If a Hen Falls

[ClareScifi]

The last time I tried putting her and her sister on a diet, her sister died, at only 17 months old. Shortly after going on the diet she laid an odd egg, with a white ring around the middle. I think it's best to let hens be the judge of how much food they need. Some may need more than others. I thought it was a good idea at the time, putting them on a diet, but I no longer do. I believe that weird egg must have gotten stuck inside the other hen for a bit, and then it just fell out early the next morning. It may have been due to not getting as much laying mash as normal, not as much calcium to form the right kind of shell? I'll always blame myself for putting her on the diet...

This girl's shells have always been nice and thick, which may be a saving grace in this case. She chowed down day before yesterday on laying mash, which may be a blessing, if it helped her form an egg which didn't break inside her (only cracked) during the fall?

She is a Barred Rock, Broiler breed. I do try to let her free-range as much as possible, for exercise. And I certainly give no more rice/scratch. I do give her lots of lettuce and watermelon in this hot weather. She loves all food. Not big on oyster shell, though.

I am making her a scrambled egg right now. I think she needs some comfort food, after the near tragedy today. She doesn't seem a bit upset, though.

I'm tempted to leave her outside tonight, so she doesn't think about jumping off the perch, in case I should oversleep in the morning, but that might traumatize her.

 

[ClareScifi]

My new Avatar picture shows the weird egg this girl's sister laid last summer, after I put her on a diet. And then she died on August 25.

 

[Den in Penn]

Ramps are a good thing if you have the space and they use them.

 

[ClareScifi]

Yes, I'd love to have ramps, but my handyman says they won't work in my coop. Something about the angle being wrong and it would have to go out the front door so the door couldn't be closed. Too steep or something. we are going to have to take down the shelf somehow and build a new shelf only about 18" off the ground, so as to prevent these falls and bumblefoot.

 

[centrarchid]

Whenever I change a birds diet or feeding regimen it is done gradually over a couple day. Going from one formulation to another should not be a cause of mortality unless diet change is extreme or something is wrong already with bird or diet. With restrictive feeding, even when food is withheld in its entirety for a couple days should not cause health issues in a laying hen beyond cessation of egg production.

What are the characteristics of the mash you are using? Crude protein? Energy? Fat? Fiber?

 

[ClareScifi]

Her laying mash is 16% crude protein, crude fat is 4%, crude fiber is 5%. I don't see any listing for energy?

She gets it in the morning before the rooster is let in with them, and in the evening when she is free-ranging apart from him. So do the other girls, all free-choice.

During the day they share the pens with the rooster who gets Nutrena All Flock. Roosters are not supposed to have laying mash. The excess calcium can damage their kidneys. I make oyster shell available free-choice to the girls during the day, since Nutrena doesn't have much calcium in it.

 

[ClareScifi]

Centrarchid,

Here is the nutritional info on the Nutrena All Flock they all get:

http://www.nutrenaworld.com/nutrena...rewise-poultry/naturewise-all-flock/index.jsp

You can see it is significantly lower in calcium-- only 1.4% - 1.9%, compared to 4.6% calcium in the laying mash. And it is lower in fat and higher in fiber.

Soooo, do you think, once the laying mash is gone, I should maybe just stop feeding laying mash and go with the Nutrena all the time? I would love to be able to do this if I thought the girls could get enough calcium from the oyster shell on the side. I don't think they eat oyster shell very well, but I have seen some of them peck at it.

The laying mash does worry me, because sometimes, as hard as I try to keep the rooster out of it, he will find it when out free-ranging, spilled on the ground, if nothing else, and I know it is bad for him.

But I'd feel terrible if the girls got eggbound or something from not getting enough calcium from just the Nutrena All Flock and the free choice oyster shell. What do you think?

 

[animallover505]

I have seen all different angles of ramps, some nearly 90 degrees angle, and the chickens easily used it. I don't see why you couldn't use one.

 

[ClareScifi]

Really? I had suspected my handyman didn't know what he was talking about... Why would he be so opposed to the idea? Are they hard to build, or maybe he thought it would block too much of the coop access, since it is a small coop, and the shelf is up high at the back. I will ask him why he is against the idea.

 

[animallover505]

yeah. Probably access issues. Try doing in in a Z ish shape, where it bends so they have a platform that they can turn on.