Skinny Chickens

[kari_dawn]

flock raiser is fine, but game bird feed has way more protien in it, and it will help put weight on them...you can also try wax worms instead of mealies...they are alot more fatty, and have lots of good nutrients in them. Animal protiens will also help. Feeding them some scrambled or crushed boiled eggs could help as well.

 

[<3 N.C Chicken Chick <3]

Thanks

 

[dragonlair]

Get some fat and meat scraps at your local butcher shop and watch how fast they put weight on....for free!

 

[Harri71]

They were wormed with Flubenvet, which is the vets recommended wormer in the UK. I put them back on poultry grower pellets which have 21% protein, to which I add poultry spice for added calcium as well as scatter foods (multi grain stuff), they have suet pellets (beef fat will added insects), they won't touch the meat scraps that I put out or the scrambled egg.

Beginning to loose hope as they are still losing weight, about 100g in the last 2 weeks for mrs speckledy hen (who is now living in my bathroom, so she doesn't have to use any spare energy in keeping herself warm.

 

[stormylady]

Hi, have you tried antibiotics in there water at all, obviously something is going on with them, I don't like putting mine on meds. but maybe its just a bug that isn't showing alot of symtoms, if they won't eat eggs or the meat something is wrong I would say. I hope you get it worked out soon for them. Sandy


What is Poulty spice? You don't mean the cooking spice do you?
and I would cut the scratch out completely for now.

 

[suezqz_64]

My chicks like a bowl of warm oatmeal (made with water or broth) and I put in chopped leftover veggie scraps and game seed/cracked corn. They also really like the suet cakes you can buy in the stores for wild birds. If they keep losing weight I would start looking at their living arrangements to see if they are possibly getting into poison from somewhere. Good luck.

 

[Harri71]

Mrs Speckledy has been on a course of Baytril from the vets, who won't prescribe a broad spectrum antibiotic for the water (I asked & was refused

)

They all live in the back garden, which is enclosed so unless they are allergic to something in the grass am not sure what they could be getting at.

Didn't think keeping chickens would be this stressful

 

[Carolyn]

Feed them Christmas goodies; it certainly works for people!

I had some hens who kept loosing weight and nothing seemed to help. Lost one and decided to cull the other two, nothing seemed abnormal except the wt loss. They were in their 2nd year and finishing a molt. The sister hen and other breeds in my flock were not affected. I hope you can figure out something they will eat to help them gain weight.

 

[stormylady]

I can't afford a vet for my chickens, so.... but I do know that the farm stores sell all kinds of meds for chickens and other animals that you can use for your chickens, However I don't know which or what to tell you to get, Maybe someone else would be able to tell you what to use if you decide to take that route, but if you've tried all the other methods.

Its just them being skinny right?
you haven't noticed any diareah, or runny noses, snotty eyes anything like that? Seems weird that skinny is the only symtom. Listlessness?
Is Mrs. Speckledy having any improvement with the Baytril?

 

[vclark321]

I give mealworms a couple of times a day. I supplement with cat food, as a treat since they can be pigs about it. I usuallly mix cat food with rice for a warm morning breakfast. It seems to me that after mine had been laying regularly they got a bit chubbier & are plump butterballs. They run around the yard all day digging. Oh and scrambled eggs. They just love scrambled eggs!