My chicken not eating hen scratch

[jbh]

Hi guys,

I have 4 chicks (maybe 10 weeks) and their mother hen. I used to give them hen scratch (mixture of broken grains) that I got from the feed store and they used to eat that. But I also gave them our leftover food (rice, bread, coked vegetables etc.) and now-a-days they only want to eat that. If we are out of leftovers and give them hen-scratch, they do not seem interested. How do I get them to ry hen-scratch again?

Thanks.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Chickens are smarter than we give them credit for. The hen and chicks know that the scratch grain is not a balanced meal.
You need to buy them a mixture of many grains or buy a pelleted food, which I myself despise and my birds will not eat.

My chickens eat left overs we throw outside but with more than 60 birds running over to check out what is thrown out they do not get much to gobble down.

I have laying mash and chick starter in hoppers and pans all over the barnyard and inside the coop for proper nourishment. My flock will also free range and this time of year there are so many bugs and seeds available around the farm they do not eat much of the mash or starter.

Just plain scratch is often only a bit of wheat or oats and some cracked corn. Corn is okay in the winter as a filler snack but if it is cracked it holds no nutrition. I do buy a 5 grain scratch to give to mine as a treat every other day and it has more popcorn than actual big whole corn in it. But in the summer corn is a "hot" food and they do not eat it.
It is great to sprout here and they like the sprouts.