can chickens get fat?

[chickchicks]

i am curous to know if chickens can get fat,
i have two BO
wilma who is skinny - she keept giving her food to the babies instead of eating herself
betty - looks very very large and eats anything insight

i feed them the grower pellets as they are not laying with thte babies around and the babies arent supposed to eat layers.
they get theoddscraps oflettuceor mealworms
anda bitof cornnow and again
but nothing in big protions and only at the end of the day as a small treat they get a bit of things ie nota whole cabbage etc as thy cant eat a full one between them selves in 20 mins ( general rule)


so ..... can chickens get fat?
im not sure if its becasue when they stand next to each other betty looks fat but she is very very fluffy too.

thanks for any info ,

also in a side note i have noticed the feet have gone a bit red ish there normally a grayish colour but now they have a tad red in them and i have not seen this before, is it cause shejustwoke up and is moving around or something else. if you want pics ill take some and post tomorrow
thanks again

 

[Mahonri]

Yes, they can get big and fat.

And usually when they are fat they don't lay much.

 

[chickchicks]

thank you

next question is how do you know there fat !

as im not sure on the boundrys for a BO as i know there a big bird anyway

i just dontunderstand how they get the same food and oneis soo much bigger !

 

[chickchicks]

the picture is betty the bigger of the two girls !

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how to tell if they are fat. Maybe some experts could tell by feeling in the vent area, but I sure can't.

When a chicken eats enough to store the extra as fat, they store it in what is called a "fat pad" in the vent area. That is normal. Then if they get too fat, they tend to store the excess around the internal organs, heart, liver, kidneys and such in addition to the fat pad getting larger. I've processed enough hens to see this. I'm not sure what you are seeing is really fat.

Some chickens are just larger than others, even of the same breed and even brothers and sisters, just like people. They just have different body shapes and frames. Some do eat more than others even if the same food is available to them the same amount of time. Some process food more efficiently than others. Each chicken has their own personality and physical characteristics. There are breed tendencies but those are just tendencies that most of a large flock will have. Each individual bird may not follow those tendencies.

From the way you describe you feed them, I don't think you are doing anything wrong.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Orpingtons are a heavy weight breed and have more than the usual amount of loose, fluffy feathering. It's pretty normal for them to look quite round, even when they aren't carrying extra fat on their bodies.

I keep feed in the feeder all the time, but haven't had problems with chickens getting fat. They get a lot of exercise free ranging and foraging all day long. I don't feed a lot of extra corn or other grains.

I think chickens have more trouble with getting fat if they're locked in a small area with nothing to do and eat a lot of corn.

 

[chickchicks]

thank you all

i got worried when comparing betty to wilma who i know is too thin , now the chicks have grown and gone to new homes (they were male)
she has started to eat again but is nothing like wilma ,

its like thick and thin the both onopposite scalles!

i got worried seeingthe red on her feet, someone ona nother thread has thesame problem withthe same pictures and have been told its just dry feet so im hoping that i gohome and catch her ! give her a moistureizer !

 

[Lollipop]

OK, To tell if a chicken is fat, turn her upside down and look at the skin just in front of the vent. The skin is almost transparent and the yellow stuff under the skin is fat. Some fat is normal......Pop

 

[chickchicks]

thanks ill take a go at that

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I usually have a few chickens with white feet and legs in my flock. I think you can see more pink or red showing when they're cold, in the winter, compared to the breeds with more natural color. It's always good to watch for scaly leg mites, though.