Liquid Calcium - help please!

[casportpony]

There is no good reason to give methadone to a chicken, period.

-Kathy

 

[tridentk9]

There is no good reason to give methadone to a chicken, period.

-Kathy

Agree.
Though maybe it's the wrong word, spell check hits again?. DYAC.

 

[KayTee]

He said that in the mean time he can only suggest removing all other fodder (grains, corn etc) from the coop and locking them in there with the layers pellets and nothing else until they 'develop a taste for them!' ie: "Eat the darn pellets!"

I suspect that the grain they do eat, combined with them refusing to eat the layers pellets and grit, is contributing to the problem.

I agree with casportpony and the others - making the pellets into a mash by adding warm water makes all the difference!

I have been giving my girls pellets for 2 years, and they ate a bit every day, but "meh - only when we're really hungry"!! A bowl of feed would last an age, especially if there was seed on the ground around the wild bird feeder.

Then I had a sick girl, and put some pellets in warm water to make a mash for her to eat. I put it out on the ground for her, thinking that no-one else would be interested - it lasted 5 minutes when the other girls found it!I

I now give them all a bowl of mash in the morning when they come out, and another at around 5pm. Both disappear rapidly! Admittedly I'm getting through more feed than I used to, but I'm sure that they are a lot less at risk from vitamin and other deficiencies, as they are eating more of a balanced diet, and the cost of feed (1€ - 1.50€ a week) is far outweighed by the number of eggs I get, so I don't mind at all!

 

[krista74]

Hi all,

Well, I've removed all the grain and corn from their coop which they LOVE and have replaced it all with the pellets, which they HATE! They are locked inside the coop (6.40am here at the moment) and they have two choices - eat the pellets or eat each other!

They were watching me very closely last night as I removed all the 'good stuff', and George the Rooster (bless his heart) saw that I had put out something different to eat (the pellets).

He came running over, and did his loud "book-book-book" sound to alert the girls there was a new tasty treat. They, of course, came running. A brief investigation ensued, followed by a weary look at George who had CLEARLY failed to provide a delicious treat, and they all went back outside to free-range and find some REAL food, lol.

This morning I have an appointment to go to, so they are all locked in there until 1pm, when they will be let out to free-range. I am hoping and praying that the urge to eat the pellets and save themselves from starvation triumphs! The liquid calcium is in the mail and should arrive in a week or so (we are in the middle of no-where here) so I'll keep you all updated on how it works in due course.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I will start mashing the pellets with some warm water if the chickens win round 1, ha ha!

And NO, I would NEVER give my birds methadone, nor would I feed them soap.

- Krista

 

[seminolewind]

Whenever I want someone to eat more, I give them mush.
I had tried pellets at one point until I saw a few in the stool and went back to crumbles because I didn't want pellets passing thru undigested.
But other people like them just fine, and their chickens do fine on them.