Ivory the Rooster: Day 665 *updates*

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
That's what I feared. But it's really not even noticeable. I just noticed it was slightly out of line, but barely at all. But if she does start to develop a cross beak, what can I do to fix/prevent it in case it gets serious?

Chickens thrive on nutrient dense foods, and those can only be obtained by way of animal foods, which in their case, is bugs and worms and any other animal derived foods that we as humans choose to add to their diet, such as eggs, milk and other meats.

A cross beak is a genetic birth defect after a sort. Its mothers diet affected how it would develop. If mamas diet was not rich in nutrient dense natural foods, she will not have good egg health.
This can be seen in humans, by way of crowded teeth and thin faces. If this chick is a hen, and continues to recieve a deficient diet, any offspring she were to have, would have far more problems, and science has proven that that third generation will have great difficulty reproducing.

You may be able to stop the beak from further crossing, by ensuring this chick gets lots of natural foods.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
That's what I feared. But it's really not even noticeable. I just noticed it was slightly out of line, but barely at all. But if she does start to develop a cross beak, what can I do to fix/prevent it in case it gets serious?

Chickens thrive on nutrient dense foods, and those can only be obtained by way of animal foods, which in their case, is bugs and worms and any other animal derived foods that we as humans choose to add to their diet, such as eggs, milk and other meats.

A cross beak is a genetic birth defect after a sort. Its mothers diet affected how it would develop. If mamas diet was not rich in nutrient dense natural foods, she will not have good egg health.
This can be seen in humans, by way of crowded teeth and thin faces. If this chick is a hen, and continues to recieve a deficient diet, any offspring she were to have, would have far more problems, and science has proven that that third generation will have great difficulty reproducing.

You may be able to stop the beak from further crossing, by ensuring this chick gets lots of natural foods.

Her mother, a Buff Orpington, had plenty of nutritious foods. She ate corn and layer pellets and was free ranged. But she died for an unknown reason (probably internally, she wasn't sick or anything) a few days after Ivory was born.

Neither her father or her mother had crooked beaks.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

But, was corn just a tiny treat that the chickens recieved each day?
If it is a major amount of the diet, filling them up with carbs, the good foods will not be able to overcome the need for good nutrition.
Its just like us, if we eat sugar every day, along with all the real foods, we are not doing ourselves any favors.
The other thing to take into account, is this GMO corn?
Sadly, even though the makers of gmo's claim no problems can be obtained from them, it has been proven over and over in labs, that gmo's wreak havoc on how the body takes in nutrition.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
What is GMO corn???

All I know is that the corn we buy(and the layer mash) is from Blue Seal and says that it is healthy for poultry and other livestock. It says it's healthy and has no added stuff to it.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
What is GMO corn???

All I know is that the corn we buy(and the layer mash) is from Blue Seal and says that it is healthy for poultry and other livestock. It says it's healthy and has no added stuff to it.

I will PM you.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
What is GMO corn???

All I know is that the corn we buy(and the layer mash) is from Blue Seal and says that it is healthy for poultry and other livestock. It says it's healthy and has no added stuff to it.

I will PM you. THis topic tends to make some people get very steamed

If everything that was quoted about GMO crops was the truth and not biased then there would be no reason for others (like we farmers who grow it) to get steamed

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

Quote:
Layer pellets have too much.. (hmm i seem to have forgotten..) but i think its calcium(??) that is bad for their.. kidneys(?? or maybe it was their liver??) shucks! I seem to have forgotten, but I know chicks aren't supposed to eat it!!!! PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT THE FINE DETAILS!!

also give the whole egg (whites and yolk. the white is the part that contains the protein!) and as much as she'll eat. she knows when to stop and not overstuff herself. that goes with the chick start too,(when you get it) as much as she wants to eat, as often as she wants. just leave a bowl full in with her and refill before it gets empty!

 

[77horses]

Quote:
Layer pellets have too much.. (hmm i seem to have forgotten..) but i think its calcium(??) that is bad for their.. kidneys(?? or maybe it was their liver??) shucks! I seem to have forgotten, but I know chicks aren't supposed to eat it!!!! PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT THE FINE DETAILS!!

also give the whole egg (whites and yolk. the white is the part that contains the protein!) and as much as she'll eat. she knows when to stop and not overstuff herself. that goes with the chick start too,(when you get it) as much as she wants to eat, as often as she wants. just leave a bowl full in with her and refill before it gets empty!

Thanks for letting me know about that! As soon as I read that, I immediately just took the ground layer pellets out.

I was worried that she would eat too much because she kept gulping it all down at once and then she would keep moving her head back and forth for a little while. This is what some of our hens do when they eat too much at once. But maybe if I mash it up into smaller pieces, she won't eat large chunks of it all at once.
Thanks!

 

[PunkinPeep]

On egg yolks, i didn't even think about the protein of the egg white. I was just thinking about great absorption, but i looked it up, and i think the white and the yolk have similar amounts of protein, but the yolk has a lot more fat - which this baby needs right now. http://www.iloveindia.com/nutrition/protein/egg-protein.html

On the layer pellets, yes, it's the calcium that is too much for the baby birds. Their little kidneys can't process so much calcium right now. When they're at laying age, they will utilize the calcium when producing eggs, but right now, there's no place to go with it.

I agree with Crazy cat......let her eat as much egg as she wants. If she's eating that much, it's because she's hungry. Ivory needs that nutrition. Just make sure she has plenty to drink - i'm sure you have that available already.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
OK thanks! I'm going to mash up the rest of her cooked egg and put it in her box for her to finish. I feel like such a bad momma hen.

I should have known that corn wasn't enough! It's just that we've done it before with all of our other chickens, and today they are all alive and healthy. The only chickens we've lost (since we've started raising them in 2007) are 3 from a weasel attack, 1 from a sickness/weakness(was a baby chick that we bought at a swap/meet on a cold day, she was way too young to be outside in that cold at that young age, so she got sick and sadly died. But she was on medicated feed that a lady gave us, not the corn that we usually gave them), and a BO hen from an unknown reason (who was over a year old). Other than that, there have been no deaths that could have been related to the corn. This is the first time it has caused a problem. Last year we raised an "only child" baby chick and she ate the corn and today she is a healthy, young hen who is laying eggs.
So, that's why I thought it would be OK for Ivory to eat the corn as well, like we have always done. But now I wish I would have known better and I feel like such a bad momma hen to her for not providing the nutrients and vitamins she needs.

I'm so glad I have BYC to come to! Otherwise I would have never known. You guys have helped me in so many ways that it seems like I wouldn't be able to successfully raise chickens without coming here!