Guineas refuse to eat out of anything but chick feeder

[The Lisser]

My keets are starting to get their adult feathering. About a month ago, I put an open bowl in for them in addition to their red chick feeder. (The chick feeder is one of the long ones with multiple holes in it) They did not touch the food in the bowl - and I left it there for a week! I even let the food in the chick feeder run out and they still wouldn't eat from the other bowl.

A couple days ago I opened the chick feeder, cause it looks like their heads are getting too big to fit in the holes. I mounded the crumbles up. The next day when I checked on them, THEY HAD NOT TOUCHED IT. Same feeder, but because I had opened the lid, they didn't eat it.

So how on earth am I going to get them to use anything but a chick feeder???

Thanks!
Melissa

 

[Debbi]

I don't have Guineas, but I plan on getting some in the future. This may be crazy, but do you suppose they are attracted to the "red" of the chick feeder? Maybe if you took away the feeder, and put their food in a red bowl they would associate it with food? Just a thought..

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Seriously, did you tap the bowl?

Try a red bowl or plate. Put some food on it. Talk "sweet" to them and tap the bowl with index or middle finger. For a minute pretend to be the Momma saying "Lookie! A yummy! A goody!" Tone of voice and mind set can do a lot. My mother got their dog to take his pills every day by pretending they were the most wonderful thing in the world. Buddy couldn't WAIT to slobber down those pills. Besides, he knew there was a dog "cookie" (treat) for him after that.

What's a treat that guineas will go nuts for? Put that on the red plate with the chick crumbles. I've got my first two guineas, so I'd like treat ideas too, but don't want to highjack the thread.

 

[cracking up]

The first time I changed my guineas feeder they huddled in a corner and I thought they would starve. They were in with chickens and after a couple of days they realized the chickens were eating and they weren't. I don't think they are that bad any more since they're adults.

 

[flgardengirl]

I hear ya. I gave the chicks and guinea keets some watermelon on a plate yesterday and the guineas would have nothing to do with that plate lol. If some watermelon happened to be dropped on the ground by one of the chicks then it was okay and the guineas would eat it. They are just too wierd!!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

That is weird! The same thing happened to me!
Ever since they were babies I've fed them out of a red feeder, then their heads started getting too big to eat out of the feeder, so I opened the lid and they freaked out! They wouldn't go near it for like 2 hours! Finally they started eating out of it. I think they can tell if something changes.

 

[flgardengirl]

Yes it seems like they are hyper alert to anything different of new in thier surroundings. I put some new chicks about the same age in with the guineas and the chicks they are with the other day. Usually the guineas just run around in a group totally ignoring the chickens so I figured they probably wouldn't care if I added a few more. Wrong! The chickens couldn't care less about the new arrivals. But a couple of the guineas noticed right away and one started puffing itself up and fanned its wing feathers up vertically and started running sideways at the new chicks. That really freaked me out because they looked Fierce that way lol. So I took the new chicks out for now until I think of something else.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Ugh, that stinks. I wonder if they would really hurt the chicks or not? It's the other way around here. The chickens rule, not the guineas.

 

[The Lisser]

My guineas are quite a bit younger than my chickens - just moved the guineas out to the new chicken tractor last week so they can "meet and greet" across the fencing. Apparently their new "strategy" (if they are capable of one) is to knock the feeder over so they can eat the crumbles off the ground! Silly birds.

Hopefully once I let them free range with the chickens they will learn to eat from other feeders.

Thanks for all your input, everyone!

Melissa