Hen is dangerously overweight. Help!

[featherz]

Update: apparently, Darcy is NOT a Cornish cross, but a White Rock, meaning she should have a much longer lifespan.

Ooo! if true, that's a MUCH better outcome.

 

[ChicknThief]

Wonderful news!

Now, it's time to get her some friends

Chickens are social flock animals. And without at least 2 other chickens to keep her company, she will be very lonely.

 

[theacw]

So happy to hear that. I have been keeping up with this topic with my heart breaking thinking of what you had to go through. Glad she will have a longer life than expected

 

[Cassidy]

Well with my experience that looks like a tyson bird which is a cornish cross white rock miss they will only get bigger with time if you give her food at all and the don't live very long i have been raising them for years but if she is free range she won't get to very huge

 

[tuesdaylove]

Of course, I'm not 100% sure that she is a Rock, but if you look here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/676952/ive-asked-before-but-id-like-some-new-opinions You'll see that most people say she's a White Rock. I hope she is!

And if she is, I'd love to get her some standard-sized friends, but I don't know much about standard-sized breeds and I'm not sure where to get them. Any suggestions?

 

[featherz]

I've never had a cornish X, but I notice that by design they usually look like a bloated Dolly Parton at a relatively early age. That pic you have on that thread doesn't show the chest area - or size relative to other chickens. I definitely think it's a pullet tho! How much does she weigh?

 

[tuesdaylove]

I've never had a cornish X, but I notice that by design they usually look like a bloated Dolly Parton at a relatively early age. That pic you have on that thread doesn't show the chest area - or size relative to other chickens. I definitely think it's a pullet tho! How much does she weigh?

I'm not sure about her weight. I can try to weigh her tomorrow, if she'll let me. She's very fussy about being held and I don't like picking her up because every time I try and sit her back down, she jumps out of my arms and she can't land on her feet, she always falls and I'm scared she's going to break her legs.

In the morning I'll go get a picture of her with something for size comparison.

 

[featherz]

I'm not sure about her weight. I can try to weigh her tomorrow, if she'll let me. She's very fussy about being held and I don't like picking her up because every time I try and sit her back down, she jumps out of my arms and she can't land on her feet, she always falls and I'm scared she's going to break her legs.

In the morning I'll go get a picture of her with something for size comparison.

I'm no expert, but never had a rock be so fat they have had trouble walking at only four months old. My four month old rocks were pretty svelte. They just started plumping up a bit now at about 5-6 months.

 

[tuesdaylove]

I'm no expert, but never had a rock be so fat they have had trouble walking at only four months old. My four month old rocks were pretty svelte. They just started plumping up a bit now at about 5-6 months.

I'm definitely no expert either! Darcy could be a Rock who's just super-fat because I always gave her as much food as she wanted when she was a baby. If Rocks are like Cornishes and eat and eat and eat all the time, maybe that could be an explanation. Or maybe she's just Cornish.

 

[tuesdaylove]

So I just went out to take Darcy out of the pen for free-ranging time and I got some pictures while I was out there. I tried to get some pics with other objects in them for size comparison.

Here's Darcy with the bantams (remember, she's 4 months and they're 3 1/2 months), also with the popular kind of feeder and a corncob.



Here she is next to a gallon jug.



And with my hand on her back: