Rescued a meat chicken that fell off a meat truck need help!

[nuthatched]

So nothing can be done to keep this chicken from dying? We had 2 before, they lived a couple months, then actually their bodies ripped opened at the breast area. Iwe didn’t know they were fed growth hormones. I don’t want this girl to suffer.

Meat chickens aren't fed growth hormones, it's just genetics. Limited diet, forced exercise but even then, a year is your best outlook.
They aren't great long term pets

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

So nothing can be done to keep this chicken from dying? We had 2 before, they lived a couple months, then actually their bodies ripped opened at the breast area. Iwe didn’t know they were fed growth hormones. I don’t want this girl to suffer.

You may have noticed this thread is very old. Nothing wrong with responding, just don't expect most of these people to answer.

Growth hormones for chickens were outlawed in 1959. That effort was led by the meat chicken industry. They achieve the growth they want through selective breeding, they do not need growth hormones. Besides, there is no efficient way to give them growth hormones. If they eat the hormones they are destroyed in their digestive tract, totally useless. They have to be injected. It may be efficient to inject larger animals like beef but not small animals like chickens. And it is not a one time injection, they have to be given regularly. Growth hormones for chickens are a common myth on here but have no basis in reality.

The chickens going to slaughter are almost certainly Cornish Cross that have been fed and managed for peak growth. They grow so fast their hearts or legs may give out and they die. That is the ones they are talking about on this thread.

I don't know what happened to your two, how old they were when you got them, or how you fed them. Some people do keep them alive long enough to breed. Some can keep them for two or three years but the majority count it a success if they keep them alive through part of one laying season. Your best chances of keeping them alive is to get them as chicks and restrict feed so they don't eat so much. And feed them a low protein feed, not the high protein that many people on here seem to think that chickens need. Most people that try this restricted feeding do not have great success with Cornish X. They are bred to be processed before they die young.

 

[Sondraa]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!


You may have noticed this thread is very old. Nothing wrong with responding, just don't expect most of these people to answer.

Growth hormones for chickens were outlawed in 1959. That effort was led by the meat chicken industry. They achieve the growth they want through selective breeding, they do not need growth hormones. Besides, there is no efficient way to give them growth hormones. If they eat the hormones they are destroyed in their digestive tract, totally useless. They have to be injected. It may be efficient to inject larger animals like beef but not small animals like chickens. And it is not a one time injection, they have to be given regularly. Growth hormones for chickens are a common myth on here but have no basis in reality.

The chickens going to slaughter are almost certainly Cornish Cross that have been fed and managed for peak growth. They grow so fast their hearts or legs may give out and they die. That is the ones they are talking about on this thread.

I don't know what happened to your two, how old they were when you got them, or how you fed them. Some people do keep them alive long enough to breed. Some can keep them for two or three years but the majority count it a success if they keep them alive through part of one laying season. Your best chances of keeping them alive is to get them as chicks and restrict feed so they don't eat so much. And feed them a low protein feed, not the high protein that many people on here seem to think that chickens need. Most people that try this restricted feeding do not have great success with Cornish X. They are bred to be processed before they die young.

I went down the rabbit hole with this topic. Wish I hadn't.