Underweight Flock - hurting egg production - Please help!!!

[Lady_Bat]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I'm in a bit of a panic. My girls are painful skinny. How can I help them get to a healthy weight? It's hurting egg production & I have people coming out of the woodwork looking for eggs right now.

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
We have a mixed flock. Our Leghorn is fine everyone else is underweight or severely underweight. Mostly Easter Eggers, a Plymouth Rock, Speckled Sussex, various Marans, a cuckoo Bluebar blue egger, a cream legbar, an ophington, a campine, austrolorps, a welsummer, a brahma. We have 19 girls total. 10 are a year old, 9 are 7 months old.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
They run around like normal, hunt for bugs like normal, come running when they see us like normal, etc. But their egg production isn't what it should be, I'm getting pullet eggs more often than not. Most are supposed to be putting out large eggs daily or almost daily. No one is egg bound. All but the Leghorn have protruding breast bones, some were so severe I was shocked that they're still perky.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
All Spring but it's slowly getting worse. We had a random day that the Leghorn was the only egg. The eggs we do get are medium (I weigh them) at best.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Everyone but the Leghorn. My favorite egger (Edna) has stopped laying all together. She laid everyday through winter without suplimental lighting (we're big on organic/natural). Leghorn laid every day through winter & is fine. Our Black Copper Maran laid large eggs all through winter, now shes giving us medium eggs daily.
We separated our Plymouth Rock, Sussex, & cream Legbar. The first 2 were doing a lot of bullying of the younger girls & the cream Legbar only eats her own eggs (always has, shes not right in the head). The 3 of them are happy as can be in their separate setup but still not gaining weight. The best egg weight the plymouth rock has given is 55 grams.

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Nope.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
We added another fence section. Could they be running around too much?

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
New Country Organic Soy Free Layer Feed. We have 7 feeders & 2 waterers out there with them at all times. They do favor some feeders over others but we refill those often. For treats we give the Grubbly's, fresh fruit or veggies, on cold mornings we give them cooked oatmeal or scrambled eggs. I just started giving them Dave's Killer Multigrain bread hoping it'll help fatten them a bit.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Poop is normal.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
More treats. How the heck do I get them to put in weight?! I'll cook them a brisket if need be!!

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I think the nearest vet is like 4 hours away.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
We keep them on pasture & rotate them about every week. Their space is comprised of 3 electric fence sections, Amish made coop on wheels (24 full sized chicken max). We use clean cow hay for the bedding (the cows still like to eat it after we clean the coop, weirdos).

Please help me get them to a healthy weight!!

 

[Barredbuzzard34]

Have you considered treating them for worms?

 

[dawg53]

Have you considered treating them for worms?

x2

 

[Lady_Bat]

Thank you both for the feedback!! I'm gonna treat for that now!!!

 

[Acre4Me]

No treats, with exceptions. You are feeding a layer feed with just enough protein and nutrients. They free range, so are eating less pellets anyway.

ok treats could be scrambled eggs, but not bread or oatmeal. It has been stated on BYC that there is research showing that oatmeal (cooked,I think) can cause gut/absorption issues in chickens. But, irregardless, oatmeal isnt an ideal food for them anyway. Another ok treat is wet feed-you can even make it hot, like oatmeal, by using hot water. I give this “treat” to my flock with seeds or scrambled eggs or rehydrated alfalfa pellets (For some greens) mixed in/sprinkled on top. My flock thinks wet feed is awesome, and I’m not diluting their nutrients. Alfalfa is 16% protein, minimum, just like most layer feeds.

you could confine them to a smaller run area for the first few hours of the day. This can encourage them to fill up in feed pellets before they range for bugs/grass.

Also, considering outside issues, like worms or mites ir lice. Have you checked them for lice or mites?

 

[NatJ]

Question: how do you know the chickens are underweight? Did you weigh them when they were laying well and again recently, and find a change? You mention the protruding breastbones, but did you compare with how the breastbones were when they were laying well? (Many chickens seem to have protruding breastbones under normal, healthy circumstances.)

You might be right about them being underweight, but if you don't have before-and-after comparisons, then there's a chance the problem is something else (and correctly identifying the problem always makes it easier to solve!)

My flock thinks wet feed is awesome, and I’m not diluting their nutrients.

I agree that serving a "treat" of wet chicken feed is a good way to boost intake.

More protein might also help. I suggest: chick starter, or better yet gamebird/turkey starter (24% protein, sometimes 28% protein). Either put out a dish of it dry, or serve it wet as a treat (which will keep them from throwing the crumbles all over the place.) Chick starter will have the right balance of nutrients for a chicken, so you don't have to worry about diluting their nutrients with "too much." Of course, get the unmedicated kind.

Commercial egg producers limit protein later in the hen's life to avoid having extra-large eggs, so giving extra protein may help your hens lay larger eggs again.

I also agree with the people who suggest checking for worms, mites, etc.

 

[Eggcessive]

You are feeding them a good balanced chicken feed with all of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients they need. But then you are diluting that with fruits and veggies, oatmeal which can be harmful, and other treats. It would be good to take in some fresh combined droppings to a vet for a fecal float, or if that is not possible, just worm them occasionally with Valbazen or fenbendazole (SafeGuard.) You can add water to chicken pellets or crumbles to make a mash which most chickens enjoy. But her is a good article about not feeding oatmeal to chickens:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/

 

[NatJ]

But here is a good article about not feeding oatmeal to chickens:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/

That is not a good article. My reasons for saying that have already been posted here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...meal-to-chickens.1339256/page-4#post-21942543

Having said that--I prefer serving wet chicken feed rather than oatmeal, if I want to give the chickens a warm wet treat (or a cool wet treat in summer.) The chickens like it just as well, and there's no problem with the nutrition.