Too Much Buttermilk??

[LittleBits]

i have been trying to fatten up my chickens - they seem a little thin to me - so have been mixing in about 2cups of buttermilk each morning with their crumbles. They gobble it down like they are starved!

My question is: Can you give too much buttermilk? They still eat the dry crumbles but this mixture definitely comes first!

 

[Chick Charm]

I'll bet they love it. Well putting the buttermilk in with the crumbles will surely make them eat more feed, in turn, that should give them the extra nutrition to add some weight. However the chicken will eat until content and weight gain and loss does take a while to be able to determine. If these are layers there is no need for extra weight. If these are meat chickens then plump em up.

Wish ya the best.

 

[LittleBits]

Reason I thought they may be too thin, even for layers, is that I read somewhere on BYC that you shouldn't be able to feel the bone in front readily; that it shouldn't be prominent, and some of these chickens' bone (is that what they call the keel bone...) is. But they do love that buttermilk and feed.

Thanks for your reply - guess it takes a lot out of them to lay an egg!

Was thinking the eggs may be better - right now the yolks look like yolks from store bought eggs - not real yellow like most "country" eggs.

Anyone know why this is?

 

[Chick Charm]

Darker orange yolks are the direct result of a diet of grass/greens. Omega three levels raise when grass/green fed. A backyard chicken fed a feed that comes from your feed store will be just about the same as a store bought egg yolk color. Feed em grass and greens and watch the change.

Wish ya the best.

 

[LittleBits]

Thank you! I do give them grass and clover, but maybe not enough. I'll be giving them more now!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Are your chickens teenagers? They do go through a phase where they feel a little thin as they are growing up.

If your adult chickens are thin, you may want to rule out worms.

 

[LittleBits]

Thanks for your reply. They're all adults.

If I take in a fecal sample and it does NOT have worms in it, would that mean that the entire flock is OK?

How do I chose which poop to take? There sure is enough of it!

Can one or 2 have worms and the flock not infested?

Or, if one has 'em, they all will have 'em?



Thanks again!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thanks for your reply. They're all adults.

If I take in a fecal sample and it does NOT have worms in it, would that mean that the entire flock is OK?

How do I chose which poop to take? There sure is enough of it!

Can one or 2 have worms and the flock not infested?

Or, if one has 'em, they all will have 'em?



Thanks again!

The thing with fecal float tests is that false negatives are VERY possible. Keep this in mind and that there are several types of worms chickens can have.

http://healthybirds.umd.edu/Disease/Deworming Birds.pdf

Please research on BYC or google (even better, ask your vet) regarding egglayers and tossing eggs after deworming (there are a lot of threads on BYC that mention two weeks as a good amount of time to throw away the eggs) if you decide your flock has worms. There are no dewormers that are approved for egglayers. So any use of a dewormer is off-label in egglayers. There are lots of BYC threads on these wormers.

I have always seen diarrhea with worms, but not in the whole flock. After the worms had been hurting my chickens awhile, I saw lethargy and deaths. I would also rule out things like whether there are enough feeders for the flock (are some of them being bullied into not eating?) and so forth if your chickens seem healthy to you but thin.

If there are no signs of illness other than thinness and your fecal float test is negative then personally I'd watch and wait. Dewormers are VERY hard on hens. They can even kill a weak hen. But this is just my opinion- go with your gut feeling. You know your chickens best.

Once they have worms visible in the poo they are very infested. The worm eggs are ingested by all the chickens once the one with worms poops on the soil. Then the worms are produced inside the chicken.
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000811_Rep844.pdf

Certainly other health conditions can cause thinness. So if you don't see other signs I'd not assume it is worms. I mentioned it since many on BYC have not realized it is necessary to monitor their chickens for worms.

Since I have had worms on my soil before (even found one in an egg!) I deworm twice a year. I have never taken a poo sample to a vet. But if I had not seen the worms then I wouldn't be deworming at all.

 

[LittleBits]

Thanks so much for all the info. I've read A LOT of the threads on here about worming, but haven't made up my own mind yet about it. There's so much contradiction and so many different opinions. I hate to keep putting it off like I have been. I am leaning toward a fecal test, but like you say, there's always that possibility of the false neg, which would be a waste of money. I don't SEE anything, but then, like you say, too, by the time you actually see the worms in the poo, they're pretty badly infested. I imagine they would be harder to get rid of at that point. Just wrote to our extension agent in this state for more info (can't find it on their website), so perhaps that'll help me do something/make a decision.

Can you worm and treat for mites/lice at the same time? I gave all of them a wood ash bath and although I didn't see anything, decided to go that way. I'm not adverse to using Sevin, but hate to toss all the eggs. If I could worm and do the Sevin at the same time, that would perhaps cut down on the amount of eggs discarded.

Appreciate your input.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thanks so much for all the info. I've read A LOT of the threads on here about worming, but haven't made up my own mind yet about it. There's so much contradiction and so many different opinions. I hate to keep putting it off like I have been. I am leaning toward a fecal test, but like you say, there's always that possibility of the false neg, which would be a waste of money. I don't SEE anything, but then, like you say, too, by the time you actually see the worms in the poo, they're pretty badly infested. I imagine they would be harder to get rid of at that point. Just wrote to our extension agent in this state for more info (can't find it on their website), so perhaps that'll help me do something/make a decision.

Can you worm and treat for mites/lice at the same time? I gave all of them a wood ash bath and although I didn't see anything, decided to go that way. I'm not adverse to using Sevin, but hate to toss all the eggs. If I could worm and do the Sevin at the same time, that would perhaps cut down on the amount of eggs discarded.

Appreciate your input.

Sevin works great but isn't labeled for chickens anymore since 2009. A lot of the websites (edu and extension) still are up recommending it from years past. Since pesticide use "off-label" is illegal, that is not something I can recommend to you. However, a lot of other BYC'ers feel comfortable recommending it.

You aren't supposed to dust the nest boxes with poultry dust. My poultry dust container (permethrin) doesn't mention tossing eggs that I can see. Make sure that you spray or dust your coop as well, and retreat your chickens at 7 days for mites, 14 days for lice to kill the hatching eggs.

If I don't toss all shavings in the nest boxes, however, mites come right back. I have switched to cedar shavings (except with broody hens and chicks) in the nest boxes and I also use covered kitty litter pans for nest boxes now, which are easy to clean out and fewer hiding spots for mites. I wouldn't recommend cedar shavings over the coop floor though, as it is too aromatic for poultry.