How do you determine if a laying hen is the proper weight?

[grnidone]

I have Barred Rock hens and I noticed that they are much smaller than my neighbor's Barred Rocks.

Is there a way to determine if hens are the proper weight by palpating them like you do with dogs?

For example, a dog isn't the proper weight of you can feel the ribs (but not see them) when you lightly rub the dog's sides.

Is there a general rule with laying hens?

 

[sylviethecochin]

The general rule is that if they're laying well, then they're healthy. You probably just have a different hatchery line than your neighbor does--or he has crossbreeds.

 

[grnidone]

That's just it: they are NOT laying. So, I know they need to gain weight (one of them was sick and only weighed 3 pounds) and the other hasn't laid (lain?) eggs for a while now.

I palpated them and they seemed bony. But I have no idea how long to let them feed on baby chick food.

 

[DrPatrickBiggs]

I have Barred Rock hens and I noticed that they are much smaller than my neighbor's Barred Rocks.

Is there a way to determine if hens are the proper weight by palpating them like you do with dogs?

For example, a dog isn't the proper weight of you can feel the ribs (but not see them) when you lightly rub the dog's sides.

Is there a general rule with laying hens?

Great questions! Once your birds at 18-20 weeks old, or when they lay their first egg, you can switch them over from a starter-grower feed to layer feed. Click here to find more info about choosing a layer feed and making the transition easy.

There isn’t a set guideline because there is a wide difference in the body structure of many of the layers. Often times, the best laying hens are the thinnest birds. Typically, as a hen gets larger in size, she tends to lay fewer eggs. The easiest way to determine how much they weigh is to just use a scale. It is considerably easier to weigh a chicken than a dog. If you have a scale, then you can weigh yourself with and then without the hen to determine how much she weighs. You would then need to determine what an average body weight is for that breed of hen. That, too, becomes a bit of a challenge because we don’t have a lot of data to show what most breeds of chickens should weigh at specific ages. We have a good idea of what white and brown leghorns should weigh because those are the commercial breeds. There isn’t much out there to tell me what a silkie, a brahma, an olive egger, etc should weigh.

 

[casportpony]

Here is a picture I like - It's for pet birds, but based on my experience I would say it's best to shoot for a 2 to 3.

 

[grnidone]

This is so awesome! Can we get this posted on the site?

 

[casportpony]

This is so awesome! Can we get this posted on the site?

What do you mean?