Is this normal for 9 wks?

[6of6chicks]

My 9 week old buff orpingtons seem really skinny & scruffy lately. Their faces also seem really red, with red patches on their heads. They've always been a little red around the face, but it just seems darker lately. Do they look normal?





Last week they all had a round of Corid (only one was sick, but they all got it to be safe). They have medicated chick starter 24/7 and their water has Baby Chick Jump Start powder (probiotics, vitamins, & electrolytes - added AFTER Corid was finished). They also usually get some sort of garden "treat" each day since I'm not free ranging. Yesterday it was watermelon, day before that sprouted scratch, etc. I checked them over this morning and don't see any lice, mites, bugs, eggs - or any other yuckies. They just LOOK a little ragged, so of course I'm worrying! I'm new at this and don't know if they're normal for their age or not?

 

[Wol1]

This is a picture of a mature buff orpington from this website: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/buff-orpingtons-chicken-breed-information-pictures. The red around the face seems normal.

I didn't feed mine medicated starter after three weeks. It seemed to give them diarrhea. Clean water and probiotics were enough. They probably don't need the probiotics and vitamins all the time anymore. They are eating a balanced feed, so they probably don't need a lot of extra vitamins. On the other hand, they've been ill and they don't free range, so they may need a boost every few days. Chickens love yogurt and it has plenty of probiotics. Maybe once or twice a week treat. I give mine a mixture like that once or twice a week, with an extra day if something seems amiss. They do free range. Maybe a bit more often if it's really hot and they are drinking a lot of water (and pooping messy wet poops because of it). Just like we lose electrolytes when we exercise and drink Gatorade or babies need pedialyte when they have diarrhea. There are recipes for electrolyte only solutions for hot weather available on-line.

At nine weeks they should be on a feed with about 15% protein. Here is a chart from the Merck Manual: http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...ltry/nutritional_requirements_of_poultry.html Buffs lay brown eggs, so scroll down to the brown egg layer information... for some reason, it's different than white egg layers... Different feed efficiencies??

Scruffy? They look ok in the pictures, to me, but pictures don't show what's under the feathers

. (Kind of like cats!) They go through several stages in feathering. My new chicks are 14 weeks old and they are still shedding and new mature feathers keep appearing. Skinny.... I think that's normal at that age. Kind of like human kids going through a growth spurt. That's not to say it isn't something wrong. I'd suggest getting their feed and vitamin amounts within recommended levels for their age and continuing to observe them.. If they are active, eating, drinking, clear bright eyes... they are probably not at death's door. It may be reassuring to take a fecal sample to a vet to check for internal parasites or an overload of some bacteria.

What were they on the Corid for? Coccidiosis? If they have had diarrhea they may need to catch up on weight gain. It may take a little while. They do develop an immunity to coccidiosis over time.

 

[littlefarmgirl9]

It's probably normal-for a 9-week-old. She is most likely just maturing fast. I have four six week olds-two orps, two barred rocks- and one of my Orps, Hazel,has a bigger comb than the others. It's definitely not completely developed, but it's noticeably larger. Mine eat developer feed now, but I fed them chick starter for their first four weeks or so. She's probably fine-and the dark red faces just mean they're developing. My Hazel has a little reed on her earlobes, and a little white on certain partstoo. Don't worry-they're probably fine.

 

[6of6chicks]

This is a picture of a mature buff orpington from this website: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/buff-orpingtons-chicken-breed-information-pictures. The red around the face seems normal.

I didn't feed mine medicated starter after three weeks. It seemed to give them diarrhea. Clean water and probiotics were enough. They probably don't need the probiotics and vitamins all the time anymore. They are eating a balanced feed, so they probably don't need a lot of extra vitamins. On the other hand, they've been ill and they don't free range, so they may need a boost every few days. Chickens love yogurt and it has plenty of probiotics. Maybe once or twice a week treat. I give mine a mixture like that once or twice a week, with an extra day if something seems amiss. They do free range. Maybe a bit more often if it's really hot and they are drinking a lot of water (and pooping messy wet poops because of it). Just like we lose electrolytes when we exercise and drink Gatorade or babies need pedialyte when they have diarrhea. There are recipes for electrolyte only solutions for hot weather available on-line.

