My hen is not gaining weight

[sacto-urban-farmer]

I have 2 sexlinks a RIR and a Black Star. They are 5 months old. The Black Star was a runt and still seems to be much smaller and thinner than the RIR. It seems she is not gaining weight. Her appetite seems good and she is not lethargic. She basically looks great except she is thin. She started laying a few weeks ago and suddenly stopped. The RIR lays everyday.

I feed them organic layer crumbles + treats like yogurt, fruit and oats.

I am trying to decide if I should worm them in case the Black Star has worms. I'm not a fan of medicating my girls, but if it will help...

Is it possible she is just runty and small?

Any advice gladly accepted.

Thanks
Cris

 

[DaniLovesChickens]

Do you know much about the Black Star breed? I really don't. Some breeds are just smaller and not very consistent layers.
You can always take a "community" stool sample to the vet to see if they have worms. Pretty much any vet should be able to do this and it's quite inexpensive. Then if they do have worms, you would know exactly what kind you are dealing with.

Like you said though, she may just be a runt. We got 6 ISA brown chicks this spring. They are now 22 weeks old. One is a Lot bigger than the others. They aren't all the same size. So even in the same breed chickens aren't going to be exactly the same.

Good Luck!

 

[silkiechicken]

Black stars are a mixed breed that can be feather sexed as chicks, which means that there can be a good variation in different strains/mixes. If she's running around, eating, looking good otherwise, don't worry. They are bred to be egg laying machines, and the good ones are often lighter set. That said, make sure she's not hiding eggs and if you want to worm, some vets will do a fecal float test to verify the types present so you can treat acordingly.

 

[sacto-urban-farmer]

Thanks so much to you both! I think I'll do the stool sample just because I want to know.

Take care and happy chicken parenting!!


Cris

 

[sacto-urban-farmer]

After doing more research on Black Star sexlinks I see that they are a "lighter breed" generally topping out about 5lbs. I think I am just comparing her too much to my RIR (a heavy breed) who also eats everything in site!

Again thanks for the posts.