Chicken weight issues

[akhadley]

I have an EE hen, a RIR hen, and a RIR rooster.

My RIR hen is a fatty. She is pretty heavy so I don't have any worries about her weight. My EE on the other hand has always been very light and I have always been able to feel her chest bone. I've wormed a million times, so I don't think her weight issue is related to worms. I've considered the possibility that stress might be keeping her from eating. My RIR hen is a total jerk and beats up the EE on a regular basis - chases her away from BOTH feeding dishes, pecks on her for no real apparent reason - so I'm wondering if my EE just doesn't eat during the day to avoid confrontation or if my RIR actually STOPS her from eating... now days I put both RIR in the coop for the night and let my EE hang out for a bit and eat in peace for a while before putting her back in with the others. Is there something I can feed her to help beef her up a little bit? I feed them layer pellets (no crumbles available where I live), with a sprinkling of hen scratch, sprinkling of Cluckn Sea Kelp and just introduced them to meal worm treats. I just want to try and get her a little heavier so she can hopefully hold her own a little better or just provide something during her alone time to ensure she's putting on correct weight. Are EE usually a smaller breed? I don't know much about size.

My rooster, I was told, is also on the light weight side. He is HUGE in comparison to our wild roosters around here but my neighbor told me yesterday that he is light for a rooster, just really tall. His "knees knock" I guess... which was a sign, to my neighbor, that he is too thin and he also held him.

My neighbor suggested giving them half layer feed and half gamebird feed (which is what they feed the fighting cocks here) to try and make them gain weight. Is this a normal practice? Would this work? If not, what else should I try?

I haven't ever weighed them, but I also don't know what "normal" weights would be for any of them. They are all about 9 months old.

 

[annabelle12]

Hi - I know this is an older post. If you still need info, EE are on the lighter side. Mine are at the bottom of the pecking order and sometimes get shoved away from the feed as well. I make a little extra effort to get them some feed. High protien meal worms, and even some scrambled eggs do quite well as supplements. Not sure about the rooster feed. Good luck!

 

[akhadley]

Hi - I know this is an older post. If you still need info, EE are on the lighter side. Mine are at the bottom of the pecking order and sometimes get shoved away from the feed as well. I make a little extra effort to get them some feed. High protien meal worms, and even some scrambled eggs do quite well as supplements. Not sure about the rooster feed. Good luck!

Thanks for responding even though its a bit of an old post!

Glad to know it isn't just my EE who is a lightweight! She is definitely at the bottom of the pecking order. I have started giving her her own feeding dish - even when they free range and I bring out cold snacks on hot days. She just runs away if they try to eat from the same area. She is very much a fan of meal worms so I've got that covered. Thanks for the response

 

[bigbuddha09]

did that worm problem ever work out its always painful to deal with them.

 

[akhadley]

did that worm problem ever work out its always painful to deal with them.

Ah you know... I honestly don't know haha. I dug down about 4-5 inches and covered the whole base of their run with sand. I was told that the worms cannot incubate in sand and so they don't do well with a sand flooring. However my chickens still free range everyday rain or shine, so whether or not they are still getting worms ... who knows. I've stopped religiously checking their poo because it just stresses me out. They are eating, drinking, personalities seem fine, run around when they free range/are active, and are laying eggs still so I'm just letting it ride. I've taken to trying to feed them pumpkin seeds and try the holistic side of things even though most people don't believe it works. Who knows. Maybe it works for some and not for others. I just hate giving them gnarly meds and risking them becoming immune to it. If there comes a time that things get really bad I want to be sure that the gnarly meds will truly work so I've just laid off of all that. Plus I missed being able to eat the eggs! I finally have almost two cartons full of my own chickens' eggs - makes me happy to see.

 

[bigbuddha09]

yeah i suppose sometimes you just have to look at the happiness of the birds in general i definitely wouldnt want to live drugged up all the time. i have only had luck with natural wormers in my other animals like cats and dogs. i guess its just monitoring health and happiness of each bird at this point, i will say on thing though. These birds are often stronger then we give them credit for i mean in the wild they had to have lived with worms before right? probably have at least some defenses against them.