8 month old hen found dead in coop— what happened? How can I protect my other 3 girls?

[rebrascora]

What does your feed look like? Is it a homogenised pellet or crumble or more a whole grain feed? If the latter, this may be your problem. With grain feeds, the chickens can pick individual components out of the feed that they like best. These are often the high carbohydrate grains and they leave the higher protein lentils/pulses for other birds to eat. There have been a number of posts here on BYC where people's young birds have suffered a similar fate. You might as well be feeding those birds scratch every day, because essentially those are the things that they are picking out of the feed.

 

[Kiki]

What does your feed look like? Is it a homogenised pellet or crumble or more a whole grain feed? If the latter, this may be your problem. With grain feeds, the chickens can pick individual components out of the feed that they like best. These are often the high carbohydrate grains and they leave the higher protein lentils/pulses for other birds to eat. There have been a number of posts here on BYC where people's young birds have suffered a similar fate. You might as well be feeding those birds scratch every day, because essentially those are the things that they are picking out of the feed.

I thought this too but Healthy Harvest's website says it is a crumble or pellet.

 

[rebrascora]

Oh OK, well not that then.
What about....

Yes—mealworms, mixed seed treats, maybe a handful daily. They also eat occasional vegetables and fruits—apples, cucumbers, etc.

Just wondering about the mixed seed treats. A handful between 4 is a decent amount and may have been a factor.

 

[Kiki]

Oh OK, well not that then.
What about....


Just wondering about the mixed seed treats. A handful between 4 is a decent amount and may have been a factor.

Yes.
I think it has to be the "treats."

 

[Urchickchic]

Can you post a photo if this?

Thrown out the bag as it’s in a bin and it doesn’t exist on line. If anyone has a good complete feed to recommend, let me know.

 

[Kiki]

Sorry.

Thrown out the bag as it’s in a bin and it doesn’t exist on line. If anyone has a good complete feed to recommend, let me know.

You should go to your store and see what is available to buy locally.
There are hundreds and hundreds of feeds out there but most are not sold everywhere and shipping is very expensive.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some chickens can be genetically probe to fatty liver disease. I feed only layer pellets with 17% protein, with a rare treat of scratch, and some hens will just overeat and look like hogs. They are the first ones to the food. I have seen some hens on necropsy emaciated, but yet they may still have large fat deposits on necropsy. I tend to think there is only so much you can do to prevent it.