Stuart Hartley

Thanks for all the replies. I just realized this is my second only post, I cant believe after stalking this website for so many years that this is the first time I have posted a thread.

I reckon I will start scaling back on their access time to the pellets and see if that encourages them. They have flown over the fence a couple of times and free ranged around the paddock for a few hours and when I finally put them back in the rush over to their food bowl and really chow down.

I like the idea of throwing the pellets around on the ground, I think that will work well. They do scratch around, but its a little half hearted, so this might encourage them a bit more. Ive built a mobile chicken coop on a trailer and there is plenty of straw inside for them to scratch around in when they want to.

I had also considered getting an old free range hen from the bloke up the road to see if she would teach them the basics, but we've had them for about 3 weeks now so I might have to introduce her in slowly

Hi All,

We've just got 5 new Australorps. I am not sure of their exact age, but I can tell they're pretty close to laying. I am trying to get them to eat scraps and to scratch around the yard a bit more, but they only want to eat their layer pellets.

So far I tried to tempt them some tomatoes from the garden, some green vegie scraps, some sprouted cowpea and sunflower seeds and even some black soldier fly larvae. They may peck at it for a second and even try and taste the stuff, but then its straight back to the pellets.

They free range during the day inside electrified fencing so they have plenty of room to move and scratch, but they haven't been taught to catch bugs or scratch for food so they don't seem to know what to do.

Any idea's ?