Need advice - hens avoiding feed while free ranging

[zinnia_flower]

Good morning! We need some advice - our 5 year old Wyandotte hens are reluctant to eat our feed (Mile Four layer feed, available all day and we even provide fermented feed in the AM to them) and are preferring to free range the backyard for their meals, and I am worried it may be causing health issues.

I don't want to overthink things, but I am trying to strike a balance between providing the balanced diet they need while trusting them to self-maintain and choose the right foods for their body. This said, I also know that they will happily ignore the food they SHOULD eat for the food they WANT to eat.

Two recent issues have kicked my concern regarding food into higher gear - one hen was acting a bit sluggish/slow a few weeks ago, and after no other issues to be found (checked for sour crop, no egg bound issues, all good), I fed her some scrambled egg and she perked right up (was she just hungry??). She regularly waltzes right past the feed container and any feed we throw out for her. Then, this morning, we found a mild prolapse issue in a different hen - and while oyster shell is always out and available, it makes me anxious that eating less feed means our prolapsed lady might have walked right into a reproductive issue due to insufficient calcium intake.

We have 6 Wyandotte hens who are just over 5 years old. They are in a mobile run with fencing that keeps them from tearing apart our vegetable garden and they usually have large swaths of the yard to run and explore at a time, and we move the fence every few weeks or so to keep the space fresh. Our yard is mostly garden, fruit tree guilds, bushes - lots to play and explore and lots of bugs in the wood chip paths. They are fed Mile Four layer feed and have grit/oyster shell available 24/7 - I started fermenting the feed a week or two ago to try to drum up feed interest, and they like it, but don't love it. They do eat the feed, especially in the winter, but are not eager about it anymore. We've gotten Mile Four for several years now.

I'm wondering about trying to fence them in a narrower run for longer during the day, which may force them to focus on eating their fermented feed, then letting them out to roam later. Or, am I just overthinking the health concerns, and a prolapse may be coincidental given that Wyandotte are moderate layers and she is getting older?

 

[nuthatched]

Have you checked to see if the feed is fresh?

 

[Altairsky]

The whole point of free ranging is to save money on feed so the less feed they eat the better.
If, instead, they starve themselves because they hate the feed, than the problem is the feed, not the chickens. Chickens know best.
I suggest to try a different feed, possibly an all flock with high protein content.

 

[zinnia_flower]

Have you checked to see if the feed is fresh?

Yes - refreshed and cleaned the containers. We did have an issue with some moldy feed a while back but we are all set now.

 

[zinnia_flower]

The whole point of free ranging is to save money on feed so the less feed they eat the better.
If, instead, they starve themselves because they hate the feed, than the problem is the feed, not the chickens. Chickens know best.
I suggest to try a different feed, possibly an all flock with high protein content.

Thank you!

 

[Perris]

our 5 year old Wyandotte hens are reluctant to eat our feed (Mile Four layer feed, available all day and we even provide fermented feed in the AM to them) and are preferring to free range the backyard for their meals

At this time of year the forage is at its best, both in quantity and quality (which is why wild birds breed now).

one hen was acting a bit sluggish/slow a few weeks ago, and after no other issues to be found (checked for sour crop, no egg bound issues, all good), I fed her some scrambled egg and she perked right up (was she just hungry??). She regularly waltzes right past the feed container and any feed we throw out for her

If she's waltzing past, she simply doesn't want what is on offer in the feed container and knows where she can find something better

we found a mild prolapse issue in a different hen

that's coincidental, and more to do with age and exercise than diet. People can prolapse too as they get older; things go south, as they say.

 

[iwltfum]

Spring is prolific in terms of chicken treats popping out of the ground - of both the plant and insect variety. I think yours are just getting everything they need. Sounds like your yard is perfect for that. A free choice container of oyster shells is always a good idea for laying hens if you don't already have one out. The thing is that chicken aliments often tend to show up in the spring too. They have spent all winter using up stored resources to keep warm. Winter is hard on chickens (at least in my climate which is slightly colder than average for the US). I have seen on more than one occasion, a chicken that seems to become sick in the spring, sometimes they bounce back, sometimes they don't

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

You’re feeding layer feed and oyster shell? That’s a lot of calcium for older hens. I would second switching to higher protein feed.

 

[RoyalChick]

I don’t know where you are located, but at least here in the NE of the US there are so many yummy things to find I am not surprised they don’t bother with commercial feed.
They are probably stuffed with insects and worms and grass seeds.
Egg is always a highly valued food because of the protein. You don’t say what % protein your feed is. I feed a 20% protein feed and mine are still eating it but much less so than when the forage is less abundant.
You could try switching to a higher protein feed and my guess is they will enjoy it more - but as long as you are free ranging them and you didn’t cover the back yard in concrete, I feel confident they are finding enough to eat.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

As others have commented, birds choosing to free range over commercial feed options is a benefit to you, and likely a benefit to the birds. By the description offered, you have a very varied pasture - good chance (particularly this time of year) that they birds are able to meet their needs primarily without need for the commercial feed.

I do the same, have for years. Still working on my pasture - but this time of year, I can "bend" my feed curve around 40%. I feed mine commercial feed once a day so I can monitor condition and see how much they are eating - let them feed themselves the rest of the day. Later in the year (earlier, rally, around late Jan, and pretty much all of Feb) I can *maybe* bend my feed curve 10% [hard to tell, because the goats go for the chicken feed too - and they shouldn't. Not good for them]