Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: kymw90 on February 14, 2012, 13:25
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Hello I'm new to this site
We recently lost one of our hens and nearly lost another. She went to the vets and is now on the mend and all hens are being wormed and loused so we can rule those out now but we did notice nearly all our girls have very little breast meat on them obviously indicating the girls are a tad thin.
They roam free range in out garden (have eaten all greenage) They have access to feed all the time and water. So what else can give other than corn to just help get them a tad plumper?? Would hate to loose any more and certainly don't like to think their thin :(
What market feed can we buy and what else could we feed that gives extra calories?? We aren't fussed about egg laying and they aren't eating birds!!! I am cornering off some of the garden to attempt a grassy growing area for them to enjoy :D
Please help anyone??? :wacko:
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sorry but egg laying hens do not have much meat on them - their energy goes onto the egg laying process rather than meat production. Keep them on the usual layers pellets with the odd treat of mixed corn this will ensure they have all they need.
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The vet said that poorly chick was quite thin and on checking the others ( which atm aren't laying much at all ) are feeling small too. There must be a way of keeping it on them??
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Your average hybrid (Warren etc) should weigh only between 1.25 and 1.5kg. Some of the larger hybrids, like Bluebelles might reach 2kg, but all of them, you should easily be able to feel thier keel (breast bone).
It can be very surprising at how thin a laying hybrid actually is, and is one of the reasons why denuded ex-bats can look so appalling.
Even a lot of vets, think of a chicken as what you get in a supermarket, with a nice fat breast, unfortunately in laying birds it just doesn't happen.
To monitor them you have to become aquainted with each bird individually. You can begin by weighing them, and then having a feel of how much meat then have on their breast. if you weigh them once a week for a couple of months, you can gauge how this reflects with the breast meat, then rely on feeling them with weighing only occasionally to keep a check of their weight.
Honestly, if you feed layers pellets ad lib, the hens will eat enough to be healthy *nods* they don't really need any supplementation.
A fat laying hen is an unhealthy hen, and being fat can cause all kinds of problems.
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How many feeders have you got out and for how many chickens and how big an area do they have to range in? Perhaps your chickens are just extra fit. Are some of them being kept away from the feeders according to where they are in the pecking order (one of mine is always being pushed away)? If so then putting out extra feeders might help them get extra food. You could also give them some pellets with warm water first thing every so often as the novelty of the warm 'porridge' encourages them to eat more.
I de-louse mine with Frontline and worm them with Flubenvet which are considered to be the most efficient products. Good luck.
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Casey76:
Ok thats fair enough and thats a good idea I will certainly do that.
Kegs:
We have 3 of each water and feed feeders.. 9 birds now and there is always access to one of the feeders even if there are more higher ranking hens around.
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I agree with the others kym, I don't think it was a weight problem your poorly girls had, and most vets aren't used to chickens, so could easily think they are too thin.
Ideal weights are what Casey said for hybrids.1.25 up to 2kgs depending on whether they are the normal 'brown' girls or the bigger hybrids like the Bluebelles.
They will start laying more as the days get longer I'm sure.
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And as Casey said get used to the way your hens are and 'feel'. I only have 2 hens (rhode rocks or similar) at the moment (hoping to change that in the very near future though!) and from a distance they look very similar.
However, when you pick them up and handle them 1 is quite thin compared to the other and she always has been. It used to concern me but now nearly 2 years down the line I can see that is just the way she is. Out of the 2, apart from a long spell of laying soft shelled eggs at the the end of last summer, overall she has probably been the better layer. Touch wood she is a healthy, very active & feisty little character and currently enjoys the position of top hen.