Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ionahenor2

Mine have layer pellets in the pen and layer pellet porridge in a dog bowl with extras (soaked pellets with grated carrot,apple/pear cores and peelings and poultry spice). They have this for breakfast when they first come out, usually a few mouthfulls before legging it up onto the grass/weed bank. 10 mins later they come back for a few more bites before digging up my herb bed and anything left goes back in the pen with them.

They have found this years blackberries, would mug a fox for grapes and oats, like strawberries but not loganberries, and love sweetcorn and cauliflower greenery. They are also partial to cooked rice, mashed potato, and spaghetti.

Chickenopolis

ioneahenor2- my hens have asked me to ask you if you would look after them when I go away? Its good to know that its not just mine that are used to a gourmet lifestyle.They eat better than I do

Mojisola

Layer's pellets do contain everything hens need from a nutritional point of view but would you want to eat the same food, day-in, day-out?

When they're free-ranging, chickens eat quite a varied diet and so we supplement their daily mash and mixed corn with whatever we can. I think the eggs taste better if they're getting a variety of food.

smileyt_2

A quick update.

Hepzibah seems to have pulled through - again. I am just off to disturb her sleep and pop the last antibiotic down her throat (she struggles less if she's a sleepy hen). She really doesn't appreciate being medicated, but it's for her own good. I thought she had had a relapse yesterday morning as she was collapsed on the ground. Turns out she was having a rest in her dustbath and a little sunbathe :rotfl:

However, whichever one goes first, I will keep the remaining hen as long as she is healthy. I posted on several other hen forums (fora?) and no-one is willing to take a marek's carrier, which I can't blame them for. Most said it would be kinder to keep the remaining hen here in the space she is used to than to try and integrate her into another flock somewhere else when she has just lost her sister. So that's what I'm going to do when the time comes.

RacyRed

Glad to hear that Hepzibah is on the mend

Has anyone managed to get their ex-batts onto pellets from mash? If so, how did you do it?

My lot are being picky, just eating the bits of mash they like and leaving the stuff that is good for them. I've cut back on the amount I give them in the hope that they would finish it all up, but they just peck around the garden and scold me for not giving them top-ups of the nice stuff

Chickenopolis

Smileyt- Glad to hear that Hepzibah ( love the name )is on the mend:beer:. Chickens are funny creatures , one minute they look as though they won't make it through to the next morning and then they seem to "fix" themselves 99% of the time, thankfully.

I was wondering how things were going for you , so thanks for letting us know.

spirit

RacyRed wrote: »

Glad to hear that Hepzibah is on the mend

Has anyone managed to get their ex-batts onto pellets from mash? If so, how did you do it?

My lot are being picky, just eating the bits of mash they like and leaving the stuff that is good for them. I've cut back on the amount I give them in the hope that they would finish it all up, but they just peck around the garden and scold me for not giving them top-ups of the nice stuff

my posh girls are fussy too and won't eat the pellets. I give them all (9 ex batts and 3 posh) mash and then make a nice warm 'porridge' out of the pellets I have. they will eat pellets disguised in this way. In fact they gobble it up.

my Maran wasn't eating enough recently which is how i discovered they don't like pellets, she has put weight on now and is much better on mash. So I might just keep them all on mash for now.

RacyRed

Thanks Spirit

I like the idea of the pellet porridge. It has been raining steadily here for days now and I've noticed that when their mash is wet they are eating all of it up, not just the tasty bits. Their egg shells had started to thin, so I'm watching now to see if they improve again.

Porridge in the mornings then

spirit

Racyred, if you are getting soft shells, you need to put some Limestone flour in with their food for a couple of weeks. It's available at horse feed suppliers

Mojisola

Or use oyster shell which doubles up as grit in their crops and provides slow-release calcium.