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Banus

Too many treats - a warning.

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We usually make our 3 girls a dish of porridge made from warm water and their Garvo pellets which they love as its easier to eat / digest first thing on a cold autumn morning - and warmer too. However, I slowly got carried away and started adding half a banana, a few sultanas, a single weetabix and a splash of warm milk. I have to say that it looked and smelt delicious and everytime I handed it over they nearly mugged me! Woofed it down in no time.

 

After only 2/3 days we started to notice that one egg was produced without a shell and the next day same again but the shell was detached and thin like a rubber glove. After a little research (on here) it seems that too many treats were possibly to blame. We're going back to normal Garvo porridge now and I'm pretty confident that normal egg production will resume shortly. I would mention that the girls are lively, alert and appear to be really healthy and happy as they should be being fed on that lot!

 

At the time I didn't really think that any harm was being done as all the ingredients were healthy and foods that are recommended to give to chickens - probably just a little too much? We'll see

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mine get porridge too! - but tesco's i am afraid the same as my husbands (but dont tell him!) i find it the only way to get wormer (verm-x) in (chooks not my husband!). i also mix it occasionally with poultry spice. they love it - its their fav treat after pasta! but i do try to limit it when i am not worming them. its hard not to treat them when they are so lovely!

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Mine haven't had the joy of 'porridge' yet but maybe if it gets colder. They like their pellets but probably 'cos they have bokashi bran & poultry spice mixed in, corn in the afternoon and a handful of greens most days from herbs/veg patch/ leftovers. We had one soft egg but I think that was because Snowflake laid 2 in a day.

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I wonder if it was the recent fireworks that just caused a fright and it wasn't the treats after all?

 

There's an easy way to check. Keep them on a pellets-only diet and wait for this weekend - there's bound to be just as many fireworks!

 

Personally I suspect the food - our ladies are well tucked up in bed by fireworks time and nothing rouses them after that! The only time mine have had eggshell problems I gave them some oyster shell and the shells improved almost immediately. They now have a bowl of oyster shell available all the time, and they do eat them. They occasionally get a small handful of treats in the afternoon, but I'm fairly strict.

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yes just plain pasta or spaggetti - they go made for it - when ever we have it we cook a bit extra and leave it to cool and they have it the next day - you must try it they go mental for it!!!!

 

also we always overdo the mash potato - beware it flys about everywhere when they eat it!!!

 

ours have layers in the morning which they have to eat up to get a treat! then a treat after lunch ie pasta, mash, or something (but not too much) then corn in the late afternoon. we havent had any problems health wise.

 

when we had our 1st hens they wouldn't eat layers because where they come from they only ate corn, so we used to mix it with value non fat yoghurt from tesco (bout 28p for 4 biggish pots), that got them interested! and gradually we weaned off the yoghurt to just layers.

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It's totally up to you, but I'd be wary of feeding them all that stuff - it's like giving your children sponge cake or sweets all the time. Of course they like it :roll: but their digestive systems aren't geared up to cope with all that processed and carb-rich food.

 

Mine only get the odd handful of corn as a treat and they are all fit as fiddles, including the two 6 year olds 8)

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I think I am guilty too. :oops:

One of my Omlet girls has not laid for 3 days and last week had her first soft egg. Before this she gave us the biggest eggs.She seems quite fit and is drinking eating and running around .

Apart from pellets mixed with bran they have mealworms (mainly to get them in the WIR ) and a bowl of bits and pieces , usually chopped up veg and occassionly pasta which they love..Sometimes they look good enough to eat myself :lol: but I admit that has got bigger and i had not realised. :roll:

So i am going to take dogmothers advice , which is usually good advice and the treats are stopping .

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Mealworms aren't too bad as they contain about 45%+ protein, so as treats go, they aren't bad, but if you give them anything other than their layers feed, then they will soon learn to hold out for the treats and fill up on those rather than their proper feed.

 

At this time of year, it's fine to make a warm porridge with their pellets but be careful what extras you add; cod liver oil and crushed, baked eggs shells are fine. As is a bit of powdered seaweed or alfalfa as greenstuff is hard to find in the winter, many chicken keepers also string up a few cabbage leaves in the run, but be careful to limit these unless you want your hens to have dire rear!

 

As a general rule keep all treats to a minimum and give them only at the end of the day.

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I am having the treats vs boredom debate. I have had some bullying issues, so before I go to work, I usually chuck an apple or two into the run for them to peck at. (They live under an old Bramley tree so they get the windfall) And when the apples are finished, I get them a peck block. At the moment I am getting 2-3 eggs per day from 6 hybrids - no softies, just not many eggs. So I suppose it could be due to too much apple, but they are getting through the layers pellets too. If I don't give them treats to peck at the squabbling and bullying gets worse so it is a bit of catch 22.

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OK - to summarise I'm going for Dogmothers advice as she's always on the money. There will be treats but a bit more limited and health focused. The hob"Ooops, word censored!"s have got to go. I'll introduce pasta in limited quantities but in my defence only went for more interesting food to break up the bordom factor. I hung a rosey apple on a wire from my Eglu Go roof to give them something to do before I went to work but before I got off the drive it was gone!

 

Branches / or something to climb on is a great idea but with the limited height of an Eglu Go (see avatar) my options are again limited. Some really interesting comments / advice on this thread though.

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Banus, the food ball (available at the Omlet shop) was great for mine when they were in their Go and run. I'd hook it near the door, rammed with lettuce or other greens, and it would last them much longer in the ball. The food ball would swing freely so it's more difficult for them to gobble it all up at once.

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I'm surprised to read about letting the layers pellets run out.

 

When I got my Ambers I was told that layers pellets should be available at all times. The only time I ever get a problem with an egg is when the pellets get spoiled by rain and they can't get them out of the feeder.

 

They get some treats/s"Ooops, word censored!"s, only in the afternoon when they've eaten plenty of pellets in the day.

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cyclonetog is right, their feed should be readily available at all times, I just top up the feeders during the week and then let it run down at the end of the week when i am going to clean it out.

 

If you feeder is in a covered run then it really oughtn't to get damp. I use a gravity feeder with a 'hat' (see below) which keeps the food clean and stops any cheeky chooks from perching on top and soiling the feed. If you suspend the feeder (or stand it on bricks) so that it is level with the backs of the hens then they will be less inclined to get their feet up into it to scratch the food out.

 

plastic-feeder-top-hat-303-p.jpg

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I'm afraid I'm a bit strict like chestnutmare in that I only give layers pellets and corn in the afternoon...oh and a few greens :wink:

 

I'd be inclined to enrich their run instead - pop in some upturned flowerpots for them to jump on, and add some evergreen branches propped in the corners.

That's great advice...I'm going to get straight onto that tomorrow! :)

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A friend has an extended cube run like mine and she has used broom handles with hooks on the end to make a series of perches halfway up the height of her run - her birds seem to love using them and it gets them out from under each other's feet.

 

I tend to make evergreen 'hides' in a corner if I have recently added new birds (after careful introductions) then they have something to hide under.

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