Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Lorie on September 03, 2009, 20:55

Title: Too many treats
Post by: Lorie on September 03, 2009, 20:55
Can i give my girls too many treats..by treats i mean mealworm,live and dried..and everyday a good handfull of maize and corn..they are good layers..i dont want to over do it. Have also been giving same treats to mum and 3 week old chicks..is it ok...thank you...concerned.
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: janeheritage on September 03, 2009, 23:36
Sounds fine to me. Our girls range all day and get a handful of corn each when they come in at night. They will climb Everest for mealworms and there is nothing like them for taming the babies!
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: grumpydad on September 04, 2009, 06:56
you can give too many treats.
they should not have anything but layers pellets or layers mash until late afternoon, as the layers will give them all they need to make eggs, apart from a little grit if they are not free ranging.
treats, and anly a small amount late afternoon, remember that as i was told, fat hens dont lay eggs, lol

martyn
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: richyrich7 on September 04, 2009, 07:42
Yeah I agree with Grumpydad, you can give too many. To be really honest they don't need them, a handful of mixed corn between 3-4 hens in the late afternoon in the cooler months will help them keep warm overnight.
Fat hens lay less eggs ad are more inclined to have a prolapse IMHO   :)
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: LittleRedHen on September 04, 2009, 10:16
I am so glad you mentioned the prolapse, as our hens get way too many treats and are fat.  They lay everyday, but definitely we are going to cut down on the treats.  Might have to keep up the fresh spinach leaves though.   :wub:
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: dizzylizzie on September 04, 2009, 10:50
My girls have all had a talking to about their calorie intake :D as they were newly freed we wanted to fatten them up and give them lots of lovely things to try.....well they got the sq**ts.....we were just letting them out first thing and they just went where ever they wanted, now i let them out for half hour first thing, then put them in the run till lunchtime so they can eat their layers before filling up on grass, bugs, pumpkins etc. they some times have cranberries, grapes, mealworms, corn or rasins, but no where near what they were getting! very funny tho, henrietta found some brambles, stuffed her face with blackberries...and her poo is , well, errr, very interesting....its kind of projetile....and red...very red....poor dory was standing behind her eating grass :blink: well lets just say dorey has now has 2 baths :ohmy: he he he
caught them eating pumpkin seeds again last night, i told them aunty sarah would be cross, but they didnt seem bothered :dry:
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: richyrich7 on September 04, 2009, 15:04
I am so glad you mentioned the prolapse, as our hens get way too many treats and are fat.  They lay everyday, but definitely we are going to cut down on the treats.  Might have to keep up the fresh spinach leaves though.   :wub:

Fresh leaves will do no harm, it's the carbs that do it bit like us  :lol:
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: colliebird on September 04, 2009, 15:56
Can i give my girls too many treats..by treats i mean mealworm,live and dried..and everyday a good handfull of maize and corn..they are good layers..i dont want to over do it. Have also been giving same treats to mum and 3 week old chicks..is it ok...thank you...concerned.

Meal worms are quite expensive, so I started rearing my own some months ago.  The hens love them and I give them some 2 or 3 times a week.
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: richyrich7 on September 04, 2009, 16:55
mine get my left over maggots from fishing, they go mad when they see the bait box  ::)
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: grumpydad on September 04, 2009, 19:12
rich, i was going to give mine some maggots a few weeks ago, but the man in the pet shop told me that the black piece at the end of the maggot was poisonous, ( he said he had been told by an avian breeder) so i did not get any.
obviously he was wrong, or is it just a few you give.
i know that it is ok to give a few when they have sour crop.

martyn
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: dizzylizzie on September 04, 2009, 19:37
Can i give my girls too many treats..by treats i mean mealworm,live and dried..and everyday a good handfull of maize and corn..they are good layers..i dont want to over do it. Have also been giving same treats to mum and 3 week old chicks..is it ok...thank you...concerned.

Meal worms are quite expensive, so I started rearing my own some months ago.  The hens love them and I give them some 2 or 3 times a week.

that sounds interesting, how do you do that?
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: karlooben on September 04, 2009, 20:43
i was going to post that dizzie  :lol: :lol: yeh how do u breed your own meal worms or dare i not ask  :tongue2:
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: richyrich7 on September 04, 2009, 20:45
rich, i was going to give mine some maggots a few weeks ago, but the man in the pet shop told me that the black piece at the end of the maggot was poisonous, ( he said he had been told by an avian breeder) so i did not get any.
obviously he was wrong, or is it just a few you give.
i know that it is ok to give a few when they have sour crop.

martyn

No idea Martyn, I know mine love them think last week they got about 1/4 pint between 4 :blush: and they are still standing. Muntjac says there ok to give them in moderationand theres not much he does not know about hens. I'm sure if I'm wrong Foxy or Aunty will say so.
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: Sparkle on September 04, 2009, 21:55
Wasn't sure there was anyone else mad enough to be breeding mealworms themselves
Mine are in an old biscuit tin, layered up with hessian and newspaper with potato halves and bread on then more paper an hessian and so on. I keep forgetting about them but they seem to be fine, the beetles hatch, turn from brown to black lay some eggs, eggs hatch baby worms fatten up and then the girls go mad for them! SO EASY to do - would be interested to hear how you do it for comparison!!
Sparkle :)
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: dizzylizzie on September 04, 2009, 23:16
oww, that sounds good. im gonna give it a go , my girls love meal worms , but they ar quite expensive for what they are i think...or is it just me being a miser? :blink:
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: grumpydad on September 05, 2009, 11:04
i think i will buy mine, i am likely to leave the lid loose and they will be everywhere, then you will all hear the screams from my wife when she finds them out !!!!!!!!!

lol

martyn
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: ladyhotspur on September 05, 2009, 20:43
oww, that sounds good. im gonna give it a go , my girls love meal worms , but they ar quite expensive for what they are i think...or is it just me being a miser? :blink:
No you arent being a miser they are expensive...but well worth it for the girls as an occassional treat  :)
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: lucylou on September 05, 2009, 23:14
to those of you that breed your own meal worms yuk!! - how long does it take for them to change into beetles and then lay eggs and hatch out etc, and do they need to be in a warm place? ive got a few left over in a tub and was waondering if i could use them to start a new batch ? many thanks, lucylou
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: LittleRedHen on September 06, 2009, 11:08
I think I might have a go too.  I have an empty biscuit tin from last Christmas that might be okay.  Guess I'll google it for the details.  It's got to be cheaper that £14.99 a tub of the little blighters!
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: colliebird on September 06, 2009, 13:25
I bought a handful of live meal worms from the local pet shop.  I put them in a large rectangular vivarium/aquarium with a cloth over it.
I put in wheat (cheap), half a carrot or apple (to give them the moisture they need to consume) a couple of egg boxes, and sometimes put in oats as well as wheat.
It takes several weeks when you first start, for the beetles to lay eggs then for them to hatch. 
I've forgotten a few times to cover the container with a cloth and they haven't come out at all.
The container should ideally be kept in a warm/ish place, kitchen is fine, but in a cold place
they don't do well.  Make sure the container isn't closed hermetically.  They need to breath!!

Hope this helps.
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: karlooben on September 06, 2009, 19:40
if i started something like that my mum would freak  :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Too many treats
Post by: chuckie.egg on September 08, 2009, 17:28
Is it ok the give a small amount of mealworms now & again to 1 week old chicks?  (dried or fresh)