Weight Gain Issues

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

I feel you need to figure out why they are losing weight first.

The only sign of the cause of them losing weight is the shift from chick feed to laying pellets since they are too old and waste too much with the chick feed. Otherwise have done everything to the best of our ability with out wasting our time at the vet office.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you provide grit in a separate dish or container so the chicks can take as much as they want or need, any time they want?

How old are the chicks?

Is their feed available to them all day, or do you feed at certain times? If at certain times, when and how much do you feed, and how many chicks are we talking about?

What breed(s) are the chicks/ chickens, and are all of them losing weight or just some of them? If just some, which ones? Are those losing weight housed together, or scattered in different coops? Have any died or look like they might? Can you get a stool sample to a vet and ask for a float test to check for parasites? Any vet can do this, it doesn't have to be an avian vet. It won't cost much, but if any of these birds have worms you can then know what to treat for.

Can you check their crops in the morning before they've had access to food or water to see if they are empty? If not, report what the crop feels like. Hard, soft, firm, squishy, full, gritty, etc., and if there is any odor. This info will help the experts to help you.

 

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

Do you provide grit in a separate dish or container so the chicks can take as much as they want or need, any time they want?

How old are the chicks?

Is their feed available to them all day, or do you feed at certain times? If at certain times, when and how much do you feed, and how many chicks are we talking about?

What breed(s) are the chicks/ chickens, and are all of them losing weight or just some of them? If just some, which ones? Are those losing weight housed together, or scattered in different coops? Have any died or look like they might? Can you get a stool sample to a vet and ask for a float test to check for parasites? Any vet can do this, it doesn't have to be an avian vet. It won't cost much, but if any of these birds have worms you can then know what to treat for.

Can you check their crops in the morning before they've had access to food or water to see if they are empty? If not, report what the crop feels like. Hard, soft, firm, squishy, full, gritty, etc., and if there is any odor. This info will help the experts to help you.

These chicks range between 2 months to almost laying, the largest breed in there is a single Brahma roo but has not lost weight yet as he has just joined them with a few other ones. They are all in the same coop and are provided feed in the morning or noon depending on the weather. I give them enough feed in their feeder to get them through the day and sometimes they don't finish it. Otherwise we have 3 bantams in there(silkies and a TSC mix), others are tetra tints, a Delaware, Cochins, a Leghorn/Brahma or Leghorn/cochin cross(havent figured out who fathered this chick), and an Ancona. We lost two out of three Anconas to heat stroke, but haven't lost any more chickens after giving them every few days electrolytes due to the extreme heat here. This is the next problem I am dealing with after fighting the heat. I also checked them for Fowl Pox since our largest run with all the laying hens had an outbreak and completely healed, but none of the chicks have the blistering bumps on the surface nor in the mouth. So it all comes down to a parasite most likely and the TYPE of parasite since we have already dewormed them.

 

[hayley3]

Always have a dust bath available, we actually provide much more space than the recommended per chicken, they get grass clippings maybe once a month and we started free roaming them a few hours once or twice a week while we keep watch(due to relatively large group of birds of prey circling our property and a fox visiting nightly and a large owl making its home nearby.......), we dewormed them by instruction using Wazine, and most of their poop looks great but one chicken(young roo) had bubbly poo. Usually this indicates coccidiosis but they have recently been treated with the 5 day schedule refreshed daily as sole source of water(as per instruction). We've done everything by the book, but the only option we haven't tried is the fermenting. We took one chicken for a simple visit to the vet because of her breed rarity and was charged an outrageous price, so vet is not an option. Where we are at, they will find a way to avoid giving any information if we do not bring the chicken(s) in for a look just so they make an extra buck. Over here, its the money that counts not our pets' health.

Wazine was discontinued because posts I've read said that they couldn't get it in 2019...did you check the expiration date on yours?

 

[hayley3]

These chicks range between 2 months to almost laying, the largest breed in there is a single Brahma roo but has not lost weight yet as he has just joined them with a few other ones. They are all in the same coop and are provided feed in the morning or noon depending on the weather. I give them enough feed in their feeder to get them through the day and sometimes they don't finish it. Otherwise we have 3 bantams in there(silkies and a TSC mix), others are tetra tints, a Delaware, Cochins, a Leghorn/Brahma or Leghorn/cochin cross(havent figured out who fathered this chick), and an Ancona. We lost two out of three Anconas to heat stroke, but haven't lost any more chickens after giving them every few days electrolytes due to the extreme heat here. This is the next problem I am dealing with after fighting the heat. I also checked them for Fowl Pox since our largest run with all the laying hens had an outbreak and completely healed, but none of the chicks have the blistering bumps on the surface nor in the mouth. So it all comes down to a parasite most likely and the TYPE of parasite since we have already dewormed them.

Just because they are not dying from the heat does not mean they are not affected by it.
Free ranging them even for an hour to let them peck at the grass which is full of natural vitamins and minerals, is good. Of course, it needs to be in a shady area. It also saves on feed costs.