My girls are 20 weeks old I don't think they are eating a lot at all.

[Teresa D]

My fear is just that mainly you know that with the developing pecking order and with my area having had to deal with so much excessive heat that I didn’t want to miss any kind of health issue or food bullying that was keeping a hen from getting enough food or not enough nutrients in these critical stages of development. With me being a newbie and all these issues in play I didn’t want to mess up on something so easy maybe for some but yet so detrimental to their health at this time. I maybe just paranoid. I just love my animals a lot no matter if it’s my dog or my livestock as a chicken. I raised them in my house due to the heat and it being so bad and as a first timer and our heavy predator load. Our parasites here can be a huge contributor too if we aren’t on top of things. I have read and read and gone to other farms and observed and helped for years and talked to fellow vets and friends to learn. All before I took the leap. I don’t like putting animals in harms way due to personal ignorance or laziness because I didn’t ask or research. Ya know?

I totally agree with loving animals! Caring for them as they should be cared for, it will show also!

 

[Teresa D]

Oh, um, oops.

I missed the most important word--just stuck it in. (capitalized in the quoted bit)

I meant multiple feed/water stations means that even the ones being bullied have places to eat. But leaving out a word made the meaning backwards.

Agreed!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Agreed!

Thank you!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Oh, um, oops.

I missed the most important word--just stuck it in. (capitalized in the quoted bit)

I meant multiple feed/water stations means that even the ones being bullied have places to eat. But leaving out a word made the meaning backwards.

Okay thanks. Having that clarified helps. I also have been monitoring my Orpingtons with my top hen especially in the mornings and there is a definite scuffling problem and food guarding problem with them specifically. She will even prevent them from even getting close to the shelf that holds their food trays. She was snapping at the food shelf that was empty still because I had not even put out the food yet because I was just watching the goings on. These two were the only pullets that had come out of the coop yet because she always comes out first and the other girls wait on her to call them out. So this Orpington has come out next and they were doing the chest bumping nothing a bit and then the lead was chasing her around all over the run and also keeping her at bay away from the empty feed shelf. I was just standing there taking it all in and the other girls were just like being lazy or afraid one or the other in the coop- it was raining also here. We have yet another tropical storm coming through our area. It’s like number five or six of the year that has come through after the Laura started the train of them through the Southeast. I am over them already and I don’t even live on the coast I live in Northeast Mississippi. I feel so much for those in New Orleans and the Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina areas that have suffered. I have probably left folks out but don’t mean too. But anyway they wouldn’t even come out for some reason and one Orpington was hiding behind my three Legbars who never bother any of them or ever have a problem out of any of them. So I am going to put out more feeders for sure. I have more elevated locations set up fire ant zone free also! Thank you for your help also!