Chicken drooling and standing like a flamingo?

[rebrascora]

Do I read this right and you are ONLY feeding them scratch and corn and not a preparatory feed.... ie pellets or crumbles?? If so, you are setting them up for a lot of health problems and possible early death. I'm afraid you need to be much more disciplined with them about food. You are letting them dictate to you what they eat. The longer you allow it to continue, the harder it will be to break. What did you feed them as chicks? Perhaps start by going back to that, but you need to stop feeding them corn and scratch before the damage is irreversible. Fat chickens are no more healthy than fat children or dogs or any other creature and corn makes them fat. Cut out everything except a preparatory feed. They can live off their body stores for several days, especially if they have the fat reserves chickens fed solely on grains will have. Mix a little scrambled egg with some pellets/crumbles soaked in water. Initially start with scrambled egg and once they are eating it, gradually add a little more of the feed/water mash. It may take a while to get them onto dry pellets or crumbles but you need to persevere.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do I read this right and you are ONLY feeding them scratch and corn and not a preparatory feed.... ie pellets or crumbles?? If so, you are setting them up for a lot of health problems and possible early death. I'm afraid you need to be much more disciplined with them about food. You are letting them dictate to you what they eat. The longer you allow it to continue, the harder it will be to break. What did you feed them as chicks? Perhaps start by going back to that, but you need to stop feeding them corn and scratch before the damage is irreversible. Fat chickens are no more healthy than fat children or dogs or any other creature and corn makes them fat. Cut out everything except a preparatory feed. They can live off their body stores for several days, especially if they have the fat reserves chickens fed solely on grains will have. Mix a little scrambled egg with some pellets/crumbles soaked in water. Initially start with scrambled egg and once they are eating it, gradually add a little more of the feed/water mash. It may take a while to get them onto dry pellets or crumbles but you need to persevere.

Read back at posts and photos. OP's response is to treat suggestions given by someone. OP does mention giving feed, but pullets are not interested in any other "treats" except for scratch/corn.

Photos looks like there are crumbles/feed available in feeder.

 

[rebrascora]

@Wyorp Rock
To me the quote

So you are right about the feed. I give them corn and scratch daily, my chickens wont eat anything else.

suggests that the chickens are dictating their diet, which is a dangerous situation.

I appreciate that the OP is responding to other posts regarding corn and treats but that post still suggests to me that they are getting too much corn and scratch whether there is also a preparatory feed offered. We all know they will eat corn and scratch in preference to anything else and the more of those that is given, the less pellet or crumble they will eat. Maybe I am misinterpreting things but a balanced diet is very important for good health, particularly at this young age with birds that are penned.
The drooling/possible sour crop could well be due to an issue that may be linked to diet, like ascites, and my advice would be to put them on a healthy diet. If they don't want other healthier treats, that is their choice, but I would say that it is important to cut out the bad ones.

Perhaps if the OP could clarify how much corn and scratch they give daily and the number of chickens it is between, it might give us a better insight.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Wyorp Rock
To me the quote

suggests that the chickens are dictating their diet, which is a dangerous situation.

I appreciate that the OP is responding to other posts regarding corn and treats but that post still suggests to me that they are getting too much corn and scratch whether there is also a preparatory feed offered. We all know they will eat corn and scratch in preference to anything else and the more of those that is given, the less pellet or crumble they will eat. Maybe I am misinterpreting things but a balanced diet is very important for good health, particularly at this young age with birds that are penned.
The drooling/possible sour crop could well be due to an issue that may be linked to diet, like ascites, and my advice would be to put them on a healthy diet. If they don't want other healthier treats, that is their choice, but I would say that it is important to cut out the bad ones.

Perhaps if the OP could clarify how much corn and scratch they give daily and the number of chickens it is between, it might give us a better insight.

Yes, it could be interpreted that way. If the OP can clarify feed and treats that would be good

 

[frostic]

Do you put their feed in a feeder?
What type of feed do you use?

The pullet that was drooling, is she better - did her crop empty by morning?

yes i put their food in a feeder. its just scratch for hens and general feed from the feed store(they called it crumble). and corn on the cob. Yes shes fine now. was the heat doing it to her so now when its hot i turn on the mister till the sun goes down and shes fine. her crop was fine. she was just drooling and acting odd. now shes back to acting normal.

 

[frostic]

@Wyorp Rock
To me the quote

suggests that the chickens are dictating their diet, which is a dangerous situation.

I appreciate that the OP is responding to other posts regarding corn and treats but that post still suggests to me that they are getting too much corn and scratch whether there is also a preparatory feed offered. We all know they will eat corn and scratch in preference to anything else and the more of those that is given, the less pellet or crumble they will eat. Maybe I am misinterpreting things but a balanced diet is very important for good health, particularly at this young age with birds that are penned.
The drooling/possible sour crop could well be due to an issue that may be linked to diet, like ascites, and my advice would be to put them on a healthy diet. If they don't want other healthier treats, that is their choice, but I would say that it is important to cut out the bad ones.

Perhaps if the OP could clarify how much corn and scratch they give daily and the number of chickens it is between, it might give us a better insight.

It is 3 chickens and they get 1 corn on the cob a day, raw not cooked. in their feeder they get what the feed store lady says is crumble and then i throw like 2 cups of scratch on the ground as the feed lady suggested to me. they eat normal. ITS the HEAT that is causing issues. it was 95 degrees the day she was acting funny. once cooled down shes acting normal again. like i said in another post that i now put the mister on in hot days and they are doing fine. the drooling only happened 2 days in a row when we hit really high heat.

 

[frostic]

Read back at posts and photos. OP's response is to treat suggestions given by someone. OP does mention giving feed, but pullets are not interested in any other "treats" except for scratch/corn.

Photos looks like there are crumbles/feed available in feeder.

yes but i just call it feed. im not uptodate with feed names.
I have a feed store owner that told me what feed to get, when to give it to them and all that. i just forgot to mention the crumbles stuff.
they eat 1 half a container of crumbles as you call it, they eat all the corn on the cob and the scratch is usually gone in a matter of minutes as they devour it and the corn is what I meant to say. the corn is a treat, the only one they seem to eat. they eat the crumble too but only half the container and its pretty big. its about a foot tall and 10 inches wide so it holds a lot of feed(crumbles).

 

[townchicks]

Corn will make the hens hotter. You should cut that out until the weather is cooler. 2 cups of scratch for 3 hens is a LOT. Scratch also usually has cracked corn in it. My 3 hens get one handful of scratch between the three of them, and they don't get that if it is hot.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

feed store lady says is crumble and then i throw like 2 cups of scratch on the ground as the feed lady suggested to me.

Do you have a photo of the tag on your feed (nutritional analysis) or of the bag?
Scratch is a treat and so is the corn on the cob. Aim for any treats to be no more than 5-10% of their daily intake depending on the protein content of your poultry feed.

I love to give mine a treat too, but 2 cups of scratch is too much

 

[frostic]

The chicken that had the issues is one i call blondie. the other 2 are darker red and shes really light colored compaired to them. shes the one that is my avatar on here. but shes full grown now lol