My girls are picky!!! Suggestions?

[court1983]

Hello all, are my girls being picky or what?!? I have offered my four girls oyster shell pieces, and they are not eating it at all. Are they being picky or are they not sure what it is? I do not want my eggs to break easily when they lay. I have offered other things as well like veggie scraps, oatmeal, and other things, and they ate a very little of the oatmeal and that is it. They will not touch anything I offer except for their original food that I have gave from day one. Any suggestions?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

How old are your birds. When mine were very young they didn't want ( actually seemed afraid of) new food. If they are laying age, it is my understanding that all they really need is layer feed to produce healthy eggs. I still offer mine oyster grit in a bowl that they can have at their leisure. If they are not laying yet, I would not be concerned. Also, if this is your first experience, don't be shocked to find "weird" eggs when they do start laying. It takes a while for their system to get it right sometimes. We had eggs with no shell, eggs with thin shells, shells with no eggs, double yolks, all kinds of weird things for the first couple of months after they started. Now they have been laying beautiful eggs with no oddities for about a year. Good luck!

 

[court1983]

They are 16-17 weeks

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I would not worry about them not eating other foods or the oyster shells just yet. Leave it available and they will be curious and find it eventually. It is my understanding that 24 weeks is more or less when they should start laying, some do start earlier depending on breed. Keep trying with the "treats". Ours love tomatoes and watermellon and cantalope. Also, we "bake" (to dry) our egg shells, crumble them up and feed them to the chickens. They see it as a treat and it reintroduces calcium into their system.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

My birds are the same way! They are even the same age as yours.

If you give them a bug or some berries, they turn their beaks up at them and look at you like you're crazy!

 

[donrae]

Your birds don't need the oyster shell yet. Young layers rarely do, they have plenty of calcium already stored. Older, high production layers are the ones who need more supplemental calcium. Even then, they don't usually eat much, like a piece or two.

Not to say you won't have funky shells when your birds first start laying, that's just part of their bodies learning how th regulate things. Thin shells, no shells, shells with funky lumps and bumps, no yolks, double yolks, etc are all normal for a new layer. No feed or supplement is going to stop that.

 

[court1983]

You are so right sk8inChick(en)!! You could not have described that any better!