I can't get my chickens to eat fruits and veggies...

[collingwood]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[drumstick diva]

Collingwood will you be able to have chickens in Bali. Hope you will enjoy it there.

 

[drumstick diva]

Don't worry once you have a beautiful garden full of veggies, etc. your babies will decimate every one of them.

 

[JenergyLA]

Thanks guys! I'll just keep them strictly on their feed then. It's working - they are growing like weeds!!

 

[JenergyLA]

To the OP (Original Poster)...Chris09 knows his stuff about nutrition. And it makes sense...all of the 2 month old chicks we've had so far had little other interest than their feed. It wasn't until they were perhaps 4-6 months old that I recall them having interest in other foods like the ones you mention.

And if you start thinking, "Well that doesn't make sense, it doesn't seem natural...they wouldn't have this fancy formulated chicken feed in the wild..." then know that the modern day chickens are anything but natural. They're the product of generations of careful and selective breeding...breeding controlled by humans, breeding that would never likely occur if left to the chickens' own natural inclination. For example, many modern breeds have had the mothering instinct (the instinct for a hen to sit on a clutch of eggs to hatch them into chicks) bred out of them. Why? Because a broody hen (one sitting on the eggs) lays no eggs and often will not do so for weeks. A hen eating food but not producing any eggs is considered less desirable by many.

Wow - I just thought about this... There really isn't such a thing as a "wild" chicken, is there? They probably wouldn't be able to survive for very long in the wild...

 

[JenergyLA]

Don't worry once you have a beautiful garden full of veggies, etc.  your babies will decimate every one of them.

Haha! Yep! Already thinking of ways to prevent that. These birds can definitely fly higher than I anticipated!

 

[Chris09]

Wow - I just thought about this... There really isn't such a thing as a "wild" chicken, is there? They probably wouldn't be able to survive for very long in the wild...

There really isn't a "wild" chicken.
The closest wild relative to the chicken is a Jungle Fowl in which we bred chickens from.
Very few breeds today could survive in the wild or even truly free-range, most of the breeds that could survive in the wild with out mans hand are gamefowl type chickens.

 

[lovemy6hens]

Chick starter feed has everything they need, although they need chick grit mixed with it. Very important! It seems wrong to feed rocks to an animal, but grit is essential for chickens. Fruits & vegetables aren't necessary if they're eating proper chicken feed.
Try shredded cheese as a treat.

 

[Chris09]

Chick starter feed has everything they need, although they need chick grit mixed with it. Very important! It seems wrong to feed rocks to an animal, but grit is essential for chickens. Fruits & vegetables aren't necessary if they're eating proper chicken feed.
Try shredded cheese as a treat.

Grit isn't needed if all you feed is a chick starter (mash or crumble).

 

[lovemy6hens]

Correct. I should have added that clarification.