Putting fat chickens on a diet

[Geena]

Like Storm I've taken apart a lot of chickens and they pack on very little fat in the breast area. What I do see with fat birds is a big slab of fat as soon as I open them up, before you can even see the organs, right here

That's really the only place excess internal fat has to build up, since the rest is completely contained inside the bird. I imagine that's why fat birds tend to waddle, because of that fat pack between their legs. That's where I would check to try to determine if a chicken was overweight. I know with my old fat hens I can actually see the bulge there when I examine them.

 

[Geena]

For a live visual, these some of my meat mutt hens, they are all overweight, it can't be helped. See how rounded they are behind, that's not just some fluffy pantaloons, that's a bunch of junk in the trunk.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

There are different lines with Orpingtons and some weigh quite a bit more compared to your standard Orpington. Even hatcheries say a full grown Orpington hen should be in the 8lb range. I have seen quality English Orpington breeders list at 8-10lbs for hens. I have seen only 7lbs listed for pullets.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Uh oh I wonder if mine are over weight my two buff Orpingtons and four jersey giants eat like they will never eat again let's say by the end of the day their crops are huge!!! They are a little over a year

 

[SourRoses]

Wow! Your vet is basing this on her overall weight?! From some simplistic breed chart?!

English Orpington hens don't even come in 7lb versions, unless they are from mixed Orp breeding.
I only have my big English Orpington roo, but he doesn't seem fat at all. He gets lots of exercise watching over his flock.

If you're still concerned, maybe you can organize some daily exercise for yours, like taking them out in the yard for an hour before dark (makes it easy to bring them back in).
Cutting their nutritionally balanced feed doesn't seem like a good idea at all, especially when they are suffering other health issues. Even things that sound healthy to us, like fresh greens, can be high in sugar for animals. Diet feed for horses is low-sugar, and pre-soaked hay.
So, I would rely on the nutritionally standard feed that other chickens do well on; and if you actually had to remove calories, do it with exercise.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Wow! Your vet is basing this on her overall weight?! From some simplistic breed chart?!

English Orpington hens don't even come in 7lb versions, unless they are from mixed Orp breeding.
I only have my big English Orpington roo, but he doesn't seem fat at all. He gets lots of exercise watching over his flock.

If you're still concerned, maybe you can organize some daily exercise for yours, like taking them out in the yard for an hour before dark (makes it easy to bring them back in).
Cutting their nutritionally balanced feed doesn't seem like a good idea at all, especially when they are suffering other health issues. Even things that sound healthy to us, like fresh greens, can be high in sugar for animals. Diet feed for horses is low-sugar, and pre-soaked hay.
So, I would rely on the nutritionally standard feed that other chickens do well on; and if you actually had to remove calories, do it with exercise.

I agree 100%. I have a cousin who is a now retired vet and another cousin who was a vet tech. They both said that you can’t trust every vet. When I took my Shetland Sheepdog in for his first puppy appointment the vet insisted that I needed to get his tail docked because it was “what they do for the breed”….ummm the Shetland sheepdogs long fluffy fox like tail is part of the breed standard and one of the things they are known for. They are not even a docking breed. I would know considering my family in England breeds them. Imagine if I was a completely new dog owner and solely trusted the word of my vet. I would have a tailless sheltie!

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Since you said you have had two hens die at a young age with or because of weight problems, I am inclined to agree with the vet even if his reasoning is suspect. (He may just happen to be right because coincidences happen.) or maybe he noted physical signs of obesity he didn’t share with you.

I would definitely cut out any high-calorie treats like mealworms or scratch. Just completely cut them, or lock up the fat chickens if you must give them to someone, so only your skinnier chickens have access. I would also suggest looking at the recommended amount per chicken per day on your feed and set up multiple feeding stations so everyone is able to eat at mealtime. Even if you continue to free-feed, having multiple stations will help ensure the lower ranked hens get their share.

You could also consider just delaying putting out the feed in the morning by a bit. Like the “intermittent fasting” fad for humans, but less drastic. It seems like if your hens are “boredom eating,” limiting the amount of time they have the food around would curb that habit a little.

Honestly though, I think in general hens kept in confinement are very likely to get fat. They don’t have to work for their food and there isn’t really any incentive to be active - it’s not like they can explore something new or forage in a run. I suppose you could take the “zookeeper” approach and rotate in different toys every day?

 

[NatJ]

Honestly though, I think in general hens kept in confinement are very likely to get fat. They don’t have to work for their food and there isn’t really any incentive to be active - it’s not like they can explore something new or forage in a run. I suppose you could take the “zookeeper” approach and rotate in different toys every day?

Sometimes adding a bit of new bedding, or turning over some of the existing bedding, is enough to set them scratching and "foraging" for a while. That would provide some exercise for them, and something else to do than just munching food when they are bored.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

I suppose you could take the “zookeeper” approach and rotate in different toys every day?

Ok did think of one thing I do if we won’t be able to free range for a few days (like if we will be gone for the weekend and I know the neighbor isn’t up for supervising free range time): dry leaf pile or half-composted compost pile in the run. They spend hours and hours scratching it out flat, finding little bugs, etc etc. So I guess it does include some treats in the form of bugs, but they do some much work getting to them that it likely is overall healthy.

If you aren’t up for all that in your run, whatever litter/bedding you use, you could do the same thing. Dump the pile of it in the middle and let the ladies do the work spreading it.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Sometimes adding a bit of new bedding, or turning over some of the existing bedding, is enough to set them scratching and "foraging" for a while. That would provide some exercise for them, and something else to do than just munching food when they are bored.

Hah. Great minds. I was just typing the same thing basically