Chicken acting not right

[Jen1131]

Question: I read on another post that the food we are feeding her, Henhouse Reserve , although a good food that because it is whole grains that chicken pick out what they like and become vitamin deficient. Could this be Bella’s issue? We are starting here on pellet or crumbles and adding poultry cell to see if that could be the issue. Bella started laying much early than her sister hens. I am wondering if it took a toll on her vitamins and made her deficient. Could that be?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The dosage is in post 19, human b complex, and you can also use super b. 1/4 tablet crushed into food or a spoonful of water daily.

I'm not familiar with that brand of feed, but if it's loose whole feed, then it's possible that she may have been just picking out the good things she liked and leaving the rest and this left her deficient. Soaking or fermenting feed is a way to help ensure the birds are eating a more balanced ration when it comes to loose whole feed.
Possible this is contributing to her problems, but really hard to know, there's so many factors to consider,

Poultry Cell is good, but I'd make sure she's getting the B Complex as suggested.

Question: I read on another post that the food we are feeding her, Henhouse Reserve , although a good food that because it is whole grains that chicken pick out what they like and become vitamin deficient. Could this be Bella’s issue? We are starting here on pellet or crumbles and adding poultry cell to see if that could be the issue. Bella started laying much early than her sister hens. I am wondering if it took a toll on her vitamins and made her deficient. Could that be?

 

[Jen1131]

I'm not familiar with that brand of feed, but if it's loose whole feed, then it's possible that she may have been just picking out the good things she liked and leaving the rest and this left her deficient. Soaking or fermenting feed is a way to help ensure the birds are eating a more balanced ration when it comes to loose whole feed.
Possible this is contributing to her problems, but really hard to know, there's so many factors to consider,

Poultry Cell is good, but I'd make sure she's getting the B Complex as suggested.

Thank you. We are going to up her B vitamins and use poultry cell as well. We are also changing her food as well as other chickens for a while to crumble or pellets . Thank you for your help. She is breaking my heart

 

[OwO]

Thank you. We are going to up her B vitamins and use poultry cell as well. We are also changing her food as well as other chickens for a while to crumble or pellets . Thank you for your help. She is breaking my heart

This is part of the reason why I switched to pellets over mash, the mash I used to feed them had little bits of corn or something in and they would pick them out and knock the rest on the floor. With pellets they are all the same sort of thing so they just eat it properly without any issues.

 

[Eggcessive]

I looked up the Henhouse Reserve, and it looks delicious, but they can just pick out the parts they like the best, leaving the more nutritious parts. A lot of people find out that with “scratch and peck” type feeds. I tried one once, and the vitamins and minerals were in a powder that always got left behind. So I would switch to a homogenous pellet or,crumble where every bite is the same.

 

[Jen1131]

We are so overwhelmed and not knowing what to do for her. Thank you all for your help. I feel responsible with the feed even though I do not know if that is the cause. She is hardly eating. We got some of the poultry cell into her and will try more later. She is alert , but unable to walk much. She had some watermelon and grass but not much interest in the crumble food. Lost on what to do

 

[Tookie]

We are so overwhelmed and not knowing what to do for her. Thank you all for your help. I feel responsible with the feed even though I do not know if that is the cause. She is hardly eating. We got some of the poultry cell into her and will try more later. She is alert , but unable to walk much. She had some watermelon and grass but not much interest in the crumble food. Lost on what to do

Poor girl.
You may need to start tube feeding her or use a syringe to get the food into her.
Keep up the poultry cell.

 

[OwO]

We are so overwhelmed and not knowing what to do for her. Thank you all for your help. I feel responsible with the feed even though I do not know if that is the cause. She is hardly eating. We got some of the poultry cell into her and will try more later. She is alert , but unable to walk much. She had some watermelon and grass but not much interest in the crumble food. Lost on what to do

If she's still not eating it what I would do is mix a small bowl of crumble with some water and let it turn into a mashed potato-type consistency, and then add a tiny amount of treats to it (maybe some of the old food) to get her attention. When she starts eating the treats, some of the food will stick to it and she will keep eating it and hopefully slowly get used to it.

That's what I did with one of mine that wasn't eating recently and it worked really well. Eventually I stopped adding any treats at all and she'd eat all of it until she recovered more. I also added Rooster Booster vitamins to the food and mixed it in. You shouldn't need to add much water, but should maybe leave it for 10-15min to get a good consistency. Don't leave the same food out for more than like 6-8 hours if it's wet so she isn't eating mouldy food, and clean the bowl regularly.

The fact that she's alert is a good sign - please don't give up just yet

 

[Jen1131]

If she's still not eating it what I would do is mix a small bowl of crumble with some water and let it turn into a mashed potato-type consistency, and then add a tiny amount of treats to it (maybe some of the old food) to get her attention. When she starts eating the treats, some of the food will stick to it and she will keep eating it and hopefully slowly get used to it.

That's what I did with one of mine that wasn't eating recently and it worked really well. Eventually I stopped adding any treats at all and she'd eat all of it until she recovered more. I also added Rooster Booster vitamins to the food and mixed it in. You shouldn't need to add much water, but should maybe leave it for 10-15min to get a good consistency. Don't leave the same food out for more than like 6-8 hours if it's wet so she isn't eating mouldy food, and clean the bowl regularly.

The fact that she's alert is a good sign - please don't give up just yet

So she just ate scrambled egg, her food made wet and broccoli , watermelon as well as her vitamin b supplement. . She also is getting up a lot more and although that left food is curled it seemed a little stronger. Does anyone have a way to get her poultry cell into her. She does not seem to like the taste too much. !! Lol

 

[OwO]

So she just ate scrambled egg, her food made wet and broccoli , watermelon as well as her vitamin b supplement. . She also is getting up a lot more and although that left food is curled it seemed a little stronger. Does anyone have a way to get her poultry cell into her. She does not seem to like the taste too much. !! Lol

Glad to hear she's eating! You could always mix the poultry cell with the water you use to wet her food - that's what I was doing with my chicken except it was in a powder form, and she would eat all of it every time. The food should mask the taste somewhat, especially if you mix some scrambled egg in with it.

If she starts eating the wet feed really well I would continue giving her that the majority of the time instead of other treats, but still mix a small amount of treats in with it if she needs the encouragement. It's important she gets the nutrients from chicken feed as well. I would hold off on feeding her any grass at the moment as you don't want any crop problems.