Heavy breathing - is this normal?

[3KillerBs]

It’s it the first post They are 8 months old. Way past the bony teenager stage.

Not necessarily.

Some of the larger heritage breeds are still growing past a year.

My Light Brahma rooster from the in-town flock wasn't fully developed until he was a good year-and-a-half or two years old.

 

[K0k0shka]

Not necessarily.

Some of the larger heritage breeds are still growing past a year.

My Light Brahma rooster from the in-town flock wasn't fully developed until he was a good year-and-a-half or two years old.

Hmm... How can I tell if she’s too fat then?

 

[3KillerBs]

Hmm... How can I tell if she’s too fat then?

The best I know is that keel check. Maybe someone else will have more knowledge about that.

 

[K0k0shka]

I talked to her breeder. He said that he hasn't noticed any of his birds getting overweight (I was wondering if it might be genetic). He said that he checks them by just feeling for the keel bone. I'm still not convinced that the keel bone is a good metric though.... I found a discussion here on BYC and somebody confirmed what I'd observed myself, too - that chickens store fat in their lower abdomen/butt area, and that's what makes chicken obesity dangerous - because the ball of butt fat can crowd things back there and make it harder for the hen to push her eggs out, leading to blockages or to prolapse (from all the hard pushing). So it seems like there can still be too much fat on the butt that wouldn't affect how the keel feels.

I really want to hear from more people who are knowledgeable on the matter... Not sure if I should start a new thread? The old thread I found doesn't have much to it, and it's old.

Meanwhile the pullet in question went to sleep in the nesting box tonight - for the first time ever. Not sure what to make of it. I put her back on the roost, and she didn't protest at all. Her entire underside felt wrong - not silky and fluffy like the rest of her feathers, but almost like a half-plucked chicken, or like she got muddy and it dried up clumpy on her. It was dark and I couldn't see much, and didn't feel like going back for my head lamp. Not much I can do until morning anyway. I'm dying of curiosity now, and will examine her as early as possible tomorrow. Whatever this is, it must have happened over the course of just the afternoon, because she was fine earlier in the day. I just hope she didn't suddenly get broody and pluck herself in the middle of winter

 

[K0k0shka]

Any ideas?

I checked on her again this morning - she is not broody (yay!), and the strange texture I felt on her underside last night is just... dirt! Maaaan she's so dirty down there Not poopy, just looks like she got wet/muddy at some point and her feathers dried up clumpy. You can't tell from looking at her, only if you flip her upside down. I flipped the rest of them and they all look clean and fluffy everywhere. This poor girl has a poopy butt AND a crunchy underside... I have a separate thread about her poopy butt where the majority opinion was to trim instead of bathe, but if she's crunchy on the underside in addition to poopy on the butt, does that tip the scales toward bath?