Thin hens and more can you help me plz????

Hi and welcome to the madhen house

First of all, laying hens are thin.  They have very little muscle in the breast area, and the breast bone will be noticable when you pick them up (the more you go towards dual purpose and meat birds the more meat they have on the breast area).

You need to feed them layers pellets (or layers mash or ex-batt pellets, depending on how well they can eat, and how much their beaks have been trimmed - most ex-batts adapt to normal pellets pretty quickly.

Hens are foraging animals, which means that they eat constantly thoughout the day... not in meals like a cat or dog would, so they are fine in this respect.

With regard to the sneezing, what do you have in the coop/next boxes/on the floor of the run?

Hay and straw can be dusty which can cause the hens to sneeze.  Hay can be a source of mould spores (as can straw), especially if it has become damp during storage, and this can also cause the hens to sneeze (it can also be a cause of a nasty lung disease called aspergillosis - but I don't want to worry you as it is a rare occurrance!)

Sneezing can also be a sign of a respiratory infection, in which case you will need to take at least one to the vet to get some antibiotics (the vet will prescribe enough for your whole flock).  This usually goes in the water so it is easy to administer.

Good luck with your new ex bats

Hi Debs,
When we got our ex batts they were almost bald, very very thin and rather slow.  The advice on here is spot on.  I would just add that once they are over their sneezing and all on the mend ground down kitten biscuits may help them gain weight, it helped our ladies. We tried tinned cat food but no one liked it. We still have Daisy who regularly comes into the kitchen to steal the cats biscuits
Good luck

Kathie