rather starve than eat pellets????

[mudpaw]

I recently switched my girls over to pellets (they were burning through the crumbles like it was going ou of style) and have a couple who look to be losing weight now

They free range and gets some snacks but they are looking notably slimmer the past couple of weeks. I figured I'd just leave the feed there until they eat it all...going off the "they will eat it rather than starve" path of thinking. Apparently two of my girls are staging a hunger strike on me. I have also noticed a slight drop in egg production....which really worries me. Any one else have this happen?

 

[maizie]

My chickens need extra protein in the winter months and don't like pellets either. I have to use crumbles but I supplement with a liver/rice mixture.
I make a large pot of liver and cook it till it is mushy then add rice. The chickens love it. I think it must be like larvae to them which they love.
Also you can raise meal worms which are really easy to raise.

 

[Badlatitude]

I wound getting a bag of crumbles by accident. So we mixed the pellets and crumbles togather. My feathered pigs wat all the pellets and leave the crumbles LOL

 

[mudpaw]

They loved their previous crumbles ( I feed "Layena" ). I don't know if chickens really taste foods like we do, but these should taste the same...same food...just a different shape

I am making them a new feeder so I may go back to the crumbles next time and hope it reduces the frequency I have to go out and buy more( or is it normal for 6 hens to go through a 50 lb bag every 3 weeks or so?

)

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Chickens are creatures of habit and they don't like to change. Crumbles to pellets, pellets to crumbles. Once they've become accustomed to a feed being a certain way they don't like to change. They won't starve, but may grumble a lot while they're learning to like the new way.

.....Alan.

 

[toletiquesbysam]

You could put some in a processor or chop them up and mix them with the other pellets, and do that a few days to get them used to this new food. I changed from crumbles to pellets without issue and would not go back, you will see way less waste with the pellets over the crumbles!!

 

[OrpingtonManor]

I had one girl who did starve when I switched the flock from Layena crumbles to Layena pellets. By the time I switched them back, it was too late for this girl, and she had all kinds of protein and calcium imbalances. I did take her to an avian vet who said that switch from crumbles to pellets was probably the catalyst. She also said birds are visual about their food. They don't perceive it as food by the taste or smell, but by the look of it.

That being said, it hinges on when you switch them. When they are young, say, at POL, they will accept new feed much more readily. If they are older, as my girls were (a year) they don't see the pellets as food. If you really want to switch them, be prepared to mix the two for quite some time, if they are older than POL.

 

[fldiver97]

I switched back to crumbles as my girls did not eat well when I gave them pellets. They checked them because they wer in the same spot/same feeder but they were pushing a lot out, I guess looking for 'real food'. I ended up making some warm soaked pellet/chopped greens or fruit dish on cold winter mornings - that was eaten without hesitation but it was all mush.....

 

[texasgal]

Mine would NOT eat the pellets .. I took everything away from them except the pellets and they still flat refused .. got skinny .. begged relentlessly ...

I went back to crumbles ..

brats.

 

[mudpaw]

hmm...my girls are not very old ( only 3 have started laying, the rest are slightly younger (18 weeks - 8 months). I may just try and smash the pellets up into crumbles...oh well, I tried I guess