How long do you let them refuse to eat a new food?

[sommrluv]

We'd been feeding pellets, and my husband accidentally purchased mash the next food run. They demolished that nearly instantly, and two weeks later I replaced the correct feed. They are refusing to eat it, or at least aren't eating much of it. It's the same 20% pellets they had before, and I put whole shelled corn (small amount) and alfalfa in as well.

They seem to be extra competitive for treats right now, and have triply dug up their run. When I give them scratch and some pellets and corn outside, they only eat the scratch. I've been feeling their crops and they aren't as big as normal, but not neccessarily small. They are also eating quite a bit of hay in their coop....should I just leave them be, and assume they will eat it when they are hungry enough? The ground froze today and I'm concerned they are more stubborn than I assume...will they starve themselves?

 

[greathorse]

They are chickens they will eat.

What is your home town there in Bucks county. My ex is from there and I lived there for several years. We lived in Souderton and she grew up in Doylestown

 

[4-H chicken mom]

My hens just hated the pellets and wouldn't eat it. I had to put it in blender to crush it. Is there a reason why you don't just feed the crumbles?

 

[sommrluv]

Souderton is super close to me! As well as Doylestown. I'm a little north of there, in Hagersville. Small enough to not have a post office, gotta love Bucks County!


They were fed crumbles before (when juvenile) and wasted them. Also, at my local feed stores, I can't get anything about 15% in crumbles.

I'm thinking the mash mostly ended up on the floor too, but if 7 chickens ate 50 pounds in 2 weeks, I'm impressed! it took them at least 6 weeks or more to get through the 20% pellets...apparently because they hate them.

 

[greathorse]

That is why I feed pellets instead of mash. They seemed to waste so much more of the mash. They like to bill it out to get to the little bitty treats like corn and such. Pellets sort of forces them to eat the whole thing.

Bucks county is a beautiful place. I liked to imagine it before it became so densely populated. I (ex actually) aunt owns a property that was originally deeded to William Penn. It is very historic there. But I digress.

 

[sommrluv]

I'll give it a few more days before I become a sap and buy them something else.

We're fortunate (and blessed!) to live in an area that's not as bad, as some. I also back up to a huge farm, so that's nice. Many of the townships are now practicing "preservation" where they pay the farm an amount per acre and than the farm becomes deed restricted that it cannot be used for development.

Don't you just love the historic stuff behind the land?

 

[nanawendy]

Once I tripped going out of the coop, spilling some pellets. The girls jumped on it. I was surprised how fast they gobbled the pellets up.
Try using pellets like a treat. Maybe you can trick them???? Like pulverizing veggies and putting it in brownies for the kiddos.

 

[Baymen Moe]

I'd hold off on the treats for a few days, they'll come around.

 

[felidaet]

I agree with using the pellets like a treat for a couple of days. This is how I switched mine from starter crumbles to layer pellets.

 

[Kim_NC]

Yep, stop the treats and scratch, they'll get back to eating their pellets. Toss additional pellets to them at treat time. I agree, they're much too wasteful with crumbles and mash.

I grew up in Blair County, most of my family are there and in Huntingdon County. Used to travel through Bucks County regularly - went to college in Philadelphia. Small world!