How did you get your chickens to eat new food?

[AChickenBoi]

I recently got two bags of chicken feed, one all-flock, and the other, flock raiser. I got them for Blue since it’s much better for him than the usual canned fruits and veggies he’s had for a long time. He’s roughly one and a half, maybe two years old, and has scissor beak. He also recently got a bacterial infection, and needs to eat better food if he’s going to pull through.

I’ve mixed all-flock and flock raiser into a bowl before watering it into a mesh. He doesn’t eat much of it, no matter it being watery or more thick in consistency. I’ve tried tricking him into eating it by putting a thin layer of scratch on top, but I’m sure that he is smart enough to realize the whole bowl isnt scratch at one point.

How do you get a picky chicken to eat a new kind of food? Should I slowly convert him over using food he’s familiar with already? Is there a certain trick to it I’m not familiar with yet?

 

[sourland]

It takes/will take time because chickens hate change. Adding some of his favorites should help.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I would just force-feed him/her till they learn to like it.

 

[CHlCKEN]

try transitioning slowly. Mix whatever it was he used to eat, with this new food, and slowly take away the old food. Over time, he’ll get used to it. When my hen Joy was sick, she refused to eat pellet feed. I bought the new feed because it would help her get stronger, but she wouldn’t touch it. I figured out she did want to eat, but she couldn’t eat it. She would eat the little crumbs within the pellets instead, so when I saw her do this, I went to the kitchen and smashed up her food. Once I’d done that, she was feasting. Your Roo could have a simaler situation. With his scissor beak, pellets might not be easy to eat (I don’t know if you have pellets or not, I’m just saying this if you do) for him to pick up and eat. Crumbling that, or buying a crumbled feed, would make it easy for him.

However, that might not be the case. It probably isn’t either. I think if you just transition him off his old food slowly, that you will have success.

 

[AChickenBoi]

I would just force-feed him/her till they learn to like it.

But how do you force feed a chicken with scissor beak? It’s super hard for me to pry open his beak comfortably to get something in (the food is also really crumbly and is a nightmare to handle) and I don’t want to hurt him and make his current situation worse.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

It is hard to explain try U tubing it? If that does not work then I will try to post a video

 

[AChickenBoi]

It is hard to explain try U tubing it? If that does not work then I will try to post a video

I couldn’t find any videos that showed how to open a cross-beak. A family member says I probably shouldn’t try to force open his beak since he’s also sick right now, but I really Don’t know what to do exactly since he’s slowly starting to get better and I don’t want to hinder his recovery.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Oh yeah if it is sick then force feeding could make things worse.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I only force-feed if they don't eat and are to skinny, force feeding a sick bird would def make things worse.