Not happy with the feed store today!

[Judy]

They'll eat when they get hungry. A little of it ground up on top of the pellets might get them started quicker, or wetting a little and putting that on top of the pellets. Never heard of a flock eating nothing for a week when presented with pellets, bet they were finding other food.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

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Wow those are some determined girls!!!!

 

[EweSheep]

I'm guessing it's the swallowing issues. Who wants to pop pills all the time? LOL!

That was all Purina had that week, so I had to do it the other way around by not wasting it....wetting the food, threw in some spagetti or oatmeal, they loved it.

 

[dragonlair]

Mine prefer crumbles, but I prefer pellets, so I get pellets. When the girls start going to the feed store, they can get whatever they want.

I went to the feed store a couple of weeks ago and all they had was mash. I used the mash by mixing it with water, milk or some sort of liquid and feeding it to the girls. They thought they were getting treats and gobbled then up!

 

[HEChicken]

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[annie3001]

well , tonight i tried using my mini-chopper,,, it was horrible! made more like a powder, than crumbly mixture! i ended up adding some water to fluff up the pellets and mixed with plain oatmeal,.... turned out pretty good. just alot of work, but hey... these spoiled kids. i just got back from eating at this restauant called "texas road house" yum yum, and thought of my girlys. made the mixture for them, and yum!!!! the loved the oatmeal and pellets!!! so who knew!! maybe they need a little spoiling since they cant get to the snow covered yard!!


thanks everyone!!!


btw: no point in mentioning the restaurant but it was our first time eating there, and omg!! yummy!!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Same here. Actually we've been doing the chicken feed shuffle lately. I had both coops eating layer pellets, but in the one coop (the juvies) the pellets were smaller. For this I was thankful because I was concerned (needlessly) that the silkies and meat birds in that coop wouldn't be able to eat the larger pellets.

Then we had a new feed store open up just a few miles from us AND I had mama hatch her chicks in the juvie coop, so I switched that coop over to something called Allway Kernels, a flockraiser type feed that is crumbles so the chicks can eat it.

Then that feed store was closed the other day when we got our big snow. I was out of feed, so back to the other feed store. For the time being - until I run out - Mama and her chicks are eating medicated gamebird feed while the rest of that coop is back to eating small pellets and the big birds are still eating the larger layer pellets.

So I take great care in picking out just the right food for my birds, big and little, and then I go out to find the big ones in the juvie coop eating and the juvies in the adult coop eating.

Moral of the story - they'll eat the pellets, especially if you're stingy with the treats for awhile.

 

[msteresaann]

My girls prefer crumble and I have never noticed any waste.
I on occasion, have had to buy pellets.
It is true that most animals will eventually eat when they get hungry enough, then there are those that are plain stubborn!
When your chickens stop laying and start losing weight because they refuse to eat what you offer, it can be mighty worrisome.
Mine are the stubborn type!
I have found however that if I mix some scratch in with the pellets, they will eat it.
My scratch is mainly grains with a little cracked corn that I add Black oil sunflower seeds too.
I can only guess that they are soooo determined to eat more of the scratch than their coop mates that they inadvertently eat the pellets too.

 

[Chihuahuamom444]

My chickens would starve before they'd eat pellets, I grabbed the wrong bag one day and they refused to eat it for Days

 

[trunkman]

I prefer steak over hamburg but when steak is not available I'll eat hamburg. My cat prefers soft catfood over hard catfood and will not touch it for several hours but when hungry enough will clean the dish. Don't worry they will eat the pellets if they are allowed to get hungry enough.