What on earth is wrong with my babies???

[autumng]

HELP!!! Why does this baby look like she's been plucked?!?! Both of my newbies look like this, on their bellies and under their wings. They just look mangy in general, and their feathers are anything but soft. Are they diseased?


FYI: I did not purchase these chicks. I "rescued" them from a friend whose sister bought them at the KY State Fair b/c they were "cute." They eat organic starter food from Fresh Start Growers Supply (our local natural farm store). They sleep in a brooder, with a heat lamp when it's chilly, and I have recently started putting them in a coop outside during the day to enjoy the grass. They are isolated from the other chickens and the dog, so nothing is trying to eat them.

I clean their brooder out every couple days. They seem to be much stinkier than my big girls were at that age. There were 6 of them in the same brooder, and it seems that these 2 new girls are much more smelly for some reason? I have no clue what to make of this. Can anyone help?

 

[AuberyMirkwood]

First off you've got yourself a rooster there

Secondly you have a CornishX. They are bred to be 6-8 pounds at six weeks. They are eating, pooping, growing machines that spend much of their time resting on the ground. They are scruffy because they put all their energy into growing, feathers are secondary. They are bare because they grow faster then they can cover themselves with feathers.

Bad news

they get so big so fast they eventually split their skin

My neighbor didn't slaughter fast enough and it was horrible.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Ditto that. You have a normal looking meat bird there that will need to go to the butcher as soon as it makes weight. I recommend at least 6 pounds but not more than 8 lbs. They will have many health problems if they are not butchered and it ain't pretty. We have seen birds that were allowed to live too long.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

You have a little roo! But, that's all I know....

 

[autumng]

OH MY!!!

Thanks for the info. Glad to know they are normal looking, but NOOOOOO! We raise chickens as pets, not as meat. Guess I'll be rehoming them very soon! I was wondering why they eat like they've been starved all their lives. Last week they went through 5 lbs of feed; this week, they've demolished an entire 10lb bag!

Poor chicks...destined for dinner.

 

[AuberyMirkwood]

Quote:
Personally I think it one of the saddest things when chicken newbies get these cute little yellow fluff balls because they are cute and they turn out to be meat birds. That's so sad

 

[autumng]

I would agree. I'm appalled at the State Fair folks for even selling these birds to 14 year old girls, without their parents present to begin with. Then, I added them to my own flock (I only have 6 hens), thinking they'd be a good addition, only to find out that they are meat birds. Ick.

For the record: I eat chicken. I love chicken. But I do NOT eat my own birds. As I said before, we raise chickens as our pets, and the thought of slaughtering one of my own is like killing my own dog. no thanks.

 

[Nimby Chickens]

Quote:
You can prolong their lives a little by withholding feed. Only give them a certain amount of food per day (there are threads about it in the meatbird section) and give them some outside time if you can.

You would only be prolonging the inevitable though. These guys aren't made to last long.

 

[Miyashi]

Yeah...they don't get much of an option in life...
It's sad.
We bought 6 at TSC two springs ago.
We didn't have the heart to butcher them after we figured out what they were...
They lived out their lives (however short) with the rest of the flock.
Every morning I set them out in the run and every night I put them back in for bed.
They couldn't carry themselves.
They died of heart attacks and other body strains.
None of mine broke their legs from their own weight...but they did have a hard time breathing.
They walked like toddlers.
They were all very sweet...they are buried out back with my dog, my rooster and my deformed chicks I tried to save from TSC.
Maybe I was wrong to let them live that long...
but I just couldn't do it...
They were too sweet and too gentle.