Sooo much pooping

[crankycookie]

I'm trying not to be a paranoid chicken mom, but I'm worried that the new silkies aren't eating. They vacuum up their treats (sweetcorn, watermelon, cooked rice) but they seem to spend most of the time just scratching and pecking through the wood chips on the run floor. I have seen them stick their heads into the grub a couple of times and peck idly at it and I've tossed a handful of scratch and some cracked corn on top of the crumble to encourage them to find food in there, but it doesn't look like the level of food has changed much over the last couple of days.

 

Then again, they are MUCH smaller than my two standard girls who are eating machines, so it may be that I'm just not used to the rate at which bantams go through food. The guy I got them from said he was feeding them game bird feed to encourage growth, maybe they're just not used to lay crumble?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Withdraw the treats . They'll soon eat their "proper" food then .

[crankycookie]

I was thinking of that, but is there any possibility that they'll just starve to death because they don't recognize the new food?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Not much chance of that, I wouldn't have thought . They're not stupid (despite appearances to the contrary ).

 

Keep an eye on them though in case they are stupid .

[Roobaloo]

Personally I wouldn't feed any 'treats' until they've eaten their mash/pellets.

 

It's like kids with greens...if you're going to give them dessert anyway, why would they eat the boring stuff??

 

They won't starve...perhaps put some in a bowl (like a heavy dog bowl or a dish that won't tip over) in case they don't understand how to use the Grub...some hens just don't like sticking their heads inside!