A question about culling

[QChickieMama]

When it's necessary to cull a chicken, I harvest the meat for us or for our dogs. I simply hate to waste.

My question is this: is it normal for a hen to have a large amount of belly fat? I'm wondering if my girls are getting too many treats.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

When it's necessary to cull a chicken, I harvest the meat for us or for our dogs. I simply hate to waste.

My question is this: is it normal for a hen to have a large amount of belly fat? I'm wondering if my girls are getting too many treats.

Sometimes they may have a bit but too many treats will cause lots of extra

 

[EggSighted4Life]

When it's necessary to cull a chicken, I harvest the meat for us or for our dogs. I simply hate to waste.

My question is this: is it normal for a hen to have a large amount of belly fat? I'm wondering if my girls are getting too many treats.

The fat plug as I call it (since it comes out first before the guts) varies by breed and individual but also age.. older birds have more junk in their trunks than young ones do in my experience.

To answer your question more accurately.. please describe your feed routine including feed type (or protein %), treats, and supplements.. and spread between how many birds? Do they free range where they may also have access to bugs, etc?

 

[FrostRanger]

We can have a better idea if you describe their diet, but i'm leaning towards probably yes. Cutting back on treats probably would be a good idea.

In addition to the questions posed by @EggSighted4Life I'd like to ask what breeds you have

 

[QChickieMama]

This hen was a cream leg bar. The others are a mix of buffs, barred rocks, and RIRs.

I feed them a layer mix from the local feed store. It's probably 14% protein with recognizable corn bits. A friend gave me 50# hulled sunflower seeds and 50# shelled peanuts, so these are the treats I toss into the grass once in a while. They free-range from 4p-dusk nearly every day.

Those treats are gone now, but if they're not ideal, I could decline my friend's offer in the future. I also give them kitchen scraps, mostly fruit, veggies, & meats.

 

[FrostRanger]

14% is really low. I usually shoot for about 20% protein. How often do they get scraps? I might cut back on that a bit. You generally don't want to have more than 10% of their diet to be treats. Depending on how long it took you to go through the sunflower seeds and peanuts amongst how many birds, that could be your problem right there. They're fine occasionally but they are quite fattening and since you already feed scraps, that could push things over the edge. How big is their run and how many total do you have?

 

[MamaPoult]

I've noticed that old hens seem to have a lot more if that yellow great fat in them!

 

[QChickieMama]

14% is really low. I usually shoot for about 20% protein. How often do they get scraps? I might cut back on that a bit. You generally don't want to have more than 10% of their diet to be treats. Depending on how long it took you to go through the sunflower seeds and peanuts amongst how many birds, that could be your problem right there. They're fine occasionally but they are quite fattening and since you already feed scraps, that could push things over the edge. How big is their run and how many total do you have?

This flock has 2 12x12 pens for 15 birds, 7 in one and 8 in the other. They free-range together.
They get scraps, one small bowl, maybe 3x/week.
My other flock is 13 birds, and those 2 huge bags lasted maybe 8 months.

 

[QChickieMama]

I've noticed that old hens seem to have a lot more if that yellow great fat in them!

This girl was only 1yo. She just never recovered from her last molt. Her comb was flopped down into her face, and she hardly had feathers.

 

[FrostRanger]

This girl was only 1yo. She just never recovered from her last molt. Her comb was flopped down into her face, and she hardly had feathers.

Switching to a higher protein feed would fix that. Molting requires a lot of protein as feathers are basically pure protein and 14% is nowhere near enough