[Blondie]

Hello,

I'm new to chickens, had them about 3 weeks now and they have been laying for just over a week. Not sure if its just how they are or my chickens are just plain greedy so and so's but everytime i go near the run or they see people they go crazy wanting food. Pacing up and down the run, squaking, run up to me etc etc. They sqwauk alot during the day too when no1s even near them. Most of the time im only checking on them, i cant feed them everytime i go. They have a feeder full of layers pellets they eat quite a bit of and get a big handful of corn in the afternoons, plus the odd bit of lettuce or cabbage of an evening. I hung up a cabbage plant the other day and they stripped that in less than an hour. There's only 2 of them as well and this has been going on long before they began to lay.

Are chickens generally this greedy? If not do u think there's anything wrong with them? Is there anything i can give them to keep them entertained so they dont want food all the time? Any ideas would be appreciated.

xx

[Aunt Sally]

Yup... That sounds like chickens to me  

You are giving them plenty of food.  Pellets ad lib,  corn late pm, greens every day.  They need no more !  Get them used to seeing you without receiving any extras and they may become less begging.

Enrich their environment if you can.  Things to jump on,  greens hung up almost out of reach, somewhere to excavate for bugs and seeds which have germinated (they like those).

I call one of my chickens "the incredible pacing hen".  If they are allowed to free range that will keep them happy but I think it makes them less content when they have to be shut in their run.  I just keep reminding myself that they have a fantastic life.  They are not battery hens or even barn hens after all  :!:

[slowef]

Thats nothing, if I am washing up they tap on the window to ask for food

Yours are normal don't worry :?

[David.]

Enjoy it!

Have a seat (turned upside down when you're not sitting on it) in the run and feel their warm necks against your arm as they feed from your hand.

Sit with them, enjoy their company and work out how you can accommodate about half a dozen hens!

[SOURIS]

Chickens I think are the greediest creatures you will ever EVER meet! They will eat food endlessly and with the greatest glee! It has a way of really making feel you inadequate since they will always be mithering you for more no matter how much you give them ... it makes it very hard therefore not to overfeed them!!

The suggestions here are perfect - they especially love a cabbage or other greens hung in the run - they will make short work of them though - one of our chickens (Speckles) even starts to devour the cabbage as we are actually trying to tie the cabbage up! I find that it takes them slightly longer to munch through a white cabbage than a looser leafed one like a savoy.

I also find that sometimes if you throw them a handful of corn into the run instead of putting it into a bowl in a pile that it will take them longer to eat it up and keep them interested as they scratch around to find it- not too much to attract rats of course though, just a handful or so at a time!

Good luck!

[Fat Hen]

Chickens are almost as greedy as Labradours.  Mine know when it's meal times and come in the house from the garden, and usually eventually sit on the lip of the french window in the hope of a tasty morsel.

[Sadgit]

can they have lettuce?

plus I only have layers pellets at the moment, as the supplier ran out of corn and grit. Do I need grit when feeding pellets?

[alan42]

sadgit they love lettuce more than anything ( well mine do ) you can get corn for cheap £3.00 a sack from a farm near arcadia nurseries and layers pellets already has grit incorperated in it.
alan

[Sadgit]

sadgit they love lettuce more than anything ( well mine do ) you can get corn for cheap £3.00 a sack from a farm near arcadia nurseries and layers pellets already has grit incorperated in it.
alan

Nice one thanks Alan. I got my pellets from up north about 13 miles from where I work in Peterlee, so is a bit of a trek to go back there all the time. I was trying to find a place near me and the farm near arcadia is just round the corner from me, so hopefully the sell layers pellets as well

Just given mine some lettuce and they pecked it and looked at me as if they were disgusted and walked off

[SOURIS]

You will find chickens have varying tastes ... one of my hens once eschewed all cheese except red leicester! My husband and I have 2 hens in our back garden now and one loves fruit and vegetables the most - whereas the other prefers rice and bread. The latter chicken sometimes even ignores mealworms! So they can sometimes -despite their vast greed - be picky and fussy too.

Yesterday I threw tomatoes and the end of a chocolate biscuit down for them - again the first hen (Speckles) was delighted by the tomato - whereas the second hen (Ginger) was very much more pleased about the scrap of chocolate biscuit, and specifically the chocolate chip still in it! Speckles however completely ignored the biscuit.

Obviously I wouldn't recommend such bad things as cheese and chocolate for hens on a daily basis - that would be very bad indeed!