Worried about my hen, any advice?

[Pghelp]

Ditto on the yogurt and oatmeal, especially if you warm the oatmeal in a little water first. Never saw any chicken turn that down and it will help build the probiotics in her digestive system.

 

[Weeg]

Ditto on the yogurt and oatmeal, especially if you warm the oatmeal in a little water first. Never saw any chicken turn that down and it will help build the probiotics in her digestive system.

Awesome! I'll do that at least once a day. I heard that buttermilk and rice is good as well, poor old girl.
I feel like if I can just get her fattened up she'll start to do better. It did seem like she was having a hard time getting food down.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey guys, I know its been months since I updated this thread, but Starburst is still going!
I finally got a food scale, and just weighed her. She's 2lbs 3oz. All keel bone, with 0 muscle, meat, nothing.
She's stil her normal self. She actually started eating again after I switched to a new feed. The only different between this feed and the other is, its a crumble rather then pellets, and is All natural Non GMO.
We have meat birds right now, so I'm feeding her the 22% protein to hopefully beef her up. She's SO skinny though, I don't know if she'll get anywhere. I'm surprised at who good she's doing with her weight though.
Is there anything else I can do for her? I know she's old, skinny, and probably has health issues, should I just let her live out her life? Thanks guys!

I would feed her the nutritionally balanced feed. You can add a little of the meat bird feed for extra protein. Keep treats to a minimum, while oatmeal, etc. sound wonderful and can make a good occasional treat they are filler and don't provide the nutritional support that she needs.
Could be her age is just catching up to her and she won't really gain a lot of weight no matter what you feed her.

It's been so long I don't remember - did you de-worm her and the others? Did she have lice or mites - are those gone?

 

[Weeg]

I would feed her the nutritionally balanced feed. You can add a little of the meat bird feed for extra protein. Keep treats to a minimum, while oatmeal, etc. sound wonderful and can make a good occasional treat they are filler and don't provide the nutritional support that she needs.
Could be her age is just catching up to her and she won't really gain a lot of weight no matter what you feed her.

It's been so long I don't remember - did you de-worm her and the others? Did she have lice or mites - are those gone?

Got it, I'll keep her on a balanced feed, and mixing in the meat bird food for extra protein.

I did de-worm her and never saw any live when I checked her, but I powdered her anyway.
She's still a happy little lady. Gets around, free ranges, eats, and acts like a normal chicken. I guess the poor old girl is just getting old, hang in there Star's!

 

[Pghelp]

Awesome! I'll do that at least once a day. I heard that buttermilk and rice is good as well, poor old girl.
I feel like if I can just get her fattened up she'll start to do better. It did seem like she was having a hard time getting food down.

Make sure it's either cooked rice or grind it up into a powder and then mix with warm water. I did that for my baby chicks when we had pasty butt issues. I ground oatmeal and a bit of rice, mixed with warm water, and served. For your venerable lady, I would put a blob of yoghurt on top but maybe leave it out so it's room temp. Good luck! Glad you're trying to keep her comfortable!

 

[Mrs. K]

You know, I think I would just quit worrying about it. "She's stil her normal self." I would just let her live it out, without a lot of other changes. Chickens hate change. The end will come no matter what, death is a fact of life. Just let her be herself.