Sharing my girl Gidget's Story-Please Don't Overfeed Treats

[Rachyhen]

We were blessed to start our very first flock back in 2011 with 16 wonderful little chicks from Meyers Hatchery. We built them the "chicken mansion" and huge runs, and free range area for their growth and wellbeing. At the time there was just my wife, daughter and I to care for the 16 little joy givers. One of the breeds I chose was a Speckled Sussex and I gave her the name Gidget, yes, for those familiar with the show in the 60's played by Sally Fields.

Gidget become the flock leader as we did not choose to have a Cockerel/Rooster for our flock. Gidget was the first layer of the bunch at 17 weeks 4 days, and she gave the absolute best egg call when heading into the nesting box, I've saved her video of her strutting along the bar of the nesting boxes letting the whole world know she is going to lay an egg soon. She was the best girl anyone could have asked for, sweet as a daisy, reserved when needed and stern when it came to flock control/management. We learned a great deal the first year with our flock, we lost our first girl a BR due to botulism. Our second loss was my beloved girl Gidget, with no signs of distress or foreknowledge of illness, I found her dead in the coop, and I cried.

Looking for answers I came onto this site, which I've been a part of during this time and posed the normal questions of "what happened to our chicken"? One response was to send her off for a Necropsy. I found a local lab and prepared her for shipment. 2 weeks later the results. Fatty liver/Heart attack/overweight.
This is where we regrouped and reviewed how could this happen, did I contribute to Gidget's demise, YES, we played a pivotal role in her death, we gave her way too many treats, we gave our entire flock too many treats, let me explain further.

It's fun to watch our flock attack new foods and treats so we gave them a little bit of everything. We gave mealworms, scratch,sunflower seeds, meat, scraps,fish,eggs,catfood, anything and everything and no limits at this time. We had no idea what we were contributing to or our causation of an early death for our girls. I see all the time, questions about treats, how much, what type, what not to give and what to limit. Please take my words for it, just stop and think about it for a minute before you just give in and throw all sorts of things into your flock. Moderation is key, but even more important is quantity. After our Gidget's death, we focused more on a balance diet of their pellets and mash, and in minor amounts good treats from time to time, if I had only knew then what I know right now.....
When it comes to treats of any kind, less is more, chicken feed is most important for small flocks like ours that did not free range the entire time, their main source came from the pellets/crumbles. I would rather have my girls live longer to share in their lives than to constantly give them "treats" because they like them, my heart still breaks for this chicken 12 years removed, if you love your flock as I know you do, please don't overdo it, I don't wish the pain of our loss to be shared by anyone else here. Give your girls a big hug today, and refrain from too many treats.

We still miss you Gidget....

Thank you so much for sharing this very sad story of Gidget. I guess most of us have heard that too many treats can cause fatty liver but very few of us have knowingly lost a hen to this because when they die we just accept it was probably (in my case with ex-commercial hens) egg peritonitis or something else. Your experience has already made me more aware of the reality of too many treats so again, thank you so much for sharing this

 

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

Thank you so much for sharing this very sad story of Gidget. I guess most of us have heard that too many treats can cause fatty liver but very few of us have knowingly lost a hen to this because when they die we just accept it was probably (in my case with ex-commercial hens) egg peritonitis or something else. Your experience has already made me more aware of the reality of too many treats so again, thank you so much for sharing this

This was a truly hard fact to learn early on. While I do feed some treats each week, it consists of boiled eggs, yogurt and sometimes tuna during a hard molt, but even when we feed them this it's just enough for 8 hens and we don't over do it.

Tossing scratch and BOSS and other things in the coop just to watch them suck it down at the time was funny, it's not anymore, I wouldn't do that to my children and I will never do it again for my flock.

Thank you for your kind words, they are much appreciated. I love my flock, and am more experienced than in 2011, I've learned my lessons.