How to put weight on a thin chicken?

[sammit]

Hey guys, i have 6 chickens (2 modern game bantams, 2 phoenix x jap bantams and 2 wyandotte x). the two wyandotte crosses are about 4mths old and havent started to lay yet. we are just starting to warm up now and they have begun to moult. when i was doing a check over them, i noticed that one was very thin with a sharp keel and the other was thin. my other chickens are the same age or older and have nice filled out breasts and chunky legs. they were wormed with ivermectin about a month ago and again two weeks ago and ive found no worms in the poop. they are fed with game bird starter (i have them in with coturnix) and mixed pellet/corn/seed layer feed. they also get greens, weeds, mealworms, chokos and kitchen scraps.

how do i put on weight to the really thin ones? im worried as the keel on one is really quite sharp and i dont know what to do to get her to bulk up..

 

[barneveldrerman]

They might not be fully developed yet. And if you want to fatten them up give then cracked corn or something like that's. If it gets worse I would call the vet. She could be ill then but I just think she is the runt of the family.


Hope this helped and hopefully you get more methods on how to fatten them up

 

[enola]

Worm them again. Use Safeguard or Valbazen this time . Ivermectin is not going to work on chicken worms. Worms have become immune.

 

[Den in Penn]

At four months they are young yet, just entering their "teenage" stage. Also some breeds are always thin IE leg horns. I would wait till they are at least laying or a year old before worrying. It would be a good idea to do some research on how much yours should weigh. You have crosses so I would look at the weight of both parents to give me a range of possible weight.

 

[sammit]

sadly i dont know the father (guessing it was the wyandotte).. mum was an isa brown x silkie and quite small. these ladies are double her size and have just started to grow into their feet.

i bought a product called avitrol which has praziquantrel (spelling?) in it on the advice of another chicken owner in the area. it says to restrict the feed to the bird for 24hours before giving and then not give it again for 3 hours after, repeat after 2 weeks. does that sound right? im guessing its to slow their digestive system down so the meds dont go right through? i have coturnix in the same pen with the chickens and im not sure they are going to like the feed being removed but they would have to worms too if there was any, correct?