MY LAYING HENS are getting SKINNY

[honeydoll]

I have five laying hens and one rooster. I believe they are red sex links. My hens seem to be getting skinnier. I have them on a layer mash from a feed supply store. My rooster seems ok but his poo is runny/foamy but not bad. They eat well, free range. There is no other problems. Just seem to be gettting skinny. My hens' poo is normal. My hens started laying about 3 weeks ago and it took me about two weeks to get their layer feed. Could that be the problem? I've seen no worms in poo but I read somewhere that you don't always see worms in their poo even though they have them. Since the layer feed their eggs are much bigger, but they always layed good hard shelled eggs. I just don't know why they are getting skinnier. Any ideas? Should I add something to their diet? I'm worried this could be the beginning of a bigger problem.

 

[purpletree23]

Even though they free range do they have access to layer pellets all day? If not they need the freedom to eat whenever they want.

Check for mites and lice. They can suck the life right out of a chicken. You should consider worming them. If they have worms the worms are using the nutrition instead of the chicken. An overload of worms can actually starve a chicken to death.

Do a little detective work and get back to us with what you found. In the mean time I would give them scrambled eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, chopped greens and even a little cooked pasta. Their diet should be 90% pellets and 10% of the foods I just mentioned.

 

[honeydoll]

What should I use to worm them? I checked for mites and saw nothing on them. Are they just little black bugs? I didn't see anything crawling on them, or any sores. They can get to their feed at any time, they are never shut out of the coop.

 

[TXmom]

I think it just takes a lot out of the chickens...literally...to produce all those great eggs. Make sure they have plenty of food and "some" treats to keep up their strength. If you worm them (using Wazine or another wormer) you usually have to throw the eggs away for a couple of weeks. I've read that some people feed the eggs back to the chickens, but they're not good for human consumption. Before giving them a medication like that, I would collect some fresh poo and take it to a vet for a fecal egg count. Only treat the flock if you need to.