Chicken with messed up feathers

[Ridgerunner]

I agree, it didn’t take long to see a lot of misinformation. I did not get far watching it.

If you are after oil, try a few black OIL sunflower seeds (BOSS). Black OIL sunflower seeds have a lot of oil in them. BOSS is higher in protein than corn also. BOSS might have 20% protein, corn maybe 10%. It depends on what kind of corn and how it is harvested. Different kinds of sunflower seeds have different amounts of oil and protein in them too. There is a reason corn (maize to the Brits) is a major part of animal feed around the world. It is not empty calories. Corn has a lot of other nutrients besides protein and oil.

The egg yolks are about 1/3 fats from what I’ve read. Laying chickens do need some fat but not a whole lot. One advantage of eating feed with oil in it, is that the oil gets to the feathers and makes them look nice and shiny. I really doubt that oil is your problem though.

Did you worm your chickens with fenbendazole, commonly sold as Safeguard ? if molting chicken are wormed with this, the feathers can grow back funny.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I agree, it didn’t take long to see a lot of misinformation. I did not get far watching it.

If you are after oil, try a few black OIL sunflower seeds (BOSS). Black OIL sunflower seeds have a lot of oil in them. BOSS is higher in protein than corn also. BOSS might have 20% protein, corn maybe 10%. It depends on what kind of corn and how it is harvested. Different kinds of sunflower seeds have different amounts of oil and protein in them too. There is a reason corn (maize to the Brits) is a major part of animal feed around the world. It is not empty calories. Corn has a lot of other nutrients besides protein and oil.

The egg yolks are about 1/3 fats from what I’ve read. Laying chickens do need some fat but not a whole lot. One advantage of eating feed with oil in it, is that the oil gets to the feathers and makes them look nice and shiny. I really doubt that oil is your problem though.

Did you worm your chickens with fenbendazole, commonly sold as Safeguard ? if molting chicken are wormed with this, the feathers can grow back funny.

Ah yes, I'm surprised I forgot to suggest this. I have added BOSS to my birds diet (in their fermented feed and then a bit scattered in the afternoon) as a winter supplement.

That is great info about the wormer. I didn't know that!

You are right that corn does have nutrients and is not just empty. I do remember when we were doing formulations for my animal nutrition course that corn is more of a filler though, as there are usually "better" it just happens to be inexpensive so its main appeal is in keeping costs down. That is, corn is not so wonderful that if the price suddenly skyrocketed it would still be so highly used.

 

[tuner06]

Try feeding her feather fixer that's what I have been feeding my flock since August it seems to work good high in protein. But leave out the corn.

 

[briecardosa]

I have the same weird problem with my silver laced wyandotte. She eats the same as everyone else which is lay mash, meal worms, canned cat food through molt? Did anyone ever solve this?