What can i feed my hen to make her gain weight.

[night prowler]

I have a hen that was sick and lost alot of weight. she is eating now and doing much better,but i want to get her weight back up before putting her back on the yard with the rest of the hens. I have been feeding her laying crumbles, scrambeled eggs,tomatoes, fresh turnip greens and feed her some crushed up dry roasted peanuts. i am not trying make her a big fat hen, just want to get her weight up.

 

[Judy]

I'd limit the quantity of low calorie extras like tomatoes and greens. I would increase her animal protein intake with things like a bite of your hamburger or canned fish. Most feeds are only plant based protein but chickens are omnivores. This also adds some fat calories. A bag of game bird feed, which is usually higher protein than most others, should also help. There are probably some threads on putting weight on birds in the meat bird forum.

 

[night prowler]

Canned fish like tuna fish,sardines and what about canned cat food.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

They need extra protein to put on weight. Chickens are very good at regulating their caloric intake to just what they need. To get more protein into her you need to cut out the extras like tomatoes and greens and just let her eat her layer ration or buy a higher protein ration. If you are keeping her in a fairly warm place you can encourage consumption by lowering the temperature a bit.

 

[laseterlass]

Toss her scratch with suet