Help! My rescued chick has been very spoiled and does not eat his feed!

[Lilianka]

Hello everybody!

I'm new here and although I have raised some chicks in the past (like ten years ago) now reading BYC I know that I was doing it wrong. Currently I am raising a baby chick (three month old) who was rescued from a premature dead. He was hit with something that left him unable to walk for almost a week as he was probably two weeks old.

My bf and I rescued him (his previous owner didn't care at all what could happen to him) and we started to give him leftovers of our own food. We bought him feed and corn, but he barely ate some grains of corn and refuse to eat the feed. All he ate (and still eats) is leftovers from our human cooked food (quinoa, cheese, jam, cooked rice, cooked beans, tomatoes, cooked peas and carrots).
He even rubs his beak with the ground if he mistakenly eats a grain of feed. We tried with two different brands and still didn't like it. We do not know what to do as he had had some diarrea from eating some foods like tomatoes.

He is a pet for us and currently he is our only chick (he is kind of lonely now). We will be moving next year to a bigger place with space for free range him and give him more company but for now it is not an option. We do not want to give him away as we know he would be eaten for the holidays!

We laid a tray with grit so he could have some in his little belly to eat grains like the feed or the corn, but still he refuses to eat his feed (he eats grit though)

Have you ever had some problem such as this? Please help!


Thank you!

 

[TillyPeeps]

I'm no expert, but I suggest you try to ferment your chicken feed. Here is a website having lots of details of fermented feed:
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html

You may also get some dandelions and grasses for him to try. If he likes it, you can continue feed him and even try fodder feed. Here is some information about fodder feed:
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/growing-sprouted-fodder/72618

 

[Lilianka]

Thank you!! I will check it out!

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

First of all, Welcome!!!

I think like any animal, if they get hungry enough, they will eat what you have provided. however, once you start to spoil an animal, it's so hard to stop! Not only hard for them ,but hard for you! I only speak from experience lol!! I have had some sick babies so I have been experimenting with ways to entice them to eat their crumbles. I find making a mash by soaking the feed in water for a bit makes their feed 10 times more appealing to them for some reason. I have also been adding yogurt for probiotics. I discovered that chickens will do just about anything for some yogurt. You may start by giving him some yogurt by itself, see if he likes it (I think what i have now is the greek gods brand probiotic unflavored original yogurt ). I have a feeling he will. My sick hen was eating yogurt but not her crumbles, so i started sprinkling the crumbles on top of the yogurt. Then I started mixing it. She now devours it like she has not eaten in weeks. My cage full of baby chicks are the same way. They have a feeder that has been full of dry crumbles for 2 weeks now, they won't touch it. But as soon as i bring out the wet mash yogurt mix, they literally go nuts tripping over each other to get to it, you'd think I starve them if you were to see it. Maybe you could offer a wet mash with some of his favorite foods cut into small pieces and sprinkled on top, or mixed in with the mash, or start with sprinkles then graduate to mixed in. He is going to have to peck at the mash to get what he wants, and maybe if you mix it with yogurt he will find it irresistible. I really feel like you will have better luck with wet mash than dry. i would start slow tho, maybe you can trick him into liking the mash!

Personally, I can't blame him, if I had to eat those crumbles or people food, I would definitely pick the people food. But people food will probably not provide all the nutrients he will need, so its in his best interest to find a happy balance between the two. I wouldnt say cut out the "table scraps" but I would definitely try to gradually wean him off of them to an extent, to where at least most of his nutrition comes from his feed.

I'm by far no expert, but I hope that my advice maybe helps you at least a little.

 

[Lilianka]

Thanx you Mesofruffeh! I will try it out and then post his progress Yeah he is such a sweety can't help but to spoile him

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

Thanx you Mesofruffeh! I will try it out and then post his progress

Yeah he is such a sweety can't help but to spoile him

You are welcome, I hope you find something that works for you!! Keep us posted and good luck!