Overfeeding chickens how to stop

[Lemon-Drop]

Have you seen this?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...nd-lethargic-drooping-wings-and-more.1463932/

Just read through it. I hope the chicken gets better!

Maybe I’ll slow down there treats.

 

[Chickstarrs]

If you are feeding treats daily and feeding any combination of treats that are more than one tablespoon worth than yes.

I am guessing that is one tablespoon per chicken?

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I am guessing that is one tablespoon per chicken?

I think so. Because if you had a flock of two chickens and a flock of 100, there would probably be a difference

 

[Mellowmalt]

I fully believe in feeding treats. There are millions that feed corn to bulk out their diet as it is cheap - althogh that is less ideal millions still do it.
Their natural diet is insects and seeds but it is far easier to overfeed mealworms than it is seeds.
Mealworms are a staple treat I see used all the time when it is a very fattening treat.
Popcorn is a healthier treat as long as it has no added salt.
From what I have read treats should not consist more than 10% of their diet and treats can be low quality like corn and mealworms or high quality like a mixed seed mix (with corn, sunflower, wheat, red dari and peas)
So if they eat 2Kg of food per week, they can get 200g of treats, mine just get a small handful when I check on them and it just livens up their day more than toys or me entertaining them would do.

Also that other article about the sick hen was due to lice. That's like the cigarette ads using homeless people with rotting gums as examples of what happens to smokers. They even had a man sue them once because they used a picture of his amputated leg he'd lost in a war saying "don't smoke, it can lead to you losing limbs"

 

[rosemarythyme]

From what I have read treats should not consist more than 10% of their diet and treats can be low quality like corn and mealworms or high quality like a mixed seed mix (with corn, sunflower, wheat, red dari and peas)
So if they eat 2Kg of food per week, they can get 200g of treats, mine just get a small handful when I check on them and it just livens up their day more than toys or me entertaining them would do.

Also that other article about the sick hen was due to lice.

This thread is probably more to the point about overweight chickens: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-why-you-should-exercise-your-birds.1445968/

But feeding a small amount of treats is fine IMO. I use treats sparingly to encourage the chickens to come back to the run at the end of the afternoon, like 2-3 Tbsp of black soldier fly larva or BOSS for the entire flock of 10. And if I have some veggie scraps from the garden, I toss them in as I get them, but that's pretty sporadic.

 

[chicken pa]

My family and I overfeed and spoil our chickens a lot, and we decided it’s time to stop. We would feed them rice meat and vegetables everyday at around 2 and call it “lunch” .... and they have gotten used to that being their main food and their pellets being their side food. Neighbors have recently been complaining so They are not in their real run at the moment and are in a small Run temporarily before we get a fence built so they aren’t getting that much exercise To burn those calories. My chickens are healthy at the moment, perfect weight, lay nice eggs, but we want to stop before it gets out of hand and something happens. Do I slowly decrease their food daily or just completely stop at once? If we are late to giving them “lunch” they start complaining and making caw-caw noises so I’m thinking we slowly decrease their food day by day. In their current temporary run they don’t have access to grass and only dirt and stone/rocks. I don’t know how to get them to start adjusting to realize that the pellets should be their main food now that they adjusted to this “lunch” though

I thought vegetables are needed . I am a vegetarian , so I actually just give them what I also eat. Mostly assorted legumes, then this seven kind chicken fee. I also give them jockey oats and barley, cooked and raw.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I thought vegetables are needed . I am a vegetarian , so I actually just give them what I also eat. Mostly assorted legumes, then this seven kind chicken fee. I also give them jockey oats and barley, cooked and raw.

Just to double check, you still give pellets, right?

 

[MissE]

Favorite treat for mine is eggshells. I don't count them as a treat, but they do. I will toss veggie scraps to them, and the occasional scoop of scratch if I need them to do something quickly, but most of their diet is pellets. If that is all they have to eat, and they are hungry, they will eat it. No need to ween them off treats. Cold turkey if just fine.

Heck, sometimes I throw a handful of pellets in the run. They think that is a treat too.

 

[demonic]

I fully believe in feeding treats. There are millions that feed corn to bulk out their diet as it is cheap - althogh that is less ideal millions still do it.
Their natural diet is insects and seeds but it is far easier to overfeed mealworms than it is seeds.
Mealworms are a staple treat I see used all the time when it is a very fattening treat.
Popcorn is a healthier treat as long as it has no added salt.
From what I have read treats should not consist more than 10% of their diet and treats can be low quality like corn and mealworms or high quality like a mixed seed mix (with corn, sunflower, wheat, red dari and peas)
So if they eat 2Kg of food per week, they can get 200g of treats, mine just get a small handful when I check on them and it just livens up their day more than toys or me entertaining them would do.

Also that other article about the sick hen was due to lice. That's like the cigarette ads using homeless people with rotting gums as examples of what happens to smokers. They even had a man sue them once because they used a picture of his amputated leg he'd lost in a war saying "don't smoke, it can lead to you losing limbs"

Thank you! I believe chickens should sometimes get treats as well, especially if they lay big eggs or you want to train them or in general are good, a little bit of treats won’t hurt! before we thought it was a good idea for some reason to give our chickens “lunch” we would throw them some whole whewt bread and they loved it, they would even jump up to get it from my hand it was so cute

and yeah, I don’t think overfeeding causes lice, or maybe its just a coincidence.

 

[Kiki]

I am guessing that is one tablespoon per chicken?

Yes.