Help with chicken diet

[AZDesertChick]

So chicken peeps, I need some help. We have 4 adult chickens (and 3 maturing chicks). One of our adults, a lovely Barred Rock, is unfortunately a pig. She eats constantly. She’s getting overweight (and we’ve already lost one to fatty liver disease) so we have to limit her food for her own sake. Before now, we did free choice feeding. Here’s the issue, the other 3 girls are a healthy weight (we weigh everyone once a week), but because one is on a diet, they all are. We give them 90g of food per chicken a day - half around daybreak and the other half around noon. The two most senior hens do NOT like the restricted food and they’re starting to pick on the younger two (which includes the Barred Rock) a lot(and now there are three more on the way to the coop). We try to be very even in what we do with them, i.e:, if we give treats, they all get equal amounts to the best of our ability. But I’m at a loss at how to keep our Rock food restricted, not restrict the other girls so much, but not make our Rock feel excluded because the others are getting food and she isn’t. Any suggestions?

 

[raingarden]

Target feeding is really difficult. Sometimes it seems almost impssible unless each individual is housed separately.

Our yard birds are all beggers. They come around to the workshop where the food and the human are to get a handout as needed. It's sort of funny because they learn to assess who else is around first. There is no need for a run-of-the-mill hen to come around asking for food if the peafowl or guineas are there because the larger birds will monopolize it all. The rouens are at the bottom of the heirarchy as they have to yield to PF, GF and chickens. The vermin doves are the only birds our rouen will stand up to in protecting their food.

 

[Acre4Me]

Can you separate her in part of the run with water/shade? Give her food 2x per day, but the others can have regular access?

 

[Painted Calls]

What are you feeding? Treats included.

 

[AZDesertChick]

What are you feeding? Treats included.

In the morning: organic Scratch and Peck layer (45g per chicken)

Midday: some chopped greens or watermelon chucks (we live in the desert to the extra hydration is important), then a non-GMO crumble (again, 45g per chicken)

Evening: we either let them graze on herb/lettuce pots with organic soil or, since there is always meal left behind from the Scratch and Peck, I take that and make a mash with some herbs, a little nutritional yeast (lots of B vitamins), and a little bit of wheat germ. I do the mash about twice a week.

 

[AZDesertChick]

Can you separate her in part of the run with water/shade? Give her food 2x per day, but the others can have regular access?

The challenge with that is she’s the flock sentry and she gets very distressed when we separate her from her sisters. We had to crate her one time for a strained foot and it was really hard on her (and us).

 

[AZDesertChick]

So chicken peeps, I need some help. We have 4 adult chickens (and 3 maturing chicks). One of our adults, a lovely Barred Rock, is unfortunately a pig. She eats constantly. She’s getting overweight (and we’ve already lost one to fatty liver disease) so we have to limit her food for her own sake. Before now, we did free choice feeding. Here’s the issue, the other 3 girls are a healthy weight (we weigh everyone once a week), but because one is on a diet, they all are. We give them 90g of food per chicken a day - half around daybreak and the other half around noon. The two most senior hens do NOT like the restricted food and they’re starting to pick on the younger two (which includes the Barred Rock) a lot(and now there are three more on the way to the coop). We try to be very even in what we do with them, i.e:, if we give treats, they all get equal amounts to the best of our ability. But I’m at a loss at how to keep our Rock food restricted, not restrict the other girls so much, but not make our Rock feel excluded because the others are getting food and she isn’t. Any suggestions?

I also need to add that now one of the older hens is starting to lose weight to a concerning level. She’s right about 2kg still, but she’s lost 1/4 pound over the past 6 weeks. We’ve started supplementing her food on the side, but it’s just more micromanagement.

 

[Weeg]

I think that all your other hens need to be free fed, esspecailly the older ones. If they're becoming aggressive around meal time, than that means that they are hungry, plus the weight loss is a concern.
Do you feed any scratch grains, corn, or mealworms? I know that BR's are multipurpose breeds, but they shouldn't gain so much weight just off of layer feed. Nor should you be loosing hens to fatty liver disease.
When you pick her up, can you feel her keel bone, or is it covered by fat/tissue? That is the best way to determine body weight. It should feel like a "triangle" of tissue coming down from the keel. Thats the preferred weight. How much does this BR weigh?

 

[AZDesertChick]

She weighs around 3kg, which I know is within the normal range. BUT… while her keel feels ok, what we learned in losing the other girl (a Buff Orpington) is that keel feel is no longer a good indictator of body condition because domestic chickens just don’t fly much. There are better places (inside thigh, low abdomen near the vent, and under the crop) that are better indicators of being overweight and at risk for fatty liver. When we lost our Buff, we were able to get her to the vet within 15 min of her collapsing. They did everything they could but she just couldn’t be saved. We had them do a necropsy, so the diagnosis is indisputable. The vet (and these are exotic animal, including chicken, specialists) said she would not have considered our Buff overweight because it was not evident in her keel. So she reached out to an avian specialist vet at one of their offices and that’s when we learned there are better places to feel fatty deposits. I’ve had them try to teach me how to feel for body condition but weight is still the easier and more reliable indicator. We lost a Barred Rock suddenly the year before (we weren’t home then it happened) but I’m pretty sure it was the same issue. We used to give them occasional mealworms, but I’ve cut that out because of the fat content. The biggest issue is that we have a small urban yard, so the run area is about 130 square feet. We try to let them out a little but we have so many predators here, it’s really risky. Then, because if the heat, the heavier birds just don’t like to move around much in the summer months. I love her so much and I just want to find away to keep her safe without hurting the other girls.

 

[Weeg]

keel feel is no longer a good indictator of body condition because domestic chickens just don’t fly much.

I'm not going to argue with a veterinarian, but lots of experienced members on this site say to measure weight by the keel. More importantly, if her weight is average, than why are you concerned? If you aren't feeding mealworms/fatty foods, than why are you concerned about fatty liver disease?
If you didn't do a necropsy on the last hen you lost, it may have been sometime different. Especially if you cut out mealworms.
If this hen is acting healthy, weight is normal, and keel feels fine, I personally don't think you have any reason to be concerned. I would just free feed them all.
Interested to see what other members say though.