I think Nando will soon get into the swing of things I've never had ex bats but I'm sure it must take them some getting used to being out in the big wide world,I think all chooks need time to get used to their surroundings before they settle down. You could also maybe try slowly introducing 'Layers pellets' chook food, you could crush some down at first as they won't be used to it.I understand there is more protein in them for growing chooks,just an idea
All the ingredients would have been milled and mixed to make a mash for battery hens, thats why they look at it and think what's this, they will soon come round to eating it allso there food would have been given to them by drag chains in a tough, when the chains start moving they know that food is on it's way
My first experience of chook keeping was with an ex-batt. The "farms" usually only keep their hens for a maximum of 15 months. My ex-batt continually laid soft shell eggs and I tried most things. Finally used baked crushed egg shells and I saw a change in both her feathers, her general demeanour and then ... at long last .... I got a "proper" egg (well, as near as damn it anyway). Took about 9 months in all. Then, she went into decline and a few days later, the inevitable happened. Ex-batts don't have a high life expectancy simply because the hens are bred for high yield in as short a time as possible and this takes its toll on the overall health and longevity of the birds. Also bear in mind they were never bred to live for more than those 15 months at high intensity production, so anything they are given thereafter is a bonus for them (and their quality of life).
We keep saying that we're amazed at how well they've done. They've been with us now about a couple of months and we've not had any health problems, not lost any, no predator attempts.. We really have been so lucky with them. All the chooks are happy and healthy and no matter how long they may be with, we're just happy to have them with us for their best months or years
At the moment they're having 5 scoops of layers crumble, a handful of sunflower seeds (which they have yet to get the taste for), a handful of mixed grit and a handful of mealworms in their feed which I put out in the morning. In the afternoon they normally have about 30-50g of mealworms between them which we're also using to train them This normally lasts them the day but they seem to be eating more and more! We've also just opened up the run a bit more so they've got some extra grass and soil to dig around in
