Help with chicken diet

[Painted Calls]

Sounds to me like she's just hungry. Your bird weighs under what her breed average is, so if her keel feels fine, and there are no other symptoms, I would just stop worrying. I think you mentioned you give mash? Wetting the food actually makes them want it more. Maybe stop offering mash.

A good test to see if she has a food problem would be to weigh her first thing in the morning on an empty crop. That will be your baseline weight. Then divide how much feed each bird needs a day (around 1/4lb) in half, and give a little over that twice a day. So you're cutting the daily portion (plus a little extra) into 2 feedings. Do this for a few days and watch their behavior. Do they run out of food quickly? Does it last between feedings? Adjust accordingly. If they are immediately cleaning out their entire dish at each feeding, they're not getting enough. Every bird is an individual and has it's own requirements. However, unless they're getting treats - they shouldn't be scarfing down their food like dogs. A lot of things affect how much feed a chicken eats as well. Actively laying hens may need/eat a bit more.

I would get a base line weight on her. Divide daily feed portion for whole flock into 2 feedings. Monitor her weight every other morning for a week. If she isn't gaining, I'd offer free choice and then monitor weight for another 3-5 days. If she's still not gaining a significant amount, then just give them free choice and try not to worry about it.

 

[Painted Calls]

What are the protein levels of the S&P and the crumble?
Is the S&P a cracked grain formula?

^^ X 2

Would also be helpful to know how active your birds are. Do they free range? If not, how large is their run?

 

[Kiki]

I did not read everything.

Mealworms and daily treats are the problem when it comes to fatty liver disease.
The commercially made age appropriate balanced poultry feed is usually not associated with fatty liver disease.... It's the treats that cause it.



You already know that you had a fatty liver disease death which is most likely related to what the bird was fed.
If you have other deaths in your flock you must look at what you feed first and if it is not food related then it is a disease related usually.


Are you in the US?
What exact feed and treats are you feeding?

 

[Kiki]

The scratching peck feed is a whole grain food?
If so that too is a problem.
Giving a bird a choice to choose between which type of grains it wants to eat leads to the bird not getting a balanced diet which in itself causes problems.

Again I did not read everything but I would hardly recommend not withholding food from a bird if it was a pelleted or crumbled feed.
I would not feed anything whatsoever besides a pelleted or crumble feed.

 

[Painted Calls]

Fatty liver is more often caused by what they eat, not how much they eat.

 

[sandburRanch]

Keep a flake of quality alfalfa hay suspended in a net .

https://www.thehaymanager.com/hay-s...rs/what-is-the-best-kind-of-hay-for-chickens/

https://thetilth.com/can-chickens-eat-alfalfa/

 

[AZDesertChick]

The crumble is 18.5%. The S&P had been 18% but when we recently ran out, my husband accidentally open the 20% that we had bought since we were going to get new chicks (and he cut the label off so I didn’t know it was the wrong stuff). When we got the babies a couple of weeks later, I discovered that the bag I thought was the 20% was in fact 18%, and figured out the mixup. I switched the hens back to the 18% but the older hens we even more grumpy. So since we’re going to have to integrate the newbies into the flock before too long, I switched the hens back to the 20% since it seems to work better for them.

 

[AZDesertChick]

Fatty liver is more often caused by what they eat, not how much they eat.

That’s why we cut out mealworms. We do have them on a little higher protein feed, but that’s both been recommended to me by someone who is very knowledgeable, my vet thinks it’s fine, and the hens seem to do better on it.

 

[sandburRanch]

I suspect at least 99.99 % of the chickens in confinement need exercise .

 

[AZDesertChick]

I am sure you’re right. Just not sure how safely and sanely do more of that since it requires constant supervision. We will keep trying to figure out ways.