I started mine out with the feeder and they've never had an issue with eating from it (them, I have two). Sprinkle a bit of chick food around the feeder and they'll peck at that and then try what's in the feeder. Once they see how much easier eating from a feeder is they won't go back. I'm actually thinking about removing the feeders for half a day to encourage them to eat what they've managed to toss out of the feeder, but probably not. Sometimes they eat what's on the floor. Some of them are lazy and lay down and eat from the feeder. That only lasts until one of the others decides it needs to eat from THAT feeder hole and not one of the other seven. Also, once one of your chicks eats from the feeder the rest will too.
