Hello - I goofed

[butterflygrl]

I've had my chickens for almost a year now.
4 sweet hens - one RiR (EE), one Plymouth barred rock, one white crested Polish, and one Americauna.
The 3 big girls lay consistently, The Polish (aka Stoopid) has never layed that I'm aware of.

I wasn't paying much attention when I got the last bag of feed, and got pellets instead of crumbles which they'd had previously. They don't seem to like the pellets at all.
I also got them some 5 grain Scratch. This is also, eaten half heartedly. (It's been cold for SE Texas, I wanted to give them the Scratch for a little extra warmth).

Short of grinding up 50 lbs of pellets (not going to happen), is there anything I can do? It seems that they're doing just fine on the back yard bugs at the moment.

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

Glad you joined the flock! A few years go I bought some pellets for my chicks that turned out to be way too big for them to eat. We worked around that by wetting the pellets. It softens up within minutes of you adding the water (just a bit of water will do) and you can then quickly turn it into more appealing "crumbles" by stirring it and breaking it up. The things we do for our fussy birds?

Enjoy the site!

 

[appps]

If you add warm water they really love it. Makes a nice winter treat

You could also try mixing them with their regular crumble to help them get used to it.

 

[rebrascora]

Why not try fermenting both the pellets and the scratch grains. I've been doing this for a few weeks now and my chickens are loving it.... laying/breeding flock and cockerels being fattened up for meat.

 

[theoldchick]

Howdy! I like the water-softening idea. Have fun with your chickens!

 

[sunflour]

Glad you joined us. Hope the water softening works.

 

[ChickyChickens]

Welcome to BYC!!! There are loads of members on here…so if you have ANY questions…just ASK!!!

Hope you have loads of fun and all your answers answered here on BYC the BEST CHICKEN KEEPING FORUM on EARTH!!

 

[Wyandottes7]

Welcome to BYC!

I'm glad you joined.

Moistening the feed should definitely help. My chickens like crumbles more than pellets, though they still eat the pellets.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm glad you joined us!

I'd would try moistening the feed, like the other posters suggested. My chickens will eat both crumbles and pellets, but they definitely prefer the crumbles.

Good luck with your chickens!