Why don't my chicken eat fodder?

[lancesstaub]

How many times have you offered it? Chickens don't like change or new...

Some will some won't. Chickens prefer to dig in most of what they eat. They would have both feet in their feeders if they could get them in it. I have one hen that gobbles down fodder & weeds like mad and the other eats a little and makes a mess with the rest. I used a door mounted fodder rack to try to keep it off of the cage floor. I'm considering doing with my hens what I do with my rabbits and that is to limit the amount of pellet that I give them go force them to eat the other things more.

 

[NatJ]

I'm considering doing with my hens what I do with my rabbits and that is to limit the amount of pellet that I give them go force them to eat the other things more.

You should only do that if the other things can provide a proper balance of nutrients for the chickens.

Chicken food pellets are meant to be a complete diet, so chickens can eat them and nothing else and be properly nourished.

For most people and most chickens, it works best to provide unlimited pellets (or crumbles), and consider all other things to be treats, with the chickens only eating a small amount of those other things.

Chickens need a certain amount of protein each day, a certain amount of energy (calories), and the right amounts of many different vitamins and minerals. The protein needs to have the right balance of amino acids too, or they use it inefficiently and need even more total protein to make up the difference.

Grains tend to be a good source of energy, but do not provide enough protein, or the right balance of amino acids in that protein, and they lack some vitamins and minerals.

Vegetables, fruits, grass, fodder, and similar things tend to be low in energy and protein, although they are a good source of some vitamins and minerals, and they also provide some water and some fiber. They are also great boredom-busters, if the chickens enjoy them.

Soybeans, meat, fish, worms, bugs, and dairy products can all be useful sources of protein, including the amino acids that grains tend to lack, and they have some energy and certain vitamins and minerals too.

I know that all of these things have to be properly balanced, but I do not personally know enough to figure out what is right. In the case of your chickens, I do not know whether forcing your chickens to eat other things will be good or bad for them, because that would depend on what you are offering and what amounts are involved.