too many treats, hens not eating feed

[wildwestcoast]

I think I have been spoiling my hens with treats as they have now decided they don't want their layer pellets but come rushing to the gate when I go outside as if they are starving. I have stopped the goodies and am just letting them range around during the day. My question is, will they go back to their pellets or do I need to "entice them" by mixing in a little scratch or something?

 

[deegee68]

No need to entice. Trust me, if you take the food out of the mix then they will figure it out and start eating their pellets again.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I think I have been spoiling my hens with treats as they have now decided they don't want their layer pellets but come rushing to the gate when I go outside as if they are starving. I have stopped the goodies and am just letting them range around during the day. My question is, will they go back to their pellets or do I need to "entice them" by mixing in a little scratch or something?

Cutting the treats is the best way to "entice" them to eat the feed you need/want them to eat. That said - chickens will stuff their crops full, see you coming and rush the gate like a starving pack of dogs - so don't take the rush as an indication that they are necessarily hungry. How much of a change in consumption had you seen? There are ebbs and flows to the amount of feed they might take in at a given time. How much treat were you giving, how often and what was the treat?

 

[wildwestcoast]

they were getting alot of kitchen scraps (like every day), peelings, watermelon, some sausage, day old bread. some they liked, some they just kicked around etc. It has been hot here, and they have been out of their coop/run into the larger run foraging for bugs as well. They have been slowing down on the pellets (I thought it was normal given the situation) but yesterday they didn't seem to eat hardly any. I am new to chickens so I could be a bit paranoid haha.

 

[wildwestcoast]

excellent, thanks

 

[SClaire]

I think I have been spoiling my hens with treats as they have now decided they don't want their layer pellets but come rushing to the gate when I go outside as if they are starving. I have stopped the goodies and am just letting them range around during the day. My question is, will they go back to their pellets or do I need to "entice them" by mixing in a little scratch or something?

Shouldn't need to entice them into the pellets again. They will start eating it again in no time...

Out of interest, how many treats were you giving them!?

 

[N F C]

I think the hot weather we've been having here the past couple of weeks has slowed down our girl's feed intake. They aren't filling up on treats but they aren't eating as much feed as usual either.

The usual recommendation on treats is no more than 10% of their diet. If you want a list of healthy treats (and what is considered not healthy), this chart is really handy:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

 

[wildwestcoast]

Shouldn't need to entice them into the pellets again. They will start eating it again in no time...

Out of interest, how many treats were you giving them!?

um quite a bit...it's a little embarassing

 

[wildwestcoast]

I think the hot weather we've been having here the past couple of weeks has slowed down our girl's feed intake. They aren't filling up on treats but they aren't eating as much feed as usual either.

The usual recommendation on treats is no more than 10% of their diet. If you want a list of healthy treats (and what is considered not healthy), this chart is really handy:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

awesome thanks, everything we gave them for treats was on that list. I think we just got carried away. my chickens probably thought they were living in some magical chicken paradise with an unlimited buffet of interesting things to eat. I will be sticking to the 10% from now on.

 

[SClaire]

um quite a bit...it's a little embarassing

haha, not to worry! We learn these things as we go

Just make sure to remember the lesson