Leg Horns Stopped Eating! Need HELP!

[FogHornLegHorn79]

Greetings Humans,

Total NEWBY chicken owner. I have 8 leghorns that have abruptly stopped eating. They are 4 weeks 1 day old. They were previously eating up a STORM! Three helpings of feed a day by a small feeder with ball mason jar top. Now they are not even putting a dent in to one mason jar. Any thoughts?

 

[FarmerGirl101]

put the food in their mouths and then wash it down with a syringe full of water. also, make a mash with water and put it in their mouths then also wash it down with water

 

[FogHornLegHorn79]

One bit of information that I neglected to include, my boys ages 9 and 5 have taken to giving them grubs and earthworms because the birds appear to love them. I did not think this was the source of the problem because the disparity of in quantity of how much feed. However I want to include as much information as possible.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC. Just giving them commercial feed is better, for now.

These links may be interesting

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/hatching-eggs-raising-chickens.22/

Any questions that you may have regarding your chicks will be best posted here - http://www.backyardchickens.com/f/11/raising-baby-chicks

On this link you'll find lots of information on almost every aspect of keeping chickens - from coop building ideas, to incubating eggs - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/


There’s a link on the page above to the Learning Centre - it’s a great resource. If you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.


Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive


You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find Your State Thread

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

How do their crops look and feel? Do they have access to grit. If they have been fed insects and grubs and have not had grit to break them down, they may be suffering from an impaction. This would mean that their upper digestive tract is partially (or sometimes totally) blocked. If you feel their crops and then remove the feeder and leave them for a few hours with just water and then feel their crops again, that will give you an indication of whether this is the problem.... if the crop does not empty, they are impacted.
Chickens don't have teeth so they need grit to grind down their feed. Crumbles go to mush when they are mixed with water in the chick's crop so brooder reared chicks don't usually need it but insects and grains need to be ground down and then they need to have grit. The bird eats grit which travels into a very strong muscular pouch called the gizzard (the crop is just like a hopper to store food until it moves down into the gizzard), where the muscles contract and grind the food up with the grit. If they chicks have not had access to grit, it's possible they have a gizzard impaction. You need to withhold any more food and insects and offer only chick grit.... should be available from the feed store.... and water with electrolytes and vitamin supplement and perhaps give each chick a little oil.... either drops of vegetable oil or solid coconut oil to help lubricate their system and gently massage their crops.
Good luck getting them sorted.

 

[Joeschooks]

Some great info given by Rebrascora so I'll just say . I hope you get to the bottom of the problem

 

[Eggcessive]

More than likely they are preferring the worms and grubs to their chick feed, although others are correct that they need grit to digest other foods than chick crumbles. Also chick crumbles should make up 90% of their diet.

At their age, if they are looking weak or lethargic, a lack of appetite can be do to coccidiosis. That is treated with Corid (amprollium) in the water for 5-7 days. But you need to check their crops to make sure they are not impacted. Stop the worms and grubs until they can eat them on their own outside.