My girls have stopped eating their food.

[Goldie56]

Hi, I have had my 4 girls for 3 months and while I was away for a month we had 8 tiny eggs on consecutive days. I come back and find that the feed had got wet as the person looking after them had left lid off container and the feed went off. I bought new feed from another supplier and they wont touch it. It is quite different. Now all they eat is grass and insects. How do I get them to eat the new feed? I am not able to pen them away from the grass. One of the girls laid 2x 60 gram eggs( both double yolkers) and now no eggs for about a week. Also I found on 2 alternate days laid in the dust an egg without a shell, attached to an egg with out a membrane just the yolk and white. It was attached with a white cord like structure. Could this be related to their not eating the feed? Otherwise they seem healthy and they are quite beautiful. Thanks for any help.

 

[Judy]

Sounds like they felt stressed. Nothing wrong with grass and insects: nature's chicken food. Continue with fresh food and water. Give them some time to figure out that you will provide good stuff. Talk to them. Remember we don't see the odd eggs that chickens can make in the grocery store. If they look healthy, as you say, relax and let them adjust. Bet they will do fine in time.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Do you have any food that they like? Any kind of scratch grains, scraps from the kitchen or treats that they've had before and like? If so, just put some of the new food and some of whatever they like in a pan or bowl and give it to them. That may get them to eat it a little sooner.

Chickens often don't like to try new things. Other times, mine just like some chicken feed more than others. Eventually, most chickens will eat most foods.

It would probably be a good idea to offer some oyster shell in a bowl for them, since they aren't getting the calcium from a complete feed right now. It's a good idea for any chickens that free range or get fed extra foods.