Food obsessed hen, losing weight! Help!

[scalci]

If you are not feeding layer feed what are you feeding?

Wet mash or fermented feed is much harder for them to waste.

I am feeding layer pellets. I tried layer crumbles once and she dumped it every day.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Ah that clears that up.

Can you try some wet mash tomorrow and see how that goes?

I would strongly recommend calling the vets about that fecal float test. It seems critical that you know one way or the other.

 

[scalci]

I have never even heard of the fermenting before! Looks like it takes a few days to make, but I can definitely do that! Especially if it can help my 6 1/2 year old live longer (and continue to keep laying regularly).

And yes she definitely is managing to eat the food. It takes her a little more effort but when it’s on the ground it all disappears as she’s pecking at it.

As far as the poop test, I have to find a vet near me who deals with poultry. It’s hard enough to find one who deals with anything other than dogs or cats (even rabbits is difficult to find). Up until the last year or so I was that one weirdo who had chickens. But I will have to call around and see if things have changed.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Any vet should be able to do the float test. I do hope you find that whatever is causing her troubles is easily treated.

Wet mash is not fermented. I feed it out about ten minutes after adding the water.

 

[azygous]

Yes, a fecal float test doesn't require a vet to know even whether or not a chicken has feathers to do a float test. It's basically just looking under a microscope to see if worms and worm eggs are present in the smear. All they need is a smear of poop on a cotton ball, not the whole turd.

They will be able to tell you what kind of worms are in the poop so then you will know which worm medicine to buy that will target that particular species. Not all wormers kill all types of worms. That's why worming before you have a fecal test can be a waste of time and money.

If you want my fermented feed recipe, I will be happy to oblige. For just three chickens, you don't even need a very large container, but a plastic bucket is best. You don't want to use metal.

 

[micstrachan]

I just read this thread and would like the fermented feed recipe, please.

 

[azygous]

I just read this thread and would like the fermented feed recipe, please.

With pleasure. This will feed a dozen chickens.

12 cups filtered water (or let it sit overnight to let the chlorine in the tap water gas off) It ferments quicker.

14 cups of dry feed.

A splash of ACV to get the ferment rolling quicker, but it's not necessary. Yeasts floating in the air will colonize the mixture.

Mix in a plastic container and set somewhere warm between 55F and 80F. Warmer means faster fermentation. Stir twice a day. You'll know it's fermented when you smell a pleasant yeasty odor and the mixture becomes light and fluffy instead of just soggy and wet. It takes about 48 hours for the first batch to ferment. The FF is at its peak of nutrition when it's in this fluffy state. As it ages, it sheds back some of its water and becomes more liquidy and is losing a bit of nutritional wallop. I add a little more dry feed to absorb the excess liquid.

You can add more water to the recipe for thinner wetter FF or more feed for thicker, dryer FF. I and my chickens prefer it at the consistency of biscuit dough. You can add other grains to it, but the chickens will pick them out first when you serve it, be forewarned. If you add too many seeds, they may fill up on those and ignore the rest of the FF.

This will feed a dozen chickens for a few days. When you get down to a third left, use a half cup to start a new batch in another plastic bucket. This will only take 24 hours to ferment if you use filtered water. You can cover to keep out bugs and debris leave the lid with a gap for air circulation. I've never had a mixture mold doing it this way.

A chicken will eat about a half cup of FF per day, large breeds a tad more. Most of us feed once in the morning and again in mid afternoon. Your chickens will let you know.

 

[micstrachan]

Thank you!

 

[scalci]

Thank you everyone! I have been doing a lot of research on the fermenting which I am very excited to start! I am going to feed them some wet mash today and then get some of her poop to bring to the vet. Luckily I do have one right near me that takes chickens (just in case I need to bring her too at some point). Getting a dewormer today also!

 

[rebrascora]

No point in getting a wormer until you know if/what type of worms you are dealing with. If your vet will not do a faecal float there is a mail order service available in the USA now I believe. You buy a sampling kit online and then send the sample off in the post and sometimes you can have the results by the next day. That may be cheaper than having a vet do it. I will try to find the details if you are interested as someone posted them a few weeks ago.