My hens finally starting laying BUT....

[mamaschicks]

My 3 hens are 6 mos old and all are laying almost every day, their eggs have thick shells, orange yolks and seem healthy. My question is... my hens seem thin since they started laying and do not eat their laying feed at all. They free range in my backyard for a few hours a day (on a 1/2 acre) eating whatever they find, plus I usually scatter scratch, flock block and wild bird seed in their run when they aren't running around my yard. We give them scrambled eggs or meat (steak, turkey or chicken) nearly everyday.

So my question is: should I be worried they aren't eating their feed? I even tried mixing it with oatmeal and seeds, even sometimes adding water. THEY JUST LOOK AT IT...THEN LOOK AT ME, LIKE "I'M NOT EATING THIS MUSH"..SAY A FEW SOUNDS TO EACHOTHER... AND WALK AWAY!!

I swear...sometimes I think they are so snobby!!!

Ugh!!

 

[wastintime202]

I thought the same thing about my young hens last year when they started laying..but they filled out well..sounds like your hens may be full..they will eat when they are hungry... and then start filling out more..my smallest hens lay the biggest eggs..go figure.

 

[NovaAman]

I had to switch mine to crumbles. They hated the pellets... Picky little buggers.

 

[Back on the Farm]

Mine free range in the fall, winter, & early spring... their feed consumption goes way down. I think that they find all sorts of goodies when they free range that they don't need as much layer feed. I have to pen them up in the run during the summer because they'll destroy my veggie & flower gardens - worms and bugs are worms and bugs and they don't care if they are standing in the middle of my tomato patch

During the summer they eat a lot of layer feed. I've been giving them crumbles forever and once I got a bag of pellets - they weren't happy with me and scratched most of it out of the feeder, so I give them crumbles and some scratch. They've been fine.