Scared of lettuce?

hbchicknmama

In the Brooder
Apr 28, 2015
56
2
43
Huntington Beach, CA
So I tried giving our 4 chicks a few pieces of spinach lettuce ( with some grit) as a treat. Those 4 were scared to death of those tiny pieces of lettuce! They couldn't get further into a corner, piling on top,of each other to get away from the dreaded lettuce! Lol! Is this normal?
 
Yes absolutely normal. Even adults will do that sometimes. Chickens are basically cowards. They can be scared of anything strange or different. I can carry a feed or water bucket around them without a problem but if I’m carrying something different like a tiny camera they can freak out.

I feed mine a lot of different things from the garden. Sometimes I’ll toss something in the run that is recognized as a great treat, like cabbage, and they are really reluctant to approach it. They usually do eventually but it may take overnight for them to build up the nerve to try it. Once one builds up the courage to try it though, the rest usually swarm in.

One time I gathered a small yogurt cup full of corn ear worms when processing some corn from the garden. I dumped those out on bare ground around some 10 week olds that had been free ranging for a few weeks. At first, the chicks just looked at them, then a few started to creep stealthily toward those worms. A worm moved! Run away! Run away! They gathered themselves and gradually started approaching again, very cautiously. A worm moved! Run away! Run away! This went on for several repetitions, but eventually one of the chicks managed to grab a worm. They were wiped out in a mad feeding frenzy in just a few seconds.

So just be patient. One will eventually try it and like it. Then they will all be eating the lettuce.
 
To add a story; this week I collected leaves for the outside secondary run and spread them out for my 9 and 12 week pullets.

Opened the free range door of the coop run. Nope. We're not going to walk on THAT stuff. Or, of we do, we'll dash across to the fodder tray and stand on it together, discussing this new awful development.
idunno.gif


So...I gathered them all up and mulched them with the lawn mower and then left them in little piles.
Now THAT was better.

And that's another morning's work that I'll never get back, lol.
 

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