Posted by Sherry on January 29, 2001 at 10:12:32:
In Reply to: Bottle babies not eating grain posted by Tracy on January 28, 2001 at 21:10:13:
My oldest kids are four weeks now and they are nibbling at hay and dead leaves and they will taste of the grain. The younger kids just smell of it and take off running! I put a little bite of beet pulp (I feed it wet) and a half cup of grain (this is for seven babies) in with them every morning just to get them familiar with the smell and the routine. Every evening I throw it to the chickens! Like Vicki said, they are getting everything they need from the milk and they will start eating roughage before they touch grain. I raised a little doe once that was so spoiled she was almost 8 weeks old before she even touched hay!!! It took forever and every trick I could think of to get her eating so I could wean her! I thought for a while I would be bottle feeding her when she freshened!