Need experienced opinions if this is too much fat or not?

[Farmlife16]

I had four of my hens butchered and they seem to have a lot of excess fat. They were 2 year old production hens. Do you agree that there is excess fat? If so, what causes this?

I've attached a photo of one of the hen's intestines as well as one of her eggs (it was hard and rubbery).

 

[NatJ]

Hens naturally store fat, so they can go broody and live on the fat while sitting on the eggs.

You don't want them TOO fat, but they do need at least some.

Because they store fat internally, it is really hard to judge how "fat" a hen is when she is alive.

I don't see that amount of fat as a big problem, but it probably wouldn't be good for them to have much more than that.

You don't say how you are feeding your chickens, but here are a few basic ideas about feeding chickens:
Leaving a complete chicken feed available free-choice is usually fine, and letting hens wander around eating grass and bugs is typically fine too. But many common chicken-treats are high in calories, and may encourage chickens to eat more than they need. This could include corn, sunflower seeds, and even mealworms (which are about half protein, half fat: the fat is the problem.) So you might want to avoid such treats in future.

 

[Farmlife16]

Hens naturally store fat, so they can go broody and live on the fat while sitting on the eggs.

You don't want them TOO fat, but they do need at least some.

Because they store fat internally, it is really hard to judge how "fat" a hen is when she is alive.

I don't see that amount of fat as a big problem, but it probably wouldn't be good for them to have much more than that.

You don't say how you are feeding your chickens, but here are a few basic ideas about feeding chickens:
Leaving a complete chicken feed available free-choice is usually fine, and letting hens wander around eating grass and bugs is typically fine too. But many common chicken-treats are high in calories, and may encourage chickens to eat more than they need. This could include corn, sunflower seeds, and even mealworms (which are about half protein, half fat: the fat is the problem.) So you might want to avoid such treats in future.

Thank you! They aren't fed very many treats, but I will try to keep a closer eye on what I feed them.

 

[Shadrach]

That is more fat than I would expect to see on a healthy active hen. I think you are right to be concerned.
Fat accumulation isn't just about what you feed them; it's also about how much excercise they get.

 

[Farmlife16]

@azygous @Eggcessive @U_Stormcrow

 

[Tonyroo]

Fat is where you get the most flavor for chicken meat.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You may find this useful. It's what I look for. Hens should have a bit more fat than roos, of course. From my free range, commercial feed supported flock.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/24904556/

And yes, I agree with the above. Good color on that fat, but looks a bit heavy

 

[Perris]

fat is energy stored for future needs when calorie intake exceeds expenditure (regardless of what precisely is eaten to supply those calories), a natural biological system that evolved in a world of inconsistent and uncertain food availability. You need to control input quantity if your birds have access to food 24/7 and don't have to expend much energy to get it, or opportunity to burn off excess.

 

[Eggcessive]

IT looks like a lot of fat in the one picture, but I would rather see the whole body. I have found large amounts of fat on some birds, even thinner hens, but some are bigger eaters (hogs, LOL.) One hen of mine had fatty liver disease on necropsy, and she had 2 inches thick fat almost everywhere, plus a big blood clot from a liver hemorrhage. My chickens always just got layer or all flock feed with a few small treats of egg or scratch grains. They stopped getting any treats
after I some too much fat in a few birds.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a picture from Texas A&M of a typical chicken with fatty liver hemorrhagic disease showing the large blood clot, tan diseased liver and fat: