Shocking Discovery About Our Month Old Broilers

Hello Hive

Good morning, @homesteading family. Trust we are all having a great day. Welcome to my blog.

Yesterday, something quite interesting happened while I was feeding our chickens.

I threw some corn grains at them, and to my surprise, they completely ignored them. I was shocked because I was expecting them to rush at it the same way local or native chickens usually do.

Out of curiosity, I added some corn grains to their feeding pan, yet again, they ate only their formulated feed and left the corn untouched.

To be sure, it wasn’t just the corn; I went further and threw some rice grains, but the reaction was the same. They ignored the rice too and instead went on pecking at the green grasses around the compound.

At this point, I was like, 'Wow, what is going on?' Do these chickens lack the natural instinct to recognise grains as food? The whole situation prompted me to compare them with local or native chickens.

Unlike broilers, local chickens are very adaptable and rugged. They eat almost anything: grains, scraps, insects, you name it. These broilers, on the other hand, seem to only recognise their formulated feed as food.

What confused me even more was the fact that the broilers we raised last year for Christmas ate corn and rice grains very well. I remember vividly when Mummy threw some grains on the floor for the birds and goats; they ate them. So what happened with these ones?

Up till now, I still haven't found an apparent reason for their behaviour. It’s honestly my first time seeing chickens ignore grains. But then I thought maybe it’s because they weren’t introduced to grains early enough.

They are now a month and a week old, and we recently transitioned them from starter feed to finisher feed, which is even larger in size. So the size of the corn grains shouldn’t be the issue. My simple conclusion was that they don’t have the instinct to recognise rice or corn grains as food.

We’ve just entered their second month, and so far, they have consumed one full bag of formulated feed. I’m guessing they will finish another one or maybe a bag and a half before Christmas, when they should be ready for the pot. Lol.

They have grown so fast. It feels like just yesterday they were day-old chicks! Lol.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have you ever experienced your broilers rejecting corn or any other grains apart from formulated feed? Kindly share in the comments. Thank you 🙏🙏. Cheers