I have a 10 month old Silkie Pullet that's raising chicks for the first time. She incubated two of them and I incubated one inside, that was added to her brood on their very first evening. The chicks are a week old and they're Dutch Bantams. I have her and her chicks inside, to keep things calm for her. They do get trips outside but she generally seems much happier inside without any stress. I feel like she's not eating enough and she's losing weight. She's constantly scratching around, finding food, and feeding her chicks, but I don't see her eat, other than the 3 Blueberries she ate yesterday. I want to add that I grind up Purina Flock Raiser for the chicks since they're so small, but she still goes through it for them. I also have Purina Flock Raiser Crumbles in a chick feeder for her. The amount of feed in the feeder has decreased, but there's a lot on the floor of the brooder. I boiled egg for her this evening since it's a favorite of the entire flock, but she flipped out when I took her out of the brooder to eat and she wouldn't do anything but try to get back into the brooder or whenever I held her, constantly trying to see them. I tried offering the boiled egg to her in the brooder and she didn't eat any, only offered it to them. I wasn't planning on them getting any of it since they're still so young and small. Chick Grit seems too large for them. I know this sounds horrible of me, but I offered her a tiny piece of the cookie part of a Vienna Finger because she has stolen a bite before and LOVED it, but unfortunately she only offered it to her chicks. Is this normal behavior for a pullet raising chicks? What can I do to help her but not stress her out?