At nine weeks they should be on a feed with about 15% protein. Here is a chart from the Merck Manual: http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...ltry/nutritional_requirements_of_poultry.html Buffs lay brown eggs, so scroll down to the brown egg layer information... for some reason, it's different than white egg layers... Different feed efficiencies??

Scruffy? They look ok in the pictures, to me, but pictures don't show what's under the feathers

. (Kind of like cats!) They go through several stages in feathering. My new chicks are 14 weeks old and they are still shedding and new mature feathers keep appearing. Skinny.... I think that's normal at that age. Kind of like human kids going through a growth spurt. That's not to say it isn't something wrong. I'd suggest getting their feed and vitamin amounts within recommended levels for their age and continuing to observe them.. If they are active, eating, drinking, clear bright eyes... they are probably not at death's door. It may be reassuring to take a fecal sample to a vet to check for internal parasites or an overload of some bacteria.

What were they on the Corid for? Coccidiosis? If they have had diarrhea they may need to catch up on weight gain. It may take a little while. They do develop an immunity to coccidiosis over time.

I'm feeding Texas Naturals Feeds. My girls started out on their non-medicated chick starter, but around 4 (?) weeks I ran out and ended up getting a different brand of chick starter from the feed store (MG). Last time I went they only had medicated starter, so that's what I came home with. I've never had a problem with diarrhea - poops look normal.

Texas Naturals recommends staying on chick starter until 10 weeks, then switching to grower. Both of the chick starters I used are 20% protein, and since I'm going to run out next week anyway I just figured that's when I would switch back to the Texas Naturals and put them on their grower (18%). I'm wondering why that protein is higher than what you recommend? Is that bad, do you think?

They were all on Corid because one chick got coccidiosis. The other five never showed any signs of it, but most threads & googling said to treat the whole flock anyway. The one who got it was sick from the day I got her. I just didn't know enough to recognize the signs, and since her chick feed WASN'T medicated for the first month she just never really got over it. She perked up and was active, but she grew at a much slower rate than the others. Two weeks ago we had a week of rain, and I think it was finally too much for her system and led to the outbreak. I figured all that out after the fact (newbie mistakes!). She's recovered now and back with the flock. But a couple of people recommended that they get vitamins, electrolytes, & probiotics after the Corid to help their systems bounce back from the Corid. One person pointed out that yogurt has a lot of calcium that chicks don't need, and since I had the probiotic powder already I just thought I'd use that instead of yogurt. Plus, I hate yogurt and don't have any in the house, lol!

When I was looking at them this morning they just seemed ragged. I'm a worrier, so I thought I'd get second opinions. Maybe you're right and it's just a growth spurt? They act fine - active, roaming around, dust bathing, being chicken-y, etc. I weighed them all and they're all at about 1 lb. 9 oz. (except my sick peeper - she's got some catching up to do). Is that a normal weight for 9 week old buff orpingtons? I tried looking for growth charts and couldn't find any.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Wol1]

I've been thinking about your situation. The extra info helped. I understand the probiotics/vitamins. Those are the protein levels listed by Merck, but I've found those levels on several extension website and in several books like Gail Damerow's Chicken Health Handbook. The 18 % should work. If you want to give them a few more calories to gain weight, give them a bit of cracked corn (or grits, if a 50 lb bag of corn is too much. Keep it at 1/2 cup of corn per 4 cups of 18% feed would keep them within 17% protein level. Corn is high in energy and low in protein. I give it to my hens in the winter to keep them warm. Give them some greens and tiny bits of fruit. I found this wonderful weight chart by a magnificent person who weighed her chicks of many different breeds as they grew. She has an unspecified Orpington (Gladys) who weiged 836 g or 1.84 pounds at 8.3 weeks old. The chart is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai_tn3iaHwtMdG0xdVJObVNNeGVaVVBVY19fd3J6ZGc#gid=7 I accessed it through here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/687762/growth-chart So, it seems yours are doing fine weight wise. And, a small dish of yogurt a few times a week will be alright. It's not enough calcium to harm them. But using the powdered probiotics is fine, too.