Egg laying weirdness, too many treats?

[SandyRiverChick]

I know you like the feed you're providing but when you say they're picking out what they like, It reminds me of when I used a feed with alot of grains like Mile Four layer feed. They did the same thing, picked out what they liked and left quite a bit behind. And eventually I saw via the dull color of their combs that nutrition was an issue.You kind of have nothing to lose to try making changes like a different feed. It's not going to hurt them at any rate. I use a shaker can too when I need to get them in but it's not nightly. I have a light in my coop so that when the sun starts to go down, the coop is the preferred option. There is nothing wrong with herbs in nest boxes. I use herbs, dried flowers and essential oil all over my coop. I'm thinking the main point there was fake eggs. Definitely try that as well as enlarging boxes if they're too small.

 

[NatJ]

I did try the wet mash version a couple times and they looked up at me like I was poisoning them, then walked away. I will need to slowly introduce it, I'm sure. I've also tried fermented feed and that was basically the same, not interested.

How many days should I give them to get used to such a radically different food? I know that if they're hungry they'll eat, especially if I slow down or stop with the treats. I do hate to make them go hungry.

I would not force the wet mash or fermented feed. Just put a small amount in a dish, and let them decide whether to eat it or not, leaving the usual dry feed available at the same time. (A "treat" is kind of pointless if they have to be forced to eat it! So forcing them would only make sense if you wanted it to be their main food, because you were convinced it was better for them than dry feed.)

If you offer a little bit each day for a week or so, and they are still not interested, then maybe they just do not like it. You can leave it for at least a whole day, and maybe two or three days, before you need to dump & replace it. It starts out as wet mash, but turns into fermented feed if they don't eat it soon enough

I don't think I've ever seen chickens who disliked wet feed, but I know that chickens can have personal preferences just like people do

I'm sure I've been postponing switching to crumbles or pellets but maybe it's time I do that.

Maybe just buy crumbles or pellets the next time you get low on feed, then put out one feeder of the old feed and a separate feeder of the new feed. Once the old feed runs out, they just have the new feed (pellets or crumbles), but they have had some amount of time to sample it and get used to it a bit.

 

[malesoing]

I would not force the wet mash or fermented feed. Just put a small amount in a dish, and let them decide whether to eat it or not, leaving the usual dry feed available at the same time. (A "treat" is kind of pointless if they have to be forced to eat it! So forcing them would only make sense if you wanted it to be their main food, because you were convinced it was better for them than dry feed.)

If you offer a little bit each day for a week or so, and they are still not interested, then maybe they just do not like it. You can leave it for at least a whole day, and maybe two or three days, before you need to dump & replace it. It starts out as wet mash, but turns into fermented feed if they don't eat it soon enough

I don't think I've ever seen chickens who disliked wet feed, but I know that chickens can have personal preferences just like people do

I think that is what I did, just trade out their regular food for the wet stuff. Probably I just plopped it on top. Then it sat there for a few days until I threw it out. Ick.

Maybe just buy crumbles or pellets the next time you get low on feed, then put out one feeder of the old feed and a separate feeder of the new feed. Once the old feed runs out, they just have the new feed (pellets or crumbles), but they have had some amount of time to sample it and get used to it a bit.

I think I will do that. Mile Four has both the crumbles and pellets so maybe I'll just switch to theirs for the next order.

What if I just mixed some new feed into the old stuff and slowly increased it? Would that work as well? The hens actually look pretty healthy and strong these days, though at a couple points last winter I saw some pale pink combs. Not good. All looks well now.

 

[malesoing]

I know you like the feed you're providing but when you say they're picking out what they like, It reminds me of when I used a feed with alot of grains like Mile Four layer feed. They did the same thing, picked out what they liked and left quite a bit behind. And eventually I saw via the dull color of their combs that nutrition was an issue.You kind of have nothing to lose to try making changes like a different feed. It's not going to hurt them at any rate. I use a shaker can too when I need to get them in but it's not nightly. I have a light in my coop so that when the sun starts to go down, the coop is the preferred option. There is nothing wrong with herbs in nest boxes. I use herbs, dried flowers and essential oil all over my coop. I'm thinking the main point there was fake eggs. Definitely try that as well as enlarging boxes if they're too small.

I'm most likely going to keep my sweet herbs, and switch out to a crumble/pellet feed. I do have some fake eggs and I've tried using them and not using them. I'll put a couple back in the nesting boxes and take out one of the wooden box dividers and see if anything changes.

I'll get some pictures and post them one day soon.

Thanks so much for the support and fantastic ideas! Much appreciated!

 

[killmak]

Yes if they pick through it and don't eat everything I would switch to a pellet or crumble. As for treats, the treats I give my chickens is all table scraps. My wife brings home a small bucket of scraps from work 3 times a week as well. They love when we bring out their random scrap treats. We haven't had an issue with nutrition from it, and if it dropped their egg production slightly I wouldn't care too much. I love their eggs but man is their fertilizer gold for my garden and trees.

 

[NatJ]

What if I just mixed some new feed into the old stuff and slowly increased it? Would that work as well?

Some people do it that way. Sometimes it works well. Other times the chickens pick through, eating the familiar stuff and throwing out the old stuff (or vice versa).

If you want to do it that way, you certainly can. It might work for your chickens.

For everything about raising chickens, there are lots of options (you could do it this way or that way and either one will probably work) and lots of exceptions (most chickens do this or like that, but a few of them don't).

 

[rosemarythyme]

When they've been out free ranging during the day and I need them back in their run, I usually shake a crinkly bag of sunflower seeds or plastic cup with meal worms in it to get their attention and have them follow me back to the coop. Haven't figured out a better/different way to do it.

That's fine, but you only need to give them a small sprinkle of treats to reinforce the behavior. Like I give a couple of pinches of mealworms or scratch once a day (for 8 hens) which equals about 1 Tbsp for the whole group, and that's plenty.

And, I'm curious: do your hens eat all the food given them every day or is there a base amount that just stays in the bottom of the feed tray?

Yes and no. I put out 4 small bowls of fermented feed and I expect that to be completely cleaned out by the end of the day (if not, then it's too much and I dial back the amount). I also have a dry feeder and that's meant to free feed throughout the day, so that I expect that to last roughly 4-7 days depending on how much of the fermented feed they're eating.