Rhode island reds not growing

[Poultrypassion29]

I bought a few rhode islands a while back and they haven't been growing as much as I would have expected them to... I thought it may just be because rhode islands are slow growing chickens but then today I went and purchased a few rooster because I needed some for my other hens and one of the roosters was a rhode island red. The one I bought today are only 5 months old but the chicks I bought a while back are older but still alot smaller. Does anyone know what the reason for this could be? Maybe a hatching issue from the supplier? Or the wrong feed when they were younger?

 

[TRALALARA1]

My rir hens are definitely smaller than my Easter egger girls. I bought them at the same time and they have grown up together all eating the same feed. I recently hatched chicks from both breeds. The chicks from the rir eggs are all smaller than the ee egg chicks. It’s not a huge difference but definitely noticeable.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I bought a few rhode islands a while back and they haven't been growing as much as I would have expected them to... I thought it may just be because rhode islands are slow growing chickens but then today I went and purchased a few rooster because I needed some for my other hens and one of the roosters was a rhode island red. The one I bought today are only 5 months old but the chicks I bought a while back are older but still alot smaller. Does anyone know what the reason for this could be? Maybe a hatching issue from the supplier? Or the wrong feed when they were younger?

While there are genetic variations - some suppliers have "better" (depending on how you define "better", of course) lines than others, feed issues can have huge impact on the condition of your birds long term, with early nutrition (first 8-12 weeks) the most important.

Your question begs THE question. What, and how, were you feeding your chicks???

 

[Poultrypassion29]

Have they had 24/7 access to grain? Is anything scaring them from the grain (mice, older hens, etc.)? Does their grain have all the nutrients they need? What does their faces look like? Can you make out the shape of their skulls easily? Can you post a picture on here of them? (Click the image of the little mountains in the bar above your reply. It should pull up something that says Drop Image. Click that then click on the picture you want. If not laptop, you might have to click the word Done in the top right corner.)

We live in South Africa so there isn't much variety when it comes to feed. When they were chicks we fed them starter feed and then moved them onto mixed fowl feed and crushed corn. In the past month they did start growing again but they still aren't the same size as the younger rooster I purchased today that's why I was a bit concerned

 

[Poultrypassion29]

Pics would be helpful! Also, if you are able, knowing their weights and ages will help tell us if they are truly undersized or not. Have you had the RIRs since they were chicks? What and how much are you feeding your chickens?

Hi, I'll upload pics after this reply. So I just checked there weight. The smallest on is 0.7 kg and the biggest Is 1.1 kg. We feed them mixed fowl feed and crushed corn in an open feeder. We have other chickens on our farm aswell which all have access to feed any time they want it

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I would need to know what was used to make up the starter feed. A guarantreed nutritional analysis would be best, but an ingredient list might help with a near guess.

The two most critical nutritional needs for growing birds are Methionine and Lysine - which is why those two appear on US nutritional labels - even though there are plenty of other Amino Acids birds can't produce (or can't produce enough of) on their own. Methinine is needed for building connective tissues - skin and tendons, yes, but also the intestinal tract, which impacts their ability to effectively use what they are fed for much of the remainder of their life - its hard to crawl back from a Met deficiency in early life. Lysine is good for building muscle, particularly breast muscle, and that of course is where most of us "condition score" our birds, and one of the easiest visual clues as to a bird's weight, all other conditions being equal.

Phosphorus is possibly the third most critical, as its needed for bone development at a rate of about 1/2 the calcium they get. Critically, it needs to be a "non phytate", meaning not plant-based, source. Chicken's digestive systems can't effectively absorb phytate phosphorus without help.

Was the feed a local mix??? or do we have a chance at looking it up from here in the US to offer some additional assistance?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So you have 10 month old RIR hens weighing between 1.5 and 2.5# ???
Definitely underweight for the breed. Here in the US, I'd expect 2kg +/- hens at that age, they should be almost fully grown.

As @swamphiker has said, corn his high energy (its oily), but low protein, and more importantly its protein has a relatively low percentage of both methionine and lysine as part of its makeup. I suspect your mixed grains also contain a lot of corn - its inexpensive, does provide some useful nutritional values (just not those) and is commonly used to bulk up feed.

Stop mixing in the cracked corn, it makes what is likely already a marginal feed into a much less valuable one..

If you can get some teff to add to their diet, that would be great. Plant fenugreek/methi. Sorghum is better than cracked corn, if price is similar, cracked/crushed sorghum better than whole - or simply cook it in a pot of water. You want low tannin sorghum is possible - the paler the color, the better. You might also try fermenting the feed in a bucket of water. I'm **NOT** a huge fan of fermented feed, its doesn't provide me with enough benefits to offset the inconvenience, but it is useful for reducing the anti-nutritive properties of some grains and psuedograins, while increasing bioavailability of some vitamins.

 

[Tonyroo]

Don't compare size differences with your hens and the rooster. Compare it with other hens. Cockerels will always be slightly bigger.

 

[TRALALARA1]

Mine are that size too. It’s a little weird, I think they are done Growing, yours looks so healthy though!

Mine are 1 year old now and the pictures are a little outdated. My girls are all healthy and laying well. They’ve filled out some but I do have one that is just flat out smaller and lays a smaller egg but she’s been the smallest since I got them. Let me tell you though, my rir are definitely the most consistent layers!

 

[Poultrypassion29]

I hadn't seen before that these chickens are 10 months old, the development of their combs and wattles made them look like much younger pullets, so I had assumed they were more like 3-4 months old. It's possible that their feed isn't nutritionally balanced, if you aren't able to see a nutritional analysis, I would consider supplementing their diet with something like mealworms if free-ranging isn't an option.

They are free ranged on about half a hectare but I'll try meal worms aswell. Thank you