My chickens do not eat much

[kappa]

Hi,
I have 5 chickens (Wyandotte) , when they were chicks, they were eating well. When they grew up they do not eat much. I tried several chicken feeds, cracked corn,....their crop is always empty. The only thing they zealously eat is grape vine leaves. I give them electrolytes and vitamins in water. I used organic dewormer. But still they are refrain from eating. They just eat a small amount and spill the food. They are very light but seems energic and normal.
What can I do to help them?

 

[rosemarythyme]

What feed are you using? Is it recently milled and still fresh smelling, not moldy or discolored?

If you remove ALL other options they should eat fresh feed even if they don't like it. That means stop with the grape leaves and corn. Electrolytes are not meant for continued use, same with vitamins, and there's no benefit in deworming if you don't have a worm issue (if you do, have you positively IDed the type of worm and treated appropriately for that type of worm?)

 

[50-45-1]

Hi, and welcome to BYC !
It would be helpful to know more about your chickens like age, are they laying eggs?
Are they free range or confined?
Where are you located in the world, and what feeds exactly have you tried?
I've never heard about feeding grape vine leaves. My chickens have a vineyard right next to their coop and compleetly ignore the leaves but will eat the grapes if they can reach them. Mostly they love picking tender grass.
Also cracked corn is not the best thing to feed them. More like a treet given occasionally.
If they are adults, laying eggs, acting normally, and wasting food, maybe they are fine. 4 chicken's won't eat much.

 

[BDutch]

It would be helpful to know more about your chickens like age, are they laying eggs?
Are they free range or confined?
Where are you located in the world, and what feeds exactly have you tried?

I’d like to see some photo’s too. And do you know the breed?
What kind of feeder do you use?.

Anti-spilling feeders with pellets, or deep bowls with crumble prevent a lot of spilling. Adding water to the left over in the bowl and add a little fresh crumble feed makes a good mash they like and prevents waste.

My hens like to eat fresh vine leaves too. They eat other greens like fresh grass clippings and some of the herbs and flowers in our garden too (we don’t use herbicides and pesticides). Chickens that free range know quite well whats good for them. If they can eat from sunrise till sunset and there is chicken feed available ( + grit) it should be fine. If hens don’t lay they don’t eat much and don’t need the calcium in layer feed.
I give mine the choice to eat layer pellets or chick feed (more protein, little calcium) since I have a mixed flock with old hens.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Adult full size hens should eat 1/4 pound per day of pellets or crumbles.

 

[BDutch]

Adult full size hens should eat 1/4 pound per day of pellets or crumbles.

Not if they free range.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Or if they are dead.
Or if a neighbor super glued their beak shut.
Or if the weird uncle took one for a "date".

I can think of a million scenarios where they might not.

The OP never mentioned free range. Just grape leaves with no mention as to how they happened to get to the leaves.

But the average chicken will eat a quarter pound of feed a day, pellets, grain, greens, bugs, maybe more styrofoam.....

 

[CabritaChicks]

Mine free-range, but I also mix wet pellets mid day with a bit of frozen peas or veggie chop, fruit, whatever is cold. As it defrosts, it stays cooler — a small mercy in this heat. Nights here hover around 85°F, with nonstop rain and humidity that most people couldn’t even imagine, plus triple-digit temp days- everyday for good measure.

God only knows what they snack on while they’re out roaming. I still get eggs pretty reliably — two hens, one egg a day (usually two). They’re all a bit on the thin side, though. During hurricanes or tropical waves, they’ll sometimes eat really light, and dont lay.

Have you actually weighed yours?
(easy to do- hold your chicken, stand on the scale, put chicken down, stand on scale and subtract the difference) which will give you a ballpark as they may be eating more than you think. Maybe they’re not burning as many calories and are more about grazing than gorging.