Overweight chickens

[K0k0shka]

Information is very easy to come by these days. Especially if you're on BYC already - lots of educational articles and good advice on here on what to feed chickens. Never go with "I just thought..." when you're taking on a new animal to care for, especially one you don't have experience with. Be prepared before you start (or after you start... but 7 months is a long time).

 

[Ruby Rogue]

The OP is a new member, perhaps a 'Welcome! Sorry you were misinformed and thanks for seeking out answers from people with experience and working towards the best care for your flock!' is in order.

 

[chickens45]

Information is very easy to come by these days. Especially if you're on BYC already - lots of educational articles and good advice on here on what to feed chickens. Never go with "I just thought..." when you're taking on a new animal to care for, especially one you don't have experience with. Be prepared before you start (or after you start... but 7 months is a long time).

Sorry I’m not perfect I try to take care of them best as I can. Thanks for your help.

 

[yakitori]

Sorry I’m not perfect I try to take care of them best as I can. Thanks for your help.

That's okay, you're here now and that's all that matters.
Sometimes we have to learn the hard way that the feed store or pet store employees actually have no idea what they are talking about and are giving out very bad advice. When I got my first betta fish, I was told it was okay to keep it in a tiny glass bowl and that it can eat the root of plants. Well guess what! It turns out they need at least a gallon of water, a water heater and animal protein based fish food because they are carnivores... my cheap $10 fish ended up costing me well over $100. I'm just glad that I actually looked up information when I got home and the poor thing didn't have to suffer From then on I took everything pet store employees told me with a grain of salt, and always did my own research.

Yikes I didn’t know that I just thought it was what they’re supposed to eat :/

so for 7 month old roosters what brand and what do you recommend?

I think a grower feed would be perfect for them. I use Dumor 20% feed. You can also get the 17% all flock, which is cheaper. Depending on how much you are willing to spend, there are other many many brands and options. You can even do Non-GMO or organic! Personally I wouldn't go above 20% protein, because it's 1) unnecessary 2) more expensive 3) possibly hard on the bird's kidneys.

To sum
- buy pellets or crumbles formulated for chickens. It should say "complete formula" somewhere on the bag.
- don't get anything with the words "layer" in it, as it's intended for laying hens and will have way too much calcium in it.

Please post photos of your birds, let's figure out how you can help slim them down first! Being overweight to the point of not being able to walk is not good at all, and we need to get that fixed asap!

 

[Chicalina]

Another thing to think about is whether you bought meat birds by mistake.

Meat birds like the cornish cross are bred to live very short lives and be butchered young. So they get fat very quickly and often cannot walk and have heart problems if they are allowed to live longer than a few months.

Posting pics will really help us to identify what breed you have.

 

[chickens45]

Here are some photos of my chickens, the feed I bought and a small feeder. Do you think this food will be good? And should I leave their feeder in their run all the time or remove it?

the red one isn’t as big as the two speckled ones.. he’s slimmer

 

[Buckeye Amy]

That's good food! Your boys are so handsome! The feeder is a chick feeder, but for 3 roosters it will work. You could put it up on a concrete block to make it easier for them to eat out of it. Good job!

 

[yakitori]

So much space! They look like happy roosters!

Food looks good also, have they tried it out yet? I would try to free range as much as you can until they slim down a bit.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

That feed is fine. Your feeder looks a little small, it's hard to tell from pictures. Keep it full during the day, they don't need any food at night.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Have you weighed them?

If you have a bathroom scale weigh yourself, then weigh while holding one the difference will be what he weighs.