My Hens Are Dying. Can You Help?

[aart]

But most commercial chicken feed contains animal protein.

Not that I found...only a couple...I give that separate on occasion.

In addition to all the grains, oyster shell, etc, there's the vitamin/mineral packs, so you'd need a supplier specializing in that.

Ditto Dat.

 

[SandLapper]

Hi, I'm really sorry you lost two birds so close together! I wanted to share the story of our first flock because it's really easy to make this mistake. We had 3 girls, two lovely Buff Orps, and one EE. We delighted in giving them kitchen scraps and the kids would sneak them scratch. At 7 months one BO dropped dead at night. We thought it might be heat stress, so we buried her and were very sad. 3 weeks later our other BO died, this time it presented as a sudden lethargy, sleeping, not eating, drinking a little but sleeping on my lap, wrapped in a towel as I frantically tried to find a vet. She died as I ran her into the waiting room of the vet's office. We had a necropsy. She had died of fatty liver syndrome, her liver had ruptured and she bled out internally. She wasn't incredibly overweight, but it was enough. Neither bird made it to 8 months. It was really hard for us to process that we had in a way killed our chickens. We have gone forward now and feed 95% crumble or more per day. Our vet recommended keeping anything but food to less than 10% of their daily intake so that is what we do. We feed crumble, the girls don't like pellets much, and they can have whatever they free range for the few hours they are out, but crumble or not much else is the rule here now. In the summer they get a slice of watermelon or a corn on the cob to split between 6 chickens and only because it's so hot here that they stay in the run with the swamp cooler so it breaks up the boredom of sitting in the only cool spot.
I ended up doing a lot of reading on food. Most of the commercial ones are pretty similar. Somewhere on the forums there is a really good feed breakdown written by one of the very experienced people on here. We have a couple small flocks and making food would be complicated for us. I did some label reading and found one that I felt was decent and I supplement them with vitamins once per week, twice in the summer and then that's about it. They are happier and healthier now.

You're right, I hate to think I in any way caused my hens' deaths. But, it is nice to have some direction now instead of not knowing why my girls died.

As their "husband", I must hold myself responsible and learn from any mistakes for the sake of the other 3 birds.

It seems my major mistake was feeding way more than 10% in treats.

I will approach this more scientifically and start immediately by forming a baseline with pellet feed. From there I can make mild adjustments and see how they work.

Thank you for sharing your experience and for letting me know I'm not alone in this.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Those are great questions for me to consider as I face this challenge.

I think storage would work about the same as storage of pellets. And I would buy fresh stock and rotate.

They would have access to a garden and woodlands, but you're right, they could wipe that out!

I would supplement meal worms and red worms.

I just wonder...when was formula feed developed?

And how many small farmers around the world have access to bagged pellet feed?

There must be a possibility here for free range or at least a compromise.

I edited my former post to ask about feed with no factory farm by products.

Are you aware of any?

I feed Purina Flock Raiser in winter and Nutrena layer to my production breeds in summer. The rest of my birds stay on flock raiser or all flock year round. I have bantam cochins well over 8 years old and my others range from the young at 14 weeks to between 5 and 6 years old.
I rarely lose a bird. When I need new layers in my flock I either process out my oldest or sell birds.
Oyster shell in a dish near the feed and 19 chickens share just 1 cup of scratch a day.
The ducks get lettuce as a treat once or twice a week.

 

[SandLapper]

I feed Purina Flock Raiser in winter and Nutrena layer to my production breeds in summer. The rest of my birds stay on flock raiser or all flock year round. I have bantam cochins well over 8 years old and my others range from the young at 14 weeks to between 5 and 6 years old.
I rarely lose a bird. When I need new layers in my flock I either process out my oldest or sell birds.
Oyster shell in a dish near the feed and 19 chickens share just 1 cup of scratch a day.
The ducks get lettuce as a treat once or twice a week.

I'll try something similar then.

Do you consider lettuce an unhealthy treat?

I buy a ton of lettuce for some of my vegetarian farm stock and for personal use, and give the hens quite a bit out of the rotation.

 

[SandLapper]

Not that I found...only a couple...I give that separate on occasion.

Ditto Dat.

Maybe I just need to look at feed in a higher price range then...

 

[21hens-incharge]

I'll try something similar then.

Do you consider lettuce an unhealthy treat?

I buy a ton of lettuce for some of my vegetarian farm stock and for personal use, and give the hens quite a bit out of the rotation.

My chickens do not care for lettuce. I only give it to the ducks. For them it is fine. Chickens don't ever seem interested in it.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Maybe I just need to look at feed in a higher price range then...

Read Kiki's feed comparison page please. A lot of work went into it and it is quite good.

A feed does not need to be $50 a bag to be effective.

Is lettuce healthy for your other stock?

What other stock do you keep?

 

[SandLapper]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Sj3Bt5CUQfX1PlTEhg799sDT-qM/edit?usp=drivesdk

Thanks!

Very handy!

 

[Allthefloofs]

I'll try something similar then.

Do you consider lettuce an unhealthy treat?

I buy a ton of lettuce for some of my vegetarian farm stock and for personal use, and give the hens quite a bit out of the rotation.

I think the general thought is that if they are filling up with lettuce they are not eating as much of their feed so they are missing out on the nutrition provided by their feed. But I may be wrong, I categorize that as an "other" and make sure it stays in the less than 10%.

 

[SandLapper]

Read Kiki's feed comparison page please. A lot of work went into it and it is quite good.

A feed does not need to be $50 a bag to be effective.

Is lettuce healthy for your other stock?

What other stock do you keep?

Yes! That is a great resource!

I will use that immediately.

Now I have you keeping an eye on me!
Lettuce is very healthy for my other stock of various invertebrates. I may be new to chickens, but feel confident with those thriving populations.

However, you have been so helpful and knowledgeable that I won't hesitate to accept any advice you may have on these animals as well!

May be better for another forum...though worms are a chicken related field.