Helping a poorly hen gain some weight.

[Aerliss]

@Aerliss this may be a bit too personal so feel free to ignore but I am dying to know why you are worried about what is this DERFA says about feeding your pets.

Does DERFA (not sure what/who this is) come to your house to see what you feed your birds?

Because DEFRA are the legal body that produces regs, and oversees them. I very much doubt that DEFRA give two craps about my four hens, and I know people who feed scraps, but if there was an outbreak, or if someone reported me, my hens would be culled. I would rather stay on the right side of the law, if possible. As I said; if breaking the regs would prevent her getting worse, I will do it (ie, fudging on giving them their eggs back) , but would rather not give them grounds to take my birds away... Hell, the way they are they might even take my rabbits. All it takes is one neighbour to fall out with me and get it into their head to report me and bye bye ladies.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Thanks for the input, folks.

It's only the one girl who is laying shell less eggs. They get a few hours to range and they have a run (12sqf each). The others are giving me beautiful eggs every day, which I did not expect. They came to me through a rescue who buy hens from the commercial units when they depopulate at 12-18 months. So I'm holding onto the idea that she would not have survived the full laying season if this was a genetic issue. But who knows? They're not bred to last, after all.

The regs for chickens were put into place after the foot and mouth outbreak of 2002 which royally screwed our farmers. It cut across most of the country but was linked back to, iirc, a single farm feeding kitchen scraps to pigs. So the regs put in after cjd were extended and a blanket ban put in place. It's draconian. Like, even walking through your kitchen with their feed is frowned upon.

I've got oyster and egg shells on the side, but they mostly just kick them around. I can supplement her separately with liquid calc, which I did for a week. It didn't make a difference so I stopped, but I should probably start again, now I think about it. Give her a boost.

What is the reason about mealworms? They are insects, not animals, just wondering since I give those to my chickens daily! Should I not?

 

[Aerliss]

Can you just pull her aside and hand feed her a couple times a day? That is what I do to my little lowest on the pecking order pullet. She was not growing and is also blind in one eye, so when I give them treats a couple times a day, I just pick her up and hand feed her and she looks better after just a few days! Why are mealworms bad? I give those to my chickens all the time? Is there something I should know about mealworms in their diet?

Mealworms have a poor ratio of phosphorous to calcium, which can cause calcium leeching. In a healthy, adult animal on a varied diet its not an issue. For a young or sick animal, or an animal eating mostly mealworms, it can cause bone deformities.

If you're in the UK, and I think the rest of the EU, DRIED mealworms are banned as a farm animal food because most of them come from China, and there are no regs on what they feed the mealworms.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Mealworms have a poor ratio of phosphorous to calcium, which can cause calcium leeching. In a healthy, adult animal on a varied diet its not an issue. For a young or sick animal, or an animal eating mostly mealworms, it can cause bone deformities.

If you're in the UK, and I think the rest of the EU, DRIED mealworms are banned as a farm animal food because most of them come from China, and there are no regs on what they feed the mealworms.

Oh, Thank you.

 

[Kiki]

Because DEFRA are the legal body that produces regs, and oversees them. I very much doubt that DEFRA give two craps about my four hens, and I know people who feed scraps, but if there was an outbreak, or if someone reported me, my hens would be culled. I would rather stay on the right side of the law, if possible. As I said; if breaking the regs would prevent her getting worse, I will do it (ie, fudging on giving them their eggs back) , but would rather not give them grounds to take my birds away... Hell, the way they are they might even take my rabbits. All it takes is one neighbour to fall out with me and get it into their head to report me and bye bye ladies.

Thank you.

 

[Aerliss]

What is the reason about mealworms? They are insects, not animals, just wondering since I give those to my chickens daily! Should I not?

It's what they might have been fed with that's an issue. Honestly, it's likely not going to be an issue. It's a draconian blanket ban, knee jerk thing. I personally don't want to feed things from China, but that's just me being mega super paranoid. Also politics but that's not a discussion for here.

Gotta run. I'll get back to replying to others I a few hours

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Personally I would go ahead and feed them the eggs back. If I have a glut of eggs I hard boiled them, chop and feed back. I’ve been at it for years and never had DEFRA round to mine. Would I risk it for a biscuit? I certainly would!

How long have you had the girls? (I just re read the first post, 2 weeks) It can be a long slow process getting them back to something like after their commercial life, one of mine took a good couple of months to pull round to something like after I collected them.

 

[boskelli1571]

Can you just pull her aside and hand feed her a couple times a day? That is what I do to my little lowest on the pecking order pullet. She was not growing and is also blind in one eye, so when I give them treats a couple times a day, I just pick her up and hand feed her and she looks better after just a few days! Why are mealworms bad? I give those to my chickens all the time? Is there something I should know about mealworms in their diet?

Dried mealworms are raised in China - the concern is what do they feed to the mealworms? It could be animal meat that was infected etc. It goes back to the BSE outbreak in the 80s' when infected meat was fed to cows and then humans got sick too

 

[Aerliss]

Personally I would go ahead and feed them the eggs back. If I have a glut of eggs I hard boiled them, chop and feed back. I’ve been at it for years and never had DEFRA round to mine. Would I risk it for a biscuit? I certainly would!

How long have you had the girls? (I just re read the first post, 2 weeks) It can be a long slow process getting them back to something like after their commercial life, one of mine took a good couple of months to pull round to something like after I collected them.

Aye, just over two weeks, actually. Two of them are fighting fit, one is laying and doing just fine except for vent gleet (which she had clearly had for several days before she came to me, so I am slightly peeved at the rescue). It's just poor Daryl that's lagging behind. The skinny verdict from the vet, coupled with her low appetite and shell less eggs has me concerned.

So I'll start giving her some extra breakfast in the form of eggs and I'll mix some liquid calc in with them. Also if she'll take it some tofu. I don't particularly want to give yogurt. I know yogurt is easier to digest than straight up milk, but I'd rather not add any strain to her system right now.

 

[Aerliss]

Thanks everyone!