Food for weight gain?

[JacksonPearce]

I just had a really nasty bout of a bacterial infection with my flock that I (and the state poultry lab) thought might be Avian flu-- it managed to take out two of my girls within hours of one another, and its pretty incredible that the others bounced back! While dosing them with antibiotics, I also realized that quite a few are skinnier than I'd like. It's very possible it's worms, so I'm going to dose them with invermectin pour-on drops once the vet confirms they're healthy enough for it (we're already having to toss eggs because of the antibiotics they're taking anyway), but I also worry that I've been accidentally underfeeding-- we had a rat problem that I didn't know about until recently, so while I THOUGHT they were going through a normal amount of food, it's very possible the rats were getting the lions share.

All that's to say-- I want to put weight on my girls as quickly and healthily as possible. I've been giving them their regular food along with mash from a friend's homebrew operation, but I'm wondering what the most calorie-dense option is. Thoughts? I've got Kaytee parrot hand feed mix that I use on very sick birds, for what it's worth, but I'm open to other (and less expensive) suggestions as well!

 

[azygous]

I find that fermenting my feed solves many problems. First, it eliminates waste. Second, it increases nutrients and makes them more available to the chickens. This increases overall health, and it helps immune system responses.

The chickens eat the fermented feed completely so there is no food left in the coops or runs overnight to entice wildlife. This is crucial in my case since I have bears. Mice and rats are attracted to food left in the run, and rattle snakes are attracted to the mice and rats.

During molt, a few of my chickens drop their weight to an alarming level, so I supplement their regular feed with special servings of canned mackerel or BOSS or tofu a couple times a week. High grade protein is the best thing for putting weight back on a chicken quickly.

 

[JacksonPearce]

For some reason I didn't get the alerts that this thread had answers-- thank you! This is very helpful. I'm going to try the canned mackerel.