Why does she sit like this?...Normal?

[AmberRogers]

Hi all!!
Can anyone help me understand why my hen sits like this?
Angel is about 11 weeks old now. She's a Jersey Giant and has passed up my 3 other chickens in size that are the same age.
Does she sit like this because she's so big that her legs get tired? She appears to walk normal and she's happy and active. She just doesn't and fly or jump as much as my average size girls.

I'm curious if this is normal...or normal for bigger breeds...or abnormal.

Thx!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

No, that's not normal.

And he (not she...at 11 weeks with that much comb) looks to have hock issues or leg structure problems.

That doesn't look to me to be a Jersey Giant White. The leg color is wrong.

I think you have a meat cross. Slipped hock issues are common with those broiler types. That can happen with the larger, faster growing birds....which brings us to another issue.

If you haven't kept higher protein up for them, their tendons cannot keep up with their bones.

Put him on higher protein, meat bird feed. Hopefully that will help.

My thoughts.
Lofmc

 

[casportpony]

A lack of a vitamin can cause that, but I don't remember which one.

 

[AmberRogers]

Wow. So you're telling me I have a rooster!? Ha! Wow.
Thanks so much for all your feedback! Can you please explain 'meat cross' and 'broiler type'?

I've posted another full body pic. Are you able to confirm Angel is a he? Now that I think about it he does chest bump with one of the hens and I thought it was the hen instigating, but now it's making sense. Geez. I feel like a dummy

 

[AmberRogers]

A lack of a vitamin can cause that, but I don't remember which one.

So do you think if I make the proper diet corrections the problem will reside?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

A lack of a vitamin can cause that, but I don't remember which one.

My memory it is one of the B's.

And yes, Casportpony is totally correct that it could be a vitamin deficiency as well.

As to your bird....what I mean by a meat/broiler type is a bird bred for fast growth to produce meat rather than a layer for eggs.

Your second photo doesn't show well enough for me to know for certain...a front posture would help.... but I'm not seeing Cornish Cross.

It actually could be a Jersey cross for meat. Jersey's are bigger birds but grow slower too. If it is growing that quickly, I think it likely to be a meat cross of some type, especially as the leg color doesn't look right (but hatchery stock can have the wrong leg color).

If you can get a photo standing with it facing the camera. I need to see the chest and legs.

LofMc

 

[casportpony]

So do you think if I make the proper diet corrections the problem will reside?

I don't know... read up on the various deficiencies and see what they say?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

My guess is you have a Jersey-Rock cross to try to speed up the growth of the Giant...which may have back fired. (Jersey Giants are meat birds, but grow too slow to be viable for the market...so there are some Giant-Rock crosses, with more meddling, to make a meat bird that grows faster yet keeps the Jersey size).

...or it simply can be a Jersey Giant with its extra nutritional needs.

As to correction....it may be too late. If you catch the problem early on, it is correctable with B vitamins (assuming a riboflavin B2 deficiency). If you wait, the damage may be done to the tendons, which will only get worse as the weight increases.

But it won't hurt to try. I recommend giving it Chick Saver with a slightly stronger dose for the first 2 days, then scale back to normal dose (called a loading dose). Then keep at normal dose for a week.

It won't hurt it, and if vitamin deficiency, it might help...though again if you catch it too late, the damage may be done as the tendons are simply to frail.

I'll link some material for you to sort through as you assess what it may be since you alone can see the bird well enough to do any kind of diagnosis. We can only give you ideas of where to look.

LofMc
General summary:
https://www.tillysnest.com/2014/03/vitamin-deficiencies-in-backyard-chicks-html/

More medical reads:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...ement-poultry/vitamin-deficiencies-in-poultry

https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10217/81422/S41Z22no368A.pdf;sequence=1

 

[casportpony]

Here is some info on perosis. I don't think that's what going on, but thought it might be useful to read up on.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/perosis.1001128/