Can Cornish hens lose weight

[aydogdu1979]

Hi all,

I am a newbie and I need some help. One of the chicks I purchased from tractor supply about 4 months ago turned out to be a cornish cross. She is overweight, around 10 lbs and cannot walk but waddle. She almost lies all day and rarely stand up and takes a couple of steps. I made some search on internet and read that over time their hearts cannot sustain their body and eventually they die. I cannot butcher her because my daughter loves this one and everyday after school before entering home she checks the hen first. I was wondering if she could lose weight. Does reducing the food work? any other suggestions other than butchering? Thanks.

 

[Torinik]

Welcome!

Yes, reducing food will work. Lots of greens also, make sure it's the leafs without the seeds. As in, make sure there's not a handful of high caloric seeds attached to those greens just for that one chicken.

Feed her mixed grains (wheat, oat, barley, corn, sunflower, ...) instead of regular chickenfeed. This will lower her protein intake. Be careful not to overfeed her on that because she will make a lot of fat instead of muscle, a maximum of 100 grams per day I would say.
If she's really fat, feel around her behind, you can go lower than that for a while. But be careful, she is already a very big chicken and will need a certain amount of calories.

Make sure she has some space to walk around and scratch to look for some snacks. Nothing fancy necessary, a chickens seems to always be able to find something to snack if on a scratch-able surface.

Once she starts laying, her weight will go down also and she will be a lot leaner from egg production.
As far as I can tell, they do tend to lay big eggs, often double yolks. For most of mine that hasn't been a problem, but you do get the occasional chicken that suffers from that. If her egg-laying doesn't cause her problems, there's a good chance she can live a long life on a limited diet and lots of walking and scratching. Which is their default mode, walking, scratching and eating tiny bits of all sorts all day long.

Good luck.

 

[aydogdu1979]

Thank you so much.

 

[CNJ]

I am trying mix grains (Fighting Chicken blend), it seems to fill them up. I think after their gizzard grinds it up it is will be less than pellets.