off layers pellets

[chuckyone]

I have six free range hens and feed them around 800 grams of pellets through out the day aswell as my kids giving them bread and sweetcorn in between, but for the last few days they have hardly touched the pellets am I giving them too much treats or feed. Maybe it could be becouse ive had to change brand of pellets? Thanks in advance, chucky

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Make sure your feed isn't moldy or spoiled, since it is unusual to see a sudden change in eating habits like that. The change in brands might do it. You can stop all treats and see if they will eat the feed.

 

[chuckyone]

Well the feed is rather strong smelling compared to the last lot I got which had no smell to it all, im only a novice at keeping hens had them around 3 weeks now

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Well the feed is rather strong smelling compared to the last lot I got which had no smell to it all, im only a novice at keeping hens had them around 3 weeks now

If your feed has flaxseed meal or fish meal in it and is a bit old it may be rancid. If it smells rancid to you then it is probably rancid. If you just bought it you might return it to the feed store if you feel it is defective. I once tried a brand of feed with flaxseed meal in it and it smelled rancid. I mixed it into some other feed to get them to eat it. I was convinced it wasn't spoiled, but was only the flaxseed meal making it smell bad. I didn't buy that kind again. So decide whether it is bad or not, then if not bad, mix in with some other pelleted feed to get them to eat it is my recommendation. If they simply won't eat it at ALL then it might have some hidden mold in it that they are detecting and it would be good to simply get rid of it in my opinion.

 

[chuckyone]

I'll pick some more pellets up and try mixing them if they wont eat it ill throw it out then thanks very much