Will chickens eat 'dirty' food?

[JENx]

My 3 chickend knocked a weeks worth of food all over the floor last week. I swept it up and put it back in the hopper. It was 'dirty' ie had some bits of bedding and dry soil in with it. I didn't think they would bother as they eat other foods off the floor, but they didn't seem to eat much all week. One is ill (another story) so i decided to worm them and use fresh food, they ate loads when i put it out! I'm guessing flubenvet doesn't taste that good!

So would you expect your chickens to eat 'dirty' food?

 

[CalebtheChicken]

I give mine bread and they eat it no matter what. Even if they drop it in mud.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Was the new food a different brand or type? I know sometimes some chickens can be picky about what they like. For example, some may really love crumbles when others will only eat pellets.

 

[dparadise]

Mine will eat anything, a grandchild threw out a powdered sugar donut and it was gone in no time. They'll drink water that's been sitting out in a nasty pan, which I thought was thrown in the trash, eat grapes or blueberries covered with dirt. If I empty their food bowls on the ground, they'll scratch and peck around until it's gone. Their food got all wet in a rainstorm last week so I dumped it out (away from the coop) and when they found it anyway, they had a party!

 

[Paulo515]

I've swept up the chick starter that falls through the mesh and put it back in the feeder the next day. They ate it just fine. They can be so wasteful it's a shame not to.