Skinny chickens

[Aggiedusty]

Oh, and as far as Scratch, I used to put some in with theyre pellets but like Aggiedusty said, they knock out the pellets to get to grain. So I just throw it on the ground when I let them out of coop. It's just a treat. I too thought the corn in it would help fatten them, but it hasent so far but its all good. Keep them egg's a coming!

Same here my hens are laying beautiful large eggs , getting between 5 and 6 dozen a day. Yes, I do stay a little busy! Russian Orloffs and the Speckled Sussex don’t lay large eggs though. But they are so darn cute! And those Sussex have you ever met more friendly bunch. It seems they come out if the shell just wanting to be held. I did put on glasses today to read scratch label and it says to feed it no more than as 10% of the diet. Meant to be a stimulant food and give them something to scratch about. My Scratch anyway is not fortified and protein is labeled at 10% so I will cut back on the scratch some. Was almost giving them all they wanted.

 

[Double Yolked]

Lights changing toward spring so my girls are laying better. And eating more. They also prefer pellets over crumbles. I prefer the pellets too as I seem to get less waste with pellets. Right now they are getting as many extra veggie and meat scraps as I can find for them. Especially meat scraps. I'm feeding two finicky critters at the moment, dog and cat both of who get chicken thighs cooked for them so the hens get bone and skin.

 

[StarChicken]

They were 4 months old the first time I tried to change them to pellets. They are a year old now. I do have oyster shell available to them too. And that's why I was surprised my vet wanted me to switch to pellets. The ingredients are the same as the crumble. Now I'm really confused.

I'd follow the vet's recommendation. The thing is that whether it be chicken, cat, dog, etc., they will get hungry enough to eat the pellets if that's all they get. I'd go with adding some water to the pellets for awhile, then transition them to no water added.

During the wintertime, they need more protein than summertime; however, higher protein feeds don't seem to come in pellets.

I have a feeder bucket that I keep full at all times. That way, the chickens get to eat whenever they wish.

One final thing . . . just like a kid, they'll hold out for the good stuff (treats) as long as you cave in to their wishes. They've trained you quite well!

 

[chickens4ver]

I second that a correctly balanced crumble is fine. In fact, chickens bite the pellets into smaller pieces anyway so pellets are just more work. You mention they are four months old. Unless they have started laying, give them a start and grow crumble or an all-flock formulation until they lay. It’s a good idea to have free choice oyster shell supplements for your layers.

They are older now. When they were 4 months old she tried to switch to pellets and they wouldn't eat them. Spoiled hens just like mine lol.

 

[WGHowell]

I have laying hens also. I feed them laying pellets and scratch grains( which is a variety of different grains) every morning.I give them about what would be about 1/2 gallon together then the rest of the day they free range. At night when they go to roost their craws are full and their ready for the roost. I have never seen a chicken that wouldn't eat almost anything you put out for them. Mine think that every time I open the door it's feeding time and they come a running ,but they find out most of the time their out of luck. They get more than they need most of the time. No skinny chickens here. Happy go lucky chickens. Yes. Skinny. No.

 

[Orelia]

Even though you can't tell by looking at them, my girls are too thin. I can feel their sharp breastbones when I pick them up.

I had to take Delilah into my vet for possible worm issues and brought up that all 5 of my girls were very thin. My suspected worm issues did not turn out to be the case. No worms of any kind. She asked what I feed them. I said Layer crumble, kitchen salad scraps, mealworms and regular scratch. I throw out about a scoop of scratch and mealworms daily in addition to their crumble which is available to them 24/7.


She told me to switch them to layer pellets (more calories per bite) and to discontinue everything else. No scratch, mealworms or salad! The problem is they don't like the pellets. I tried to switch them when they were 4 months old and they'd hang around the gate all day waiting for me to come down and give them worms or scratch. When I went back to crumble they started eating that again.

I've added pellets to their regular crumble, about 1/2 and 1/2 and intend to switch them over to just pellets after this mixture is done. But I'm really puzzled as to why I'm not to give them anything else until they fatten up. Seems the more I feed them stuff they'll eat the more calories they'd consume.

So, anyone else had skinny chicken and what did you do to fatten them up? Oh, they are laying hens, not for meat, but they do need a bit more meat on their bones to be healthy.

For the longest time we had a problem with parasites.....We were told by an elder gentleman that have raise chickens all his life, to feed them whole papayas....apparently the seeds of the papayas keep the parasites at bay.

 

[Double Yolked]

I've been considering why the vet would suggest nothing but the layer pellets. It occurs to me that the vet may suspect they are not eating the pellets, or would eat too little of them and focus on the non pellet food. Like a human a chicken goes for what tastes good. I solved this problem completely by giving my ladies morning layer pellets, noon they get a scraps treat (small) then some greens then late evening just before bed, I give them scratch grains, the extra corn in the grains in the evening seems to be helping them gain weight nicely. My six girls are all pleasingly plump right now and sassy as they come. I'd look at switching up the brand of layer pellet too. Despite claims about the value of some, they are not all created equal and more expensive doesn't always equal better.

 

[seraphine]

When my girls were too thin for my concerns, I stopped giving them treats throughout the day. Only laying crumble as they would not eat the pellets. I decided to only give them treats at MY dinner time before sunset and roosting time. I throw out human oatmeal and a melody of dried mealworms-crickets-krill (tiny shrimp)... It worked so well for my girls... HOWEVER, I hand fed them (only 4 girls) live mealworms and red fishing worms which are huge-bought at a fishing supply store then ground beef or dog food & live worms (so the worms were moving in the beef).

 

[Peggyjom]

My girls are like yours. They like crumble better than pellets. Felt like I was just buying food for the visiting rats. I'll try getting pellets and wetting them. BTW: My girls LOVE oatmeal. Please dont tell me that's bad for them. Brin shrimp, dried mealworms, crumble, organic greens from farmer's market.

Well back in 1920 you would be ran out of town if needed to supplement your chickens diet they ate what the people and other animals didn’t eat. The garbage disposal that makes breakfast.