Meat bird laying on her side

[everecar]

I am new to meat birds. I got 3 fast growers & 1 slow. They are 6 weeks and have all grown at an unbelivable rate compared to my layers, but one of the fast growers has often been laying on her side, often still at the food trough!

She now seams to have more trouble to stand. She gets up & falls on her other side. But then I saw one of my old layers hassle her & she got up and ran - well a staggering run but looked like an overweight bird running. I am now on the verge of ringing her neck as I think it is cruel. Any advice?

It irritates me because I said to the guy I got them from I did not want silly fast growers and I think they are. I would rather wait another 2 months than have unhealthy birds. To me there is no point in raising them yourself if that happens

Caroline

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

just sounds like she is ready to be butchered.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

It's normal, I see a lot of my meat birds laying on their sides and most of them will stretch a leg out too. But you can process now if you want, especially if you do not want to take any chances.

 

[TundraKing]

Do you take the feed away at night? I take the feed away at around 9pm every night and give it back first thing in the morning, or you can make sure they run out of feed every day by 9pm. This will slow their growth and allow their bodies to keep up with the weight gain. Otherwise, if they get to feed 24 hours of day, they will get too heavy for their legs by 6 weeks a lot of times.

 

[everecar]

Thanks for advice. Yes she did streatch her legs out. The food is outside and they go in at night so they do not have food 24/7 but they did when they were smaller. Then I still turned the lights out but I think she probably still ate at night.

I thought is was unfair on her so I processed her. The other 2 of the same breed were getting much bigger than her and she was having more and more difficulty to stand, therefore I doubt she was getting to the food and more importantly water enough. If I get meat birds again I will only get the slow growing ones!

Thanks for the help

Caroline

 

[Dogfish]

Good decision on your part. I would have done the same.

 

[TimG]

It's normal for chickens to lay on their sides and stretch out a leg and/or wing. I think it has something to do with cooling off.