My girls won't eat their greens!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
My 3 silkie hens are healthy & happy, good eaters in every other way but completely ignore any greenery I give them ;)

Is this a particularly silkie trait or just my girls??? In my experience hens normally devour any cabbage leaves, veg peelings etc used to supplement a diet of layers pellets with occassional mixed grain. However my girls are not at all interested :D

Any thoughts?
 
Hello Mrs P, I think some chickens are just more fussy than others. Our Pekins/Wyandottes love tinned sweetcorn. They also like those packets called fresh greens from Tescos. We put it in whole, hang it from the wire in the coop etc. They are not keen on kitchen scraps of carrot,parsnip or anything which is cut into little bits! :roll: Try the sweetcorn though.....bet they will love it :)
 
Hi Claire


Many thanks for your reply :-)08 v helpful. Will try the sweetcorn :D
 
and my warrens will only eat things that are really green - not carrots, parsnip, swede! :roll:
 
Agree with blue. My dottes will only eat green greens. Also like spaghetti sprinkled with poultry spice which I have been giving them occasionally during the cold weather to keep their protein intake up. Also picked up a tip to help them through a moult, which 2 of mine have decided to have now! This is to give them some mashed tinned sardines or pilchards, in oil. Again the high protein pushes them through the moult quicker.
I am not worried about the eggs being tainted because apart from one they are not laying at the moment. :roll:
 
Have you tried cooking them? I found that with my Rhodies they will only eat pot skins, cabbage if boiled for 10 mins first, they leave carrot skins. Fussy little things.
 
Try grating the carrot, I read somewhere that carrot is really good for them so I tried it & they love it. Also banana, high in potassium.

Mine won't eat savoy cabbage unless its cooked but other sorts of greens are fine raw :lol: except broccolli, just like kids eh!
 
mine will eat any thing i had a tub of rabbit rood they opened the bin it was in and ate it. 2 love mushrooms ducks an a fue chickens love broccili the only thing they agree with is they all love sweet corn and turn up their beaks at brussels unless nothing else :D
they can be so funny
 
Phew I thought I had failed in bringing up my girls!

Having had an upbringing where I was made to eat anything and everything, I can't stick fussy eaters. All my friends are dropping off peelings and I have to smile and say great, and put them in the bin. The girls will not eat them! My parents look at me and say "Now you must have been spoiling them...." but I really haven't!!

But oranges, grapes and pomegranate they went mad for! (No I am NOT that soft, I had a pomegranate that had gone hard so cut it up and whumph! it was gone in minutes! And the soft grapes at the bottom of the packet, whoosh! scoffed!

They do like garlic though.........but I will avoid that now Lucie has started to lay....

Hey ho! Not just me then!
Lem X
 
Right, that is it! I am never one to normally admit defeat but I have tried all your suggestions & my girls are still not interested :-)11

Thank goodness for Lemmy's post... at least I know I am not alone :lol:

I am going to try the garlic & the grapes then give up :roll: Many thanks for all your feedback
 
Mrs P,

You are certainly not alone. My kitchen scraps end up in the garbage, the girls won't eat them. Bought them a chunky cabbage the other week, suspended it from the shed ceiling for them to explore. All it did was frighten them. They do like a cooked jacket potato. I put an extra one in the oven when doing them for us.

I would be surprised if yours didn't like grapes !

Mine literally fly and hop up the garden at breakneck speed when they get a sniff of a grape, green ones mind you-they turn their noses up at red. Sweetcorn can be tempting, depends on their mood. As for mealworms, only have to shake the container and there is a stampede. They get ACV with garlic, in their water whether they like it or not. BUT I have seen them drinking from our tiny little frog(let) pond, which is basically a hole in the ground with a small pond liner. Its so full of leave debris, and stagnant water that I found them standing in it yesterday to try and snaffle a few droplets. YUK. . :-)07
 
Yeah, def kep up the garlic, especially now that the warmer weather is kicking in.... red mites will be starting to wake up. You don't need to feed them it. just squish a few cloves into their water... if you read up on it there's a lot of positive stuff about red mite deterrant... the little critters don't like the taste so won't feed from your chooks x
 
Hurrah! Success at last :D Sweetcorn or maize left to soak overnight & grapes are now accepted by my girls & Pickle the cockerel!

However, they do turn their noses up if the grapes are too big... :lol:
 
Mine don't like dark greens like cabbage but they go mad for lettuce I know there isn't much in it but better than nothing I guess, they like grapes and of course sweetcorn. They go mad for bananas I guess it all depends on them and what they fancy! I think they really prefer to free range and eat the grass and go hunting for bugs and keeps them busy they get so bored in their run they go mad when they see me hoping I'll let them out! Who would have imagined that chickens could be so picky??
 
Yey! At last, Sweetcorn is always a winner - and are you silly enuf to go cut the grapes into smaller "bitesize" pieces? I know most of us on this forum are!! LOL!!!
We have got them spoilt rotten honestly! x :lol:
 
Mrs P said:
However, they do turn their noses up if the grapes are too big...
Click to expand...

Aileen said:
Yey! At last, Sweetcorn is always a winner - and are you silly enuf to go cut the grapes into smaller "bitesize" pieces? I know most of us on this forum are!! LOL!!!
We have got them spoilt rotten honestly! x
Click to expand...


GUILTY AS CHARGED, I QUARTER THEM- THEY EVEN HAVE THEIR OWN SET OF RAMEKINS...... :-)07
 
And mine had another pomegranate again yesterday, its their favourite........However, I was treated with disdain this morning. I thought the kettle had boiled but it hadn't, so they got cold mash. The hens stood there in silence, arms folded, beaks wrinkled in disgust! I was most suprised I got any eggs today!!! And no, they haven't eaten the cold mash!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top