Treats

[Minnesota Joe]

90/10 rule. What would a 10% of treats amount be ? Black soldier fly larvae- teaspoon per hen, a tablespoon?
My pullets will arrive at 8-12 weeks My taming process will be using treats as I sit down among them. So they trust me to handle them. Can 8-12 week old pullets have BSF larvae if I break them up? Or should the pullets be older before they get the larvae ? Meal worms are smaller? What treats would you use?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

90/10 rule. What would a 10% of treats amount be ? Black soldier fly larvae- teaspoon per hen, a tablespoon?
My pullets will arrive at 8-12 weeks My taming process will be using treats as I sit down among them. So they trust me to handle them. Can 8-12 week old pullets have BSF larvae if I break them up? Or should the pullets be older before they get the larvae ? Meal worms are smaller? What treats would you use?

Whole grubs and mealworms should be fine! I also suggest seeds of some sort such as scratch perhaps. Make a designated call for them when you have treats, so in case there is an emergency and you need them rounded up ASAP, you can make that call and they'll come running. Very handy. Personally, I've chosen to use a "kissy sound" as their special call. They come every time
Another special treat you can give them, although messy, is just crumble or pellets mixed with water. I call this concoction "mush." They always go crazy for it! This is actually technically not a "treat" and can just be treated as regular feed, so it doesn't make up your 10%

 

[Ridgerunner]

Itis really hard to know what 10% is. Instead I use a timeline. For treats I give them what they can clean up in 15 to 20 minutes. If they have not finished it by then take it away.

Can 8-12 week old pullets have BSF larvae if I break them up?

You don't need to break them up, just make sure they have grit. If they want them broken up they are more than capable of breaking them up by themselves.

If you could observe them foraging at that age or even younger you'd probably feel a lot better about this. They are a lot more capable than many people give them credit for.

 

[abbeypatti]

90/10 rule. What would a 10% of treats amount be ? Black soldier fly larvae- teaspoon per hen, a tablespoon?
My pullets will arrive at 8-12 weeks My taming process will be using treats as I sit down among them. So they trust me to handle them. Can 8-12 week old pullets have BSF larvae if I break them up? Or should the pullets be older before they get the larvae ? Meal worms are smaller? What treats would you use?

Its been recommended but making sure the chickens know a sound to come rushing to you is important, for my family we just shake the bag of treats and they come running. We even have them know handclaps mean go back to the coop and run, which is important when we hear or spot hawks.

I do agree that the chickens will be fine with the treats as is. Will also attest to making sure they get the idea of your hands meaning good things or treats. We only really recently got that going for our gals, though some def still do not like being held.

 

[Bawkbok]

At 8-12 weeks you shouldn't have too many problems with handling them or getting them used to you. That's been the sweet spot age we have preferred. Compared to the last group we got at 15-20 weeks, too old, they are obnoxious, scatter when we come near and still do not trust, treats or not, after 6 weeks of spending a lot of time with them. The older they are, the more work is required to train them to treats, sounds, special words, all of it which of course means getting them back to the run quickly is impossible. There's something to be said for day old chicks, if you want to manage all that.

 

[texsuze]

I feed BSF dried larvae but not sure if they would technically be considered "treats" since they are essentially (eventually) insects and chickens find/eat insects in their daily foraging. I suppose one can overdo it with the BSFs, but I worry less about the amount of those than, say, seeds and fruits they'd likely never come across at our place. Just sayin'!

 

[Penpal]

When you bring their normal rations and water make the "sound". You don't have to use special treats for teaching the " come and get it" sound.

 

[tigger19687]

I always used just the Pellets and pretended like they couldn't have them. Then once they realized that they did (took all of 2 min lol) They would eat them and not know it was any different.
I am not a big fan of treats or scratch. Mine will free range, in my small yard, and get all the 'treats' they want