⠀ Skinny Chickens

J ALLEN said:

I have 7 laying hens; 1- Leghorn, 2-barred rock and 4-buff Orpingtons. All are 1 year old. All are not laying everyday. All feel like skin and bones. Their breast bone sticks out. Can't feel any meat on the breast. Their appetite is good and very alert. I feed them 1 cup of corn everyday along with all the laying pellets they want. Their poop looks normal. Anything I can do to put weight on them.

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Poor hen body condition can be caused by a variety of issues. To confirm that your birds are truly under condition, try performing a body condition test.
To perform this test, locate the keel (or breastbone) of your bird. Place your palm over the chest and keel of the bird. The keel sticks out from the bird’s chest and is surrounded on each side by the breast muscles. You can score the body condition of your bird by the way the keel and breast muscles feel.
If your birds score 0 or 1 using the charts below, then there is a body condition issue.

To help birds gain more weight, ensure that they are eating a balanced and complete diet. A 16% complete layer diet, like Purina Layena is ideal for laying hens and should make up at least 90% of the total diet.
If you would like to accelerate weight gain, consider feeding a diet higher in protein, such as Purina Flock Raiser, which contains 18% protein. You can even consider switching them back to a complete non-medicated starter diet, like Purina Start & Grow, which contains 20% protein. In either case, be sure to supplement with oyster shell, as these feeds do not contain high enough levels of calcium to support proper egg production.
If you do not see an improvement in weight gain over the next 30 days, it is wise to consult your local veterinarian to make sure that there aren’t medical issues holding your birds back.




You can find more information on these charts and body condition scoring here: http://bit.ly/1XVhP1V

J ALLEN said:

I have 7 laying hens; 1- Leghorn, 2-barred rock and 4-buff Orpingtons. All are 1 year old. All are not laying everyday. All feel like skin and bones. Their breast bone sticks out. Can't feel any meat on the breast. Their appetite is good and very alert. I feed them 1 cup of corn everyday along with all the laying pellets they want. Their poop looks normal. Anything I can do to put weight on them.

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i also have a leghorn

she's a lot smaller than my other chickens.. is it because of the type of breed?

there are plenty of food and water.. as of today she's about 1/2 - 2/3 the size of my other chickens :/

I would say it's because of the breed hope this helps

I've got 3 Isa Browns, they are all laying at this point. I believe the one in question isn't as consistent as the other two, Shadow. She just doesn't seems as wide as the other girls. My other two are nice and fluffy, wide, and Blondie produces the largest eggs of the three. Shadow, the one I'm concerned about, eats, drinks, scratches, acts like a normal chicken. If she weren't just small I wouldn't think anything was wrong with her. But since this is my first time raising chickens I'm always over cautious and want to ensure happy, healthy chickens. I've got a flock of 6, my 3 Isas, two EEs and an EE rooster, he's a gem but goes after them like a dog in heat. They've all become submissive to him so I don't believe that is the issue.
Thanks in advanced.
SHADOW RICHARD BLONDIE

SHADOW the darker one, smaller one BLONDIE the lighter one