What to do about Voracious Chickens

[Corryn]

Hello all,
last month we expanded our flock and brought home five chickens who we were told were egg layers.
When we pulled up to the woman’s home/business, we should have turned right around. Her coops were dirty and flocks seemed traumatized. I just thought it was our presence, but when we got them home they acted the same way, traumatized.
They are hefty girls who will not sit on a roosting bar. Over a month later they still huddle together, each one trying to crawl under the other.
During the day they spend it at the feeder, and rarely allow our other girls to eat.
Just this afternoon my husband had enough of it and covered the feeders to see what will happen. I’ve been checking and they have been scratching all around the front of the feeders pecking at the errant feed that had spilled during their open buffet.
Oh, and they’re not laying, either.
They sit close to the feeders all day never venturing far away from them.
My husband wants to cull them. I’ve texted the woman and she is adamant all her hens are laying. She can’t say how old they are because she breeds so many, but they look Very healthy and have bright red combs and twinkles in their eyes.
I’m not sure what to do. We buy 100 lbs of the Harvest Blend feed about every 2 1/2 weeks for 17 chickens. Before I got these five it would be a month before I had to replace the feed, and we only bought one fifty pound bag each trip.

I asked the woman what breed they are and I didn’t get an answer. Below are two photos. They are larger than my Americaunas and definitely have more girth.

I have no idea what to do!

 

[nuthatched]

Hmm. How long were they quarantined before you added them?
It may be they need wormed, or they're used to being starved.
They won't lay until they feel safe.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Have you tried multiple feeders?

 

[Bawkbok]

I'm no expert at identification but they look like they may be hybrids, Rhode Island Red mixes maybe.

Do you have a separate space / run where you can keep them for a few weeks until they have acclimated to the new environment and cannot access your current flock? If not, ensure you have multiple feeders and waterers scattered about. If you're concerned about them being overweight, free range time would help with that.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Okay, lets do some math. Before you had 12 chickens and used only 50 pounds in a month. That is .138 pounds of feed per day per hen. Unless they were getting a lot of kitchen waste and forage.... highly unlikely they were eating that little. They ought to have been eating 90 pounds per month.

Now, plus five hens, 17 total chickens, 100 pounds every 2.5 weeks, roughly 17 days. From your numbers they are eating .346 pounds of feed per day. Way too much. They should be eating around 72 pounds per 2.5 week period or 127.5 pounds per month for a 30 day month.

Either your numbers are off or you have more than chickens eating the feed.

As to the laying, moving hens disrupts laying. Give them another month to settle down. Their behavior toward feed might have come from the previous owner feeding twice a day so they associate feed with scarcity and having to fight for enough to eat. If the woman had a lot of hens, AKA a large feed bill, that would tell you something.

You know though, I don't know many people that sell their best hens like that. Unless they are shutting down they would sell the worst layers first. Did she have them set aside when you arrived or did you pick them out yourself?