Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[squidsin]

Hello again, hope you don't mind me picking your chicken brains (so to speak!). A few more questions: my chooks make a real racket at 5pm. I think this might have been when the breeder fed them. They have food in their Grubs but although I've seen them pecking at it, seem more interested in the s"Ooops, word censored!"s I throw in! I know I can't give them meat but is pretty much anything else OK? And will they start eating from their Grubs? How often should I change the food in there, if at all?

 

Do you all douse them in red mite powder as a matter of course? How often?

 

Is there anything I particularly need to watch out for? They seem pretty easy little things so far - dead lazy though, they're still not up and their door's been open since 6.30! The cat is looking very disappointed - she spent most of yesterday watching them, then dancing sideways up to them on stiff legs, all puffed up, then running away. They bok-bokked for the first couple of times, but by the hundredth or so time she did it, they didn't so much as turn a feather!

[Cooks]

yesterday they may have just been spooked at about 5pm anything can so it, wind, a bird... butterfly,..

 

I am wondering whether the breeder fed the girls or gave additional feed by scattering food, just stick to your guns and keep the food in the containers and give only that for a while, they will eat it when they are hungry and this will teach them where it is etc. I do not change the food, it never lasts long enough..

Treats are ok, aim to give these at tea time as then they will have pigged out on the layerpellets/mash that you are feeding them, mealworms, sweetcorn, cabbage, etc etc etc are good treats but there are a few things to avoid like raw potatos, avocado... I will try to find the link of food for you..

TREAT LINKY

 

I give mine a squirt and ruffle of red mite powder ever now and again but I always treat their nesting area as they then get dusted as they lay

 

As for not coming out yet, they are new, they are a little daunted I guess, give them a few days they'll be shooting out!

 

edited to add the treat linky.....

[l_ouise]

I don't know exactly what they can phyically eat, but i'm a bit of a purist and i don't like the concept of them eating random s"Ooops, word censored!"s of processed human foods.

 

Layers pellets, grains, corn, leafy vegetables, insects and maybe egg is probably the extent of what i'd give my chickens.

 

Things that they might naturally encounter that have a nutritional value.

 

You don't want to give them anything that could swell - no rice or pasta or dry bread.

 

I wouldn't give them dairy products either. Roaming free they probably have more chance of eating meat than they do getting hold of dairy.

 

I started by scattering food just in front of the grubs and they all seem to know to eat from the grubs now. At first they didn't seem comfortable sticking their head inside.

 

To be honest i haven't dusted mine for mites yet but it is on my list!

[Cooks]

cooked pasta and cooked rice is fine IMO and the majority of us on here feed those from time to time as a treat Chooks even like a bit of marmite on toast

[jnb]

I don't know exactly what they can phyically eat, but i'm a bit of a purist and i don't like the concept of them eating random s"Ooops, word censored!"s of processed human foods.

 

What about s"Ooops, word censored!"s of unprocessed human foods - bits of veg? home made bread? etc.

 

You don't want to give them anything that could swell - no rice or pasta or dry bread.

 

Presumably if it's been cooked it would have done any swelling it was going to? (not that I plan on feeding them rice and pasta). Is bread really that bad?

[Falkor]

Bread can still swell and also has little nutritional value so I wouldn`t feed it to the chooks just as I wouldn`t feed it to ducks. It will fill them up but really what use it is to them?

 

Having said that I have been known to toast stale bread, smear a little marmite on, chop it into little squares and they go mad for it

 

You may be shocked and a little grossed out at what a chook can physically eat. I have just witnessed one of my Orps stealing a mouse from one of my cats and then gobbled it down whole

 

Chooks will want to eat most things but if you want to maintain good egg production and healthy hens blended poultry feeds are they way to go IMO. Treats are exactly that.....a treat

 

Of course some people feed their chooks on s"Ooops, word censored!"s alone and a lot of poultry keepers make use of meat/fish and yogurt when treating hens for ailments.

 

Regarding the original questions:

Grub feeders - if you have seen them eating from then as Cookie says, be strong and let them get on with it. However I believe your birds are itty bitty pekins they won`t eat masses (omlet say hybrid will eat 100-150g a day) I wouldn`t fill the feeders to the brim. Just put enough in for a day or two until you are sure that they are making a decent dent in the pellets. This will also prevent pellets going stale if they are in the grub too long.

 

I use a Diatom puffer to dust my birds by way of creepy crawly prevention. I probably do this every two to four weeks. Like Cookie, their dustbaths and nestboxes get a good dose of diatom and louse powder too so they get a bit when they go into lay.

 

Re their laziness - they are still settling, I am sure they will get into a routine soon and have you wrapped around their little wings too

[squidsin]

Thanks everyone. I've given them bread AND pasta so far - oops. But they're fine - and pasta must be OK if it's cooked, it's done all the swelling it's going to. Mind you, they rejected the pasta al pesto that my 10 month-old son Sam also turned his nose up at tea time - don't blame though, that sauce was horrible!

 

Do you just scatter s"Ooops, word censored!"s/treats or put them in, say, a pet bowl? I wondered if that might help avoid a rat problem.

 

I admire them for staying in bed until 8.30am - they are the only creatures in this house that lie in, it would be great if Sam and Missy the cat would follow their example...

[chickychick]

I've just read in the "chickens" section of the website (not the forum) that marmite on toast is good for them every so often. Well unlike almost everyone else's chickens, mine are not enthused by toast or bread or pasta (although they were quite keen on chow mein from the takeaway, and we had to fight them off so we could eat it ourselves - never sit on the floor whilst eating your dinner).

 

So anyway, I made some toast & marmite, cut it into tiny squares and they ignored it. So I've now stuck it in the blender so it looks like their mash, and they seem quite taken with it.

[chickychick]

actually I lied. They looked like they were eating it all up, but I went out again later and they haven't eaten any.

Boo.

[cooker]

I give mine treats on the top of a 'heros' tin, its helped to 'train' them...if I want them to come I just bang on the tin, they know I'm about to put tasty treats on the tin and they peck it, confirming that banging thier drum = treats!

 

I think all chickens have their likes and dislikes...each one of our chickens has a favourite food...this week they are all firmly in argeement that nectarines are pretty good

 

Rachel

[chickychick]

Since I started giving them a few grapes in their water to encourage them to drink (chopped up grapes, not whole) mine just run up to me every time I go into the garden! They're convinced I'm going to give them something lovely every time. But I am sticking to the "treats are treats" thing.

 

I left the marmitey toast crumbs out and they tried them again after they'd dried out a bit, maybe they just didn't like the moistness of them - their main food is layers mash.

[Patricia W]

They will sell their souls for dried mealworms...