to let the chickens out anyway, that's when he puts the feeders out and fills the water buckets. At dusk he goes out to lock up the coop, and that's when he puts the two feed buckets back in the well house and locks them up. No need to do anything with the waterers at night, they're in the run, not in the hen house. We don't seem to have vermin during the day, the dogs, cats and chickens themselves see to that.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You are blessed to have that luxury, so many of us are still working and schedules are packed with kids, work, education... no end to the demands on time.

In my opinion, not having the feed available 24/7 puts you at the mercy of the chickens, you aren't raising them, they are raising you. And the OP in this thread was super well intentioned but had no idea she was starving her flock and blamed the bad behavior on the chickens. Keeping the feed in front of the hens 24/7 eliminates so much trouble. But that is just my opinion.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You are blessed to have that luxury, so many of us are still working and schedules are packed with kids, work, education... no end to the demands on time

Thank you, I am truly blessed! My DH is still working though he just turned 70. We do still have kids at home as well, grandkids actually, young adults now,, and we are so blessed to have them. I don't know what I would do without them, with my health issues. We probably have the same or similar demands on our time and energies as everyone else but we care for our chickens in the ways that work best for us. As everybody must. What works for you, works for you. There is no "one way" or "right way" or "best way." I was only suggesting "our way" in case OP might find it helpful to her. Blessings.

 

[Altairsky]

Maybe I need to have a open feed system, but hey get plenty as is. And I can't afford for them to eat tons all day long.

You're starving your chickens. They need to have food available from sunrise to sunset.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Thanks for commiserating, but it's getting dangerous that someone is going to get injured with me trying to walk. And none what in my family want to get jumped all over, so noone will help me. I hope someone has ideas for us both. Maybe I need to have an open feed system, but hey get plenty as is. And I can't afford for them to eat tons all day long. Anything else?

This doesn’t mean you’re giving them extra feed. You’re taking some from what you’re trying to pour into their feeder and tossing it on the ground. Good exercise for them.

How much feed have you budgeted per bird per day? With mine, it averages out to a quarter cup per bird per day. (They also yard-range.)

If you can’t afford somewhere around this amount of quality, minimum 16% protein per bird per day, then either you don’t have enough feed or you have too many chickens. Find a way to buy more feed, or unload some chickens.

Hungry chickens will try to find ways to get enough nutrition, including eating each other (cannibalism.)

 

[Mother of Chaos]

General observation: several of my nine month olds (looking at YOU, Trudy!) will act as they if are on the verge of death. But when I give them feed, either dry or mash/fermented, they take a few bites, say “Meh”, and wander off to scratch around in the yard.

When they do this, it tells me that they weren’t hungry, just begging for treats.

But if they keep eating the feed, they were in fact hungry.

 

[McChooky]

Not 24/7 though. They don't eat or drink at night.

Depends on whether they have a light lol

 

[echo81577]

How much do you feed? It almost sounds like they're not getting enough to eat and that's why they're mobbing you.


I keep food in feeders all day so they can help themselves plus they free range a good part of the day to nibble on grasses, forage for bugs, etc. That's what chickens

You are blessed to have that luxury, so many of us are still working and schedules are packed with kids, work, education... no end to the demands on time.

In my opinion, not having the feed available 24/7 puts you at the mercy of the chickens, you aren't raising them, they are raising you. And the OP in this thread was super well intentioned but had no idea she was starving her flock and blamed the bad behavior on the chickens. Keeping the feed in front of the hens 24/7 eliminates so much trouble. But that is just my opinion.

Thank you to everyone who commented and gave their ideas and opinions. I am switching my feeding to the bobber buckets that I have on two other flocks who don't drive me crazy. Figured it was just because these other ones are young and didn't know better than to jump all over me and get in my way. I'm fairly certain they all have been getting enough food. If each bird needs only 1/2 cup of feed per day, they still should have been getting plenty. But still going to switch it up on your recommendations. I appreciate this group!