Well, how much do you put out? How often? What is it? How long had her?
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I had the same problem when I brought my ex-batts home, and now with pullets I got from a bad breeder.She just eats until everything I put out for her is gone. So maybe I’ll try scheduled feeding??
Thank you for this I will try Im just worried she’ll eat too much and it’ll be a issue.I had the same problem when I brought my ex-batts home, and now with pullets I got from a bad breeder.
I do the counter intuitive thing and give them access to food all day round. The idea is that either they have been used to not getting enough food and are afraid to starve, either they lack a specific nutrient and need to gorge to have enough of it
I try to give different kind of foods, but with production birds it takes them a long time to eat something that looks very different from what they are used to. I offer milled layer feed, starter feed, and fermented grains. (And animal protein such as egg and mackerel but from experience it takes about a month before they try it). And they are outside to forage all day.
With both my ex batts and my actual pullets after two weeks things got back to normal and they stopped gorging.
I usually do morning and evening I let her roam free and I’ll have the other chickens in the run to keep them separate. But I’ll just put a feeder out so maybe she’ll get use to not worrying about foodWell, how much do you put out? How often? What is it? How long had her?
I was also worried, but it worked out for us. I'm not saying it will systematically ! You could give it a try for two weeks and see if it helps. Maybe other will have different suggestions.Thank you for this I will try Im just worried she’ll eat too much and it’ll be a issue.
I know I am late reading this...but, this is so awesomeIn April 2021 I returned to the UK having spent the last ten years living with and studying various groups of chickens on a small holding In Catalonia Spain.
Some of you may have read some of my posts and seen pictures of what I call The Tribes, in my house and free ranging on the land. I’ve written a number of articles here on BYC based on my observations of these tribes and there is an as yet unpublished book that deals with the lives of these chickens and what I have learned from a decade of observing them and the experience of helping out with the care of free range chickens on my uncles farm in my youth.
I had decided even before leaving Catalonia that should I have to leave the tribes and my home what I would like to do was look after ex battery chickens and rescues given the opportunity. That opportunity arose in September of this year 2021.
A family member, knowing how much I miss the Tribes, mentioned that she though she knew where there were some chickens and one evening when out walking we visited the site. There was a rather old and partially illegible sign on the notice board at the entrance to the site asking for someone who would be prepared to help looking after the chickens. I contacted the person concerned and this thread is in part a record of the subsequent events.
The sign.
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Poor babies.I was also worried, but it worked out for us. I'm not saying it will systematically ! You could give it a try for two weeks and see if it helps. Maybe other will have different suggestions.
When we got our six ex-batts they were our only chickens, so it was easy to track how much food they were consuming weekly, which is how we were able to see that after two weeks of gorging on the all you can eat, the amount of feed consumed began to slowly diminish.
I think these production layers are inherently afraid they won't have enough fuel to produce an egg.
actually if they came from a commercial outfit they were raised on very carefully controlled diets, specifically tailored, on as short as a fortnightly basis, to determine their growth, food consumption and crop size, in order to maximize their egg laying capacity and performance. See e.g.I think these production layers are inherently afraid they won't have enough fuel to produce an egg.
Mmmmm... isn't grain usually found in the fall and not year round in nature.....Birds are grain eaters by nature