Thin Hen

[augiedranch]

I have a 10 month old buff orpington hen who is extremely thin. She is with 30 other hens and one rooster. She is not her outgoing self,and has some dried feces around her vent. No other hen is thin. PT tested negative flock, and fecal check by vet (random sample I got from their run) was negative. They are fed free choice purina Layena crumbles, once daily black oil sunflower seeds, daily hen scratch, daily treat (oatmeal, corn on cob, lettuce, etc).
Crop is fine, no diarrhea, no lice or mites. They get to free range if I'm outside with them.
I've had some problems with west I think is hens pecking each other. Most of the hens have thinning tails and missing feathers. This I think was because of being kept in their coop and run for so long when the weather was so so bad.
Goldilocks is eating, but not happy acting. Ruffled feathers, not herself for about a month now. I noticed she kept getting thinner and thinner. I asked my vet and she had me bring in the random fecal sample. When it was negative, the vet said as long as she's still eating, drinking, no wheezing, etc then leave her be. However, I'm very concerned. Can someone please help me

 

[annaBsChick]

Oh no, it sounds like it could be alot of things.. :/ you should use the chicken symptom checker that PoultryDVM provides on their website. It is pretty useful for incidents like yours.

 

[ellenscoop]

Oh gosh I used that for my laying hen the other day and it was so helpful! It is so easy to use--like WebMD but for chickens!

 

[Nupe]

What is the protein % of your feed and how much are the extras offsetting their total diet? The thinning/missing feathers leads me to believe you have a protein deficiency. A lot of the layer feeds are 16% protein which is minimum for laying hens. It seems as if you're upsetting their nutritional balance by adding too many extras. Also, I don't know how much BOSS you're giving them, but too much can cause fatty liver disease which will kill a chicken.

 

[augiedranch]

I'll try the poultry dvm, website. (Just Google it? )

I feed a good boot if boss, about 2 cups for 40 chickens and 5 turkeys. .
Yes. The layer is 16%.. it's the highest quality feed I can find around here... it is 15.80 a bag, I go through a bag every week. ..

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you just give her a little special attention daily, and maybe give her some egg and even cage her alone so that she can get some food on her own ? Maybe she is being kept from food by others, and is low in pecking order. Spread some 24-26% gamebird feed as a treat, and give her a little extra. Probiotics, vitamins twice a week in the water, and twice a year worming with Valbazen or SafeGuard is what I would try.

 

[augiedranch]

We are having a bad bit of cold weather, so she's inside in a dog kennel. She ate the scrambled eggs! she's so sweet, I think you're right abs maybe getting picked on. Maybe I need some more feeding stations?

 

[Eggcessive]

I have a couple of smaller chickens like that, and some of them hang around inside the coop most of the day. The extra feed and water stations do give them a better opportunity to get enough. Also when I bring them special treats, I will make sure those chickens get their share. It can be time consuming, but I enjoy them.