I have a problem do I need dispatch

[CatWhisperer]

 

[NatJ]

I could be completely wrong. I just always assumed it was like a lactose intolerant person eating dairy. Gassy and kinda painful with not too much benefit

People have studied that. There is some amount of lactose in the feed that seems to be tolerated just fine, and a higher amount of lactose that does seem to cause trouble for chickens.

If lactose is the specific problem, that still would not have to rule out all dairy, because not all dairy contains much lactose (example: many cheeses contain very little.)

Examples of studies that dealt directly with lactose:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6984508/
This one is "The effect of lactose supplementation and source on feed intake and production characteristics of laying hens," by E W Gleaves, A A Salim, published in 1994
A quote from the abstract:
"The specific purposes were to determine if lactose influenced calcium utilization and feed intake and if there were any important interactions between lactose and calcium. There was a consistent significant improvement in egg shell breaking strength as a result of lactose supplementation. One percent dietary lactose appeared to be adequate to achieve this improvement. The addition of 2 or 3% lactose did not result in any greater improvement than 1%. There were no consistent influences of lactose, lactose source, or calcium level on feed intake or any of the other variables examined in the three experiments. "


https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/IND43966778/PDF
This one is a 1924 study, feeding lactose to laying hens.
They found bad effects (diarrhea) when the hens got 8 grams of lactose each, per day. To test higher levels, they had to force-feed it to the hens.
They were measuring things in the chickens' waste, trying to figure out how much lactose the chickens actually digested and used, and they found that the chickens DID use all of the lactose at some levels, and most of the lactose at other levels. So according to this study, "chickens cannot use lactose" would be false, but "lactose above a certain level causes problems for chickens" would be true.

(For comparison, google tells me that 8 ounces of milk contain 12-13 grams of lactose. So the hens were having diarrhea on a rate of lactose that is equivalent to 2/3 cup of milk per day per hen.)

 

[Mountainviewchickens]

They are suffering from severe nutritional and vitamin deficiency, not mareks.
If you want to make your own feed, this is a great place to research recipes, but what you're feeding now isn't Healthy especially for growing birds.
To continue to feed them this diet will end in stunted growth and death.
A good homemade feed will not be cheaper, and or any better nutritionally speaking, than store feed. On average, a properly balanced homemade feed will cost $3 to $8 a pound, double that for your stipulations of non gmo etc.
If someone says their recipe is cheaper and better than store feed, you can be sure that their recipe isn't a recipe you want.
Poultry feed is one one the most heavily researched agricultural areas on the planet, what you buy at the feed store is formulated to provide all the necessary nutrition, most effectively, price for pound.
A homemade feed can meet nutritional needs but it'll will be quite expensive and not easy to make.
You're going to need swine blood meal/fish meal/byproduct product meal and vitamin mix added to any whole grain mixes.

Where can you find blood meal? I have been looking but outside of gardening supply cant find much.

 

[Chicona]

View attachment 3393546

Raw milk contains the bacteria
Humans don’t have it in amount great enough to deal with normal milk
Did you know lactose intolerant people can drink RAW milk fine as I do