Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Ladylil]

Anyone seen these? Found it in my local Jolley's store. The chickens seem to like them but wouldn't say they love them.

 

[Cheeronthechickens]

We give them other hentastic treats which they love but not the boredom buster! Sounds great?! Xx

[Chickabee]

I've seen these on the BHWT site. Might have to treat my girls

[gavclojak]

I tried them but the girls were totally uninterested, I also got the hentastic suet treats and they didn't care for those much either

[Ladylil]

Funny as mine didn't think much of the suet treats either. Cheeronthechickens - the sticks were about £2.99 for 6 and the holder about £5.99. Thought I could use the holder for something else even if I don't buy the chicks sticks again x

[The Dogmother]

Sorry to be a party pooper, but anything that stops them from eating their layers feed isn't a good idea, and I certainly wouldn't feed them suet.

 

Bear in mind that chickens are used to eating what's on the farmyard/jungle floor, so a mix of grains, berries and small insects.... the main nutritional elements of these are in layers feed. Their digestion and metabolism certainly aren't geared up to digest any processed food, and that includes fats, sugar, salt and gluten.

 

Stick to layers rations and the odd bit of green stuff or a limited amount of berries.

[Space Chick]

I'm with Dogmother.... Anything that can contains suet is just going to make for fat, lethargic, non laying hens.

 

If I want to treat my girls, I find a cabbage or two does the job and as a rare treat, some halved grapes

 

But layers pellets should make for the bulk of their diet.

[Ladylil]

They look like wild bird suet pellets but aren't made of suet sorry. They contain wheat, wheat starch, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil, mint, parsley, basil & oregano. These are treats and as long as they are fed as such I don't see the problem and they help encourage natural behaviour

[The Dogmother]

I'm with Dogmother.... Anything that can contains suet is just going to make for fat, lethargic, non laying hens.

 

This reminded me Debs.... I had a chap asking me, the other week, why his hens had stopped laying; they were only 18 months old, and recently wormed with Flubenvet. Turns out that he was feeding them mashed potato and spaghetti.... "Because they like it" he did email me back last week to say that he'd got them back on pellets, had cut out the treats and they were laying like mad again.

[Space Chick]

They look like wild bird suet pellets but aren't made of suet sorry. They contain wheat, wheat starch, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil, mint, parsley, basil & oregano. These are treats and as long as they are fed as such I don't see the problem and they help encourage natural behaviour

 

 

Sorry but I still think it's a stage too far!

[Space Chick]

I'm with Dogmother.... Anything that can contains suet is just going to make for fat, lethargic, non laying hens.

 

This reminded me Debs.... I had a chap asking me, the other week, why his hens had stopped laying; they were only 18 months old, and recently wormed with Flubenvet. Turns out that he was feeding them mashed potato and spaghetti.... "Because they like it" he did email me back last week to say that he'd got them back on pellets, had cut out the treats and they were laying like mad again.

 

Brilliant story DM

 

Honestly, I know people do it through love, but they do need to understand that hens need an appropriate diet to stay healthy and lay eggs.

 

If we ate a diet of junk food and got into a bad shape it would affect our reproductive and egg cycles.... It's no different for hens

[The Dogmother]

Me too.

 

I have a flock of pure breed bantams, 13 of them currently. they are fed as I describe above, and one of them is 8 years old, no longer laying but still going strong; 4 of them are over 5 years old and each of the still lays pretty steadily. They are all healthy and rarely get fed anything outside of their regular pellets, some dark greens, the odd bit of windfall fruit and any mice/toads/insects they catch in the garden.

 

I agree that it's personal choice, but you are responsible for their health and wellbeing.

 

**sorry Debs, cross-posted**

[Space Chick]

Me too.

 

I have a flock of pure breed bantams, 13 of them currently. they are fed as I describe above, and one of them is 8 years old, no longer laying but still going strong; 4 of them are over 5 years old and each of the still lays pretty steadily. They are all healthy and rarely get fed anything outside of their regular pellets, some dark greens, the odd bit of windfall fruit and any mice/toads/insects they catch in the garden.

 

I agree that it's personal choice, but you are responsible for their health and wellbeing.

 

**sorry Debs, cross-posted**

 

No worries about the cross post DM!

 

I concur though, I have a few 7 year olds and even get the odd egg one is a hybrid! And a few over 5 years old that are happy healthy and even grace me with a decent amount of eggs.

 

Mine get layers pellets, a small amount of corn a few times a week, and dark greens from the allotment. They sit under the plum tree when that's fruiting and eat whatever they find in the garden!

[Chickabee]

Oo maybe not then. Didn't realise they had suet in them. Was shocked when I saw a local (well known) pet shop feeding their bantams bird suet balls

[clucker1]

DM, is that why our eldest chicken is soooo healthy, she will whenever possible nab a passing frog and gobble it down! The last one I think was a toad as it was bigger and she couldn't down it in one and spent the afternoon pecking it and then eating it, Gross but natural!

[Chickabee]

I don't know if you've read it before, but I have one with a penchant for baby birds. Swallows them whole she's so quick we can't help. I do however think the birds were dropped by a passing magpie or similar. There's no nests in our pear tree

[Luvachicken]

I've seen those orange holders in Longacres in Bagshot. I was tempted to buy one but they didn't have anything to put inside it so I didn't.

Glad I didn't get them one now but they do have those lovely springy veggie holders

[wez]

Funny you should say that ... we got a couple of the Hentastic foraging cakes and hubs added a holder for them at the weekend ... after seeing the green diarhhoea from one of them and reflecting on how 'ok' everything is with them when they only eat pellets, corn and garden grubs, I don't think we'll be getting any more. Bit like feeding them junk food I guess, although I'm sure those treats are not as evil as that but ... will be keeping it simple and sticking to business as usual I think