My hens won't eat anything other than regular feed

[Foxinthehenhouse]

Two young pullets on their own don’t have older hens to learn from. If it’s that important that they eat your treats maybe take a small slice of watermelon and press some of their feed on top of it and scatter a little around it. They might get a taste of it when they pick their food out! Good luck.

 

[Diesel69er]

I'm a backyard chicken newbie. I have two hens around 7 and 10 weeks old. I have them on the grower feed. I've read that chickens love watermelon on hot days, so I put a slice of watermelon in there, and they didn't even touch it. I also read that they like tomatoes and I threw some in there as well. The hens also completely ignored those.

Any thoughts?

Keep up the good work and they will eventually decide for themselves
My young flock of eight were very finicky about what they chose to eat
They now are big fans of apples,tomatoes,watermelo, grapes, and so many more
Have fun and enjoy while they are small

 

[RebelEgger]

Exactly. Even the moles on my arms they peck at. Maybe they think that we're just walking smorgasboards. (excuse my horrendous spelling)

Yup leg freckles are fair game lol

 

[Unsworth]

what about leftover cooked rice?................the wife always cooks too much!

If it is cooked with salt I would not give it to them myself. Too much salt can be harmful to chickens. In my post about oatmeal above I cook it just for the chickens without any salt.

 

[Sea Wolf]

The grower feed is what they need. It is a full and balanced diet. They do not need the addition of anything else. Adding other things can also easily screw up the nutrition balance of that feed. My birds do not get anything other than their feed. They free range once or twice a week only. Very small amounts of treats are saved for hand feeding only.

 

[CJONESFAY]

I'm a backyard chicken newbie. I have two hens around 7 and 10 weeks old. I have them on the grower feed. I've read that chickens love watermelon on hot days, so I put a slice of watermelon in there, and they didn't even touch it. I also read that they like tomatoes and I threw some in there as well. The hens also completely ignored those.

Any thoughts?

my birds always get with it when I introduce them to mealy worms....kind of like chicken cocaine lol even new babies that are slow to respond

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

You’ll see the full range of opinions in this site (“nothing but commercial feed” to “what’s commercial feed?”). You can have healthy, happy chicken anywhere on that spectrum if you do it right.

I’ll agree with others that say try again and give it time. A 3-5 week old chick and an 8-10 week old chick are very different animals - think about the difference if you gave a whole pizza to an infant vs a teenager - so patience is key.

 

[MaryAlisa]

Hi, I got my first chickens from a breeder this spring and apparently they had never eaten anything other than pellets/crumbles. I let them go free range hoping they'd eat insects but they refused. Slowly over a few months I trained them by putting lettuce in their feeder. I put bugs in their feeder and they acted grossed out I put out yummy food scraps and sprinkled their pellets on top, and that seemed to help. Slowly. What really made a difference was when I got two new pullets from a place where they had already ranged and learned to eat bugs. The little ones have taught the older and now they're a great team and clearing my yard of grasshoppers and earwigs. I also limited their pellets during the day so they are motivated to forage. Good luck!

 

[gocyndygo]

Exactly. Even the moles on my arms they peck at. Maybe they think that we're just walking smorgasboards. (excuse my horrendous spelling)

I know what you mean! I have a pair of shorts with paint stains on them, my chickees will peck at those, as well as any marks on my legs. They also love my 4Ocean bracelet. I have to "peck" them on the head with my finger tip sometimes to get them to leave me alone!

 

[gocyndygo]

In regards to getting them to try new food, we have found a good trick- we "peck" at it with our finger, imitating how a chicken pecks to eat. I really think this works because they think of us as just really large chickens. They watch us and think "oh, THAT'S what I'm supposed to do!"