Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: helenp on October 15, 2009, 19:29
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i have had my ex battery hens for 4 weeks. they are doing well, laying eggs.
a couple of hens have no feathers on the top of their wings is there any i can do to help them grow back. one of the hens i think is losing her feathers i know they moult but she looks awful and with it getting cold just a little worried
is there any tonics i can give them just to give them a little boost as well
thanks
helen
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Are you adding poultry spice to their mash?
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no what is poultry spice
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Hi helen,
one of my ex batts had a bold patch when we got her, and she has been through several molts but the bold patch stayed.
We thought because she was created for the oven ready so she is a big girl in a tiny cage she had too much trauma to her back and legs and we had to face up to her looking gorgeous from the front,but from the back looking like she had no draws on!! bless.
Well after 6 months her feathers have all come back so you never know.
Anyway enough about my girls,I use as a tonic Poultry Spice, it acts as a nutritional supplement to help chooks to quickly get over a moult.
I also chop up fresh garlic and put in with their food every so often,and some cider vinegar in their drinking water.
Hope that helps ,
sid.
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thanks
what is poultry spice is it something you make up or do you buy it from food sellers
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Hello Helen.
It's a mineral supplement that you add to their food. I can only refer you to the website where I get my supplies:
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/
Lovely lady called Anne - very helpful.
I also use Verm-X Keep Well pellets for my ex-batts (also on the same website).
I have tried other things, the ones that are added to their water, such as the apple cider vinegar and Life Guard tonic but my girls won't touch "adulterated" water so I've given up on that.
You can try any or all of them, I guess you can't over-supplement them (someone here will tell you if you can). I've had my 4 ex-batts about 10 weeks now and they're coming along nicely but, as Sid says, it can take a few months for them to not look like they've been pulled through a hedge backwards.
Two of mine have feathered up beautifully, two still look right scruffy urchins.
Sure I saw a thread on here about making your own Poultry Spice but probably easier to buy some first off!
Just give them lots of love and cuddles, good quality food (are you giving them the ex-batts food?) and a bit of mixed corn/mealworms late afternoon and they'll soon be normal chooks. I say "normal" where "normal" actually means "madder than a box of frogs"...
Don't you just love 'em? :D
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Worm every three month, use flubenvet wormer.
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Oh markandsue, wish I could be like you. Concise and to the point, no waffling :D
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Give them a bit of fish flavoured tinned cat food. It helps with protein loss apparently.
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That's the one themagicaltoad! Cat food every now and then brings them on a treat :blink: ::)
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But I keep reading on here that you shouldn't give hens meat or too much protein. Or things that they wouldn't normally find in the wilds of the back garden.
I know fish is not meat :D But why is fishy cat food OK but beef flavoured not? And does this mean that they could eat, say, tinned tuna?
Just a bit confused about what is ok and what isn't...
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Your right Amanda,
I wouldn't suggest feeding cat food to Chickens, even though they love it. Cat food is formulated with the nutrient needs of cats in mind, and it can contain dangerous levels of certain amino acids for chickens,some very lean cooked meat and fish, on occasion but nothing that comes in a can .Thats what I have been told by some poultry farmers in the past.
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Thanks for your reply Sid. I think from the posts I've seen on here, cat food is only suggested for very poorly chooks so perhaps a small amount then has some benefit.
But your comments about cat food being formulated for optimum cat nutrition makes sense. And, for some reason, I just don't like the idea of giving them cat food. Perhaps it's because I eat their eggs and then I would feel like I am eating cat food by proxy. And cat food is vile, stinky stuff. I don't like to think of them eating worms or earwigs either, for the same reason, so I try not to think about it.
The only animal-based life form I feed them is mealworms (dried, couldn't bear live ones as the dried ones give me the heebie-jeebies) and earthworms if I'm gardening. Otherwise, it's veggie all the way!
But I'd still be interested to know if chooks would/should eat tinned tuna. That's not *very* processed and I think tuna and egg go well together :D
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Plus a little lettace and some french beans ... Salade Nicoise for the hens! ::)
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:tongue2: :tongue2: :tongue2:
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Olives? :D
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A little tinned tuna is fine, just make sure that it is in spring water, as some of the tinned versions are rather salty :)
You could add a little chopped egg, mmmmmn I do like a nice nicoise salad myself Madcat! :D
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Our ladies have been with us almost 4 weeks now and there are definate signs of new feather growth, mainly on the baldest girls. Matilda had knickers on but Jemima had the pinkest little booty.
Jemima is currently looking somewhat like a hedgehog as the new feathers start to peek through on her back and thighs, can't wait to see what colour she will be!
They have been fed briefly on ex-batt feed, then onto layers pellets but with the veg patch to roam in they have had plenty of greens since day one. Haven't tried them with any supplements as yet, other than a little poultry spice a couple of days ago - they seem to be doing quite well on worms and caterpillars! ;)
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Our ladies have been with us almost 4 weeks now and there are definate signs of new feather growth, mainly on the baldest girls. Matilda had knickers on but Jemima had the pinkest little booty.
Jemima is currently looking somewhat like a hedgehog as the new feathers start to peek through on her back and thighs, can't wait to see what colour she will be!
They have been fed briefly on ex-batt feed, then onto layers pellets but with the veg patch to roam in they have had plenty of greens since day one. Haven't tried them with any supplements as yet, other than a little poultry spice a couple of days ago - they seem to be doing quite well on worms and caterpillars! ;)
sounds like they are doing fine as they are, I wouldn't bother with supplements just yet. :)
I do use apple cider vinegar in my chooks water though. :)
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Can I use any cider vinegar - have some in the kitchen and wondering if ok to use?
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Oh markandsue, wish I could be like you. Concise and to the point, no waffling :D
A good thing to do is to feed your ex bats their eggs, you need to cook them. Scramble the egg and crush the shell in as well. You can mix up a little porridge and honey with it.
I would also recommend you keep them away from a cockerel until they are healthy.
Hens do eat meat by the way, they love frogs. Put a few logs in their run, assuming that's how you keep them, and from time to time roll the logs so they can get at the grubs. Dig up some worms, hens love them.
You will find that you will lose some of your hens due to shock, some just give up because the change is too much for them.
Bed them down on straw it will help keep them warm.
Give them as much room as you can.
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Oh yes, sure hens eat meat - I know they like frogs and obviously eat bugs and worms in the garden...
I think I was just worried about giving them processed meat like cat food.
And I'm not letting any old brute of a cockerel anywhere near my girls. They are retired. Last thing they need is some bloke hassling them all the time! :D
I like the idea of porridge though, especially on chilly mornings.
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Had our 8 ex batts now almost 3 months.
Most have regrown beautiful feathers on a good balanced diet of ex batt pellets with corn and treats in the afternoon. Used poultry sprice to start with, and they have garlic powder in their water (it really does reduce the smell of the poo - honest, I've tried it with and without, and it does work)
But I still have one, Tilly the Hun, still very much lacking anything in the way of an overcoat, and looks like she's been buried for a week and then dug up again.
Not worried in the slightest, she's fit, active and happy..............However, I do have a knitting pattern for a sweater ::), and with winter approaching am seriously considering getting the needles out!
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thanks everyone for your help going to get some poultry spice and am giving them garlic as have loads from the allotment.
:) :)