Appearances can be deceiving!

[Clive]

Having watched the level of pellets in the new non-spill feeder drop steadily during our first week of chicken keeping, I had mistakenly believed that all four birds were eating well and that everything was fine.

I discovered, on giving the hen-house it's first thorough clean, that at least one bird had been managing to remove large quantities of feed and spread it around, mixing it with wood shavings and clean, chopped straw.

Believing that I was feeding them the same layers pellets they were used to, I drove the few short miles to where I got them from for a little advice, only to discover that I'd picked up the wrong sack and that they'd been reared on layers meal, rather than pellets and that they only stock pellets because some customers asked them to.

Although they'd had virgin ground in which to scratch, anyone who saw the reaction when I fed them from the new bag, would have thought that I'd deliberately starved the poor things for a week. (It was like the entire population of Swizerland around one bowl of Alpen!)

[AnnaB]

That's a shame Clive that the owners didn't tell you first. When I had my ex-battery girls I was told to only feed them layers mash at first as that is what they had been used to in the cage. After a few days I put the odd few pellets into their bowl and gradually increased it until they were only on the pellets. That mash makes a big mess and I think if you were pushed you could always grind up pellets into a powder.

[b_cos_1_can]

i give mine mash and i put a handfull of pellets in with it....they eat around the pellets though, like dogs do with worming tablets in their dinner. i guess they will get used to it eventually, fingers crossed.

[Richard]

At least it has a happy ending Clive!

I ran out of chicken feed once and completely forgot to buy some on a Saturday.
On Sunday, they got some wild bird seed - didn't go down too well!

Do you get the 'Hitchcock' feeling when you feed them.?
The telegraph wires around the back of the chicken run here are infested with birds first thing in the morning.

That's the wonderful thing about all birds; tiny weeny brains - but what they have is used way over proportioned to ours !!

[Clive]

Happy is an understatement......

The girls are munching away like sheep in a turnip field.

The green folks two doors down were so happy when I offered them the vastly increased droppings from the hen-house for their compost heap, they've offered to remove it for me.

Our next door neighbour discovered that, feeding the local pigeons the unwanted layers pellets, is keeping them away from his and another neighbour's brassicas.

[Richard]

There'll be a rush to move into your road Clive.

And - all because you keep chickens!

Nice story