Green leg hatch

[rooster239]

You can try the following to asses the stag's health.  First, provide some pictures showing his face from side.  Color can give an immediate indicator of health even I will be able to see.  The make a picture or two showing his tail feathers spread out.  Best if picture is from above rather than side.  Appearance of feathers can sometimes give a hint about how he has been doing over last few weeks.

You will need to handle him to get a feel for his muscle mass and muscle tone.  This is something that takes experience to do well.

To perk him up, try to get some live mealworms into him.  With a little work you can get him to eat from your hands and to fly up into your hands even when he is running about in yard. 


What are you feeding him?

Im feeding him scratch corn and water everyday and i close all the other chickens up and let him roam free in the yard starting from morning until sundown

[/IMG]

 

[rooster239]

Im feeding him scratch corn and water everyday and i close all the other chickens up and let him roam free in the yard starting from morning until sundown

[/IMG]

 

[rooster239]

 

[rooster239]

 

[rooster239]

 

[centrarchid]

All taken into consideration he looks fine, especially for being in the butt-ugly stage of his transition to adulthood. Skin color looks fine on face, comb and wattles. With respect to the to the feathers I was looking for variations in width along a given feathers length. A bird in poor condition will produce feathers that are narrower and often of a different coloration along length where feather part was in blood while bird sick. It kind of like rings on a tree.


Your free-range area is hard to asses but forage quality can vary greatly. If I have any doubt about forage quality, then a grower is used rather than scratch, especially if birds cannot go as far as they want. Even if forage is good, I no longer use a scratch made of cracked grains, rather my preference is for intact grains even if of the same type. Some of the vitamins and fatty acids the intact seeds contain do not keep well once seeds are opened.

Try the mealworm trick suggested.

 

[rooster239]

All taken into consideration he looks fine, especially for being in the butt-ugly stage of his transition to adulthood.  Skin color looks fine on face, comb and wattles.  With respect to the to the feathers I was looking for variations in width along a given feathers length.  A bird in poor condition will produce feathers that are narrower and often of a different coloration along length where feather part was in blood while bird sick.  It kind of like rings on a tree.


Your free-range area is hard to asses but forage quality can vary greatly.  If I have any doubt about forage quality, then a grower is used rather than scratch, especially if birds cannot go as far as they want.  Even if forage is good, I no longer use a scratch made of cracked grains, rather my preference is for  intact grains even if of the same type.  Some of the vitamins and fatty acids the intact seeds contain do not keep well once seeds are opened.

Try the mealworm trick suggested.

Ok i will try the mealworm trick and how do you know so much about these birds?

 

[centrarchid]

Ok i will try the mealworm trick and how do you know so much about these birds?

I do not know your version of Hatch specifically but I was raised with strain I have now. My elders that were cockers educated me in their keeping. My experience with them started in the early 1970's. I also went to school to learn about animals in general. Now I even use the birds in research and teaching public about chickens. The games make excellent experimental research subjects because they learn so fast.

 

[rooster239]

I do not know your version of Hatch specifically but I was raised with strain I have now.  My elders that were cockers educated me in their keeping.  My experience with them started in the early 1970's.  I also went to school to learn about animals in general.  Now I even use the birds in research and teaching public about chickens.  The games make excellent experimental research subjects because they learn so fast.

Thats great well yeah my green hatch has been acting non energetic

 

[centrarchid]

Behavior info needed and hard to describe in writing such that it is meaningful.


Can he fly up to his roost?

How is he holding his wings?


Does he appear to close his eyes a lot?


When he scratches for food, does he stumble a lot?