I came across an issue over the past couple of years. I want to run it buy you guys and see what you think...
You can all see by my signature the types of birds that I have. The thing is... some of my birds don't have good body weight. I am not exactly sure why this is but I wanted to know, from you all if you have these breeds what you are feeding them. I mean we are talking a marked difference in weight from bird to bird.
While my Dorkings are nice and hefty... my Favorelles are just thin. Which bothers me quite a bit. I only have a trio. I would like them to survive but they are very thin and I don't feed them any different than the other birds. My bantams seem to be alright though they get exactly the same feed. So I am curious as to the issue with them being so thin. I mean thin enough I had to put one in isolation I thought she was going to die. She is on chick starter right now for the extra protein. I was afraid to up it too much.
I know you all feed treats... but really that shouldn't be an issue. The only difference in my flock that I can see is that in the wild birds eat loads of bugs. Which bugs carry a significant amount of fat with that protein. But I really hesitate to add just willy nilly fat... I would not want to see this chicken go into diarrhaea(sp) I don't think she would survive it.
In any case this bird is now in isolation on chickstarter as it is 22% and although she is better I am still concerned because her fellow cagemates seem to be thin but not as thin as her.
What do you suppose I could feed them that would beef up that weigh gain, so they would be more of a normal weight. I swear that pullet near 5 months old weighs less than 2 lbs. so thin...
*This bird is doing well, she is eating a lot and doing well she is getting one on one attention I check on her ever day and she has plenty of rest and food and water*
I understand that 'some' breeds don't wear much weight being for eggs and being broody but still... when compaired to my marans, the marans pullet hands down carry more body weight at 5 months than that favorelle pullet. Am I just missing something here??
**all bad pet-owner posts will be ignored**
Arklady
You can all see by my signature the types of birds that I have. The thing is... some of my birds don't have good body weight. I am not exactly sure why this is but I wanted to know, from you all if you have these breeds what you are feeding them. I mean we are talking a marked difference in weight from bird to bird.
While my Dorkings are nice and hefty... my Favorelles are just thin. Which bothers me quite a bit. I only have a trio. I would like them to survive but they are very thin and I don't feed them any different than the other birds. My bantams seem to be alright though they get exactly the same feed. So I am curious as to the issue with them being so thin. I mean thin enough I had to put one in isolation I thought she was going to die. She is on chick starter right now for the extra protein. I was afraid to up it too much.
I know you all feed treats... but really that shouldn't be an issue. The only difference in my flock that I can see is that in the wild birds eat loads of bugs. Which bugs carry a significant amount of fat with that protein. But I really hesitate to add just willy nilly fat... I would not want to see this chicken go into diarrhaea(sp) I don't think she would survive it.
In any case this bird is now in isolation on chickstarter as it is 22% and although she is better I am still concerned because her fellow cagemates seem to be thin but not as thin as her.
What do you suppose I could feed them that would beef up that weigh gain, so they would be more of a normal weight. I swear that pullet near 5 months old weighs less than 2 lbs. so thin...
*This bird is doing well, she is eating a lot and doing well she is getting one on one attention I check on her ever day and she has plenty of rest and food and water*
I understand that 'some' breeds don't wear much weight being for eggs and being broody but still... when compaired to my marans, the marans pullet hands down carry more body weight at 5 months than that favorelle pullet. Am I just missing something here??
**all bad pet-owner posts will be ignored**
Arklady
