Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[dawn]

not sure happened the girls were laying nice and steady

until we went on hols our neighboors looked after them which

was great but when we got home the girls looked deformed

as it turned out they were so fat it was unreal they had been feeding them

corn for 3 wks the grub bowl was full to the brim

 

so we slimmed them down but two got poorley with there eyes so was bathing there

eyes

so after all this we have not had eggs since we got back any advice would be great

[Snowy]

I'm sure they will come back into lay when they have a week or so's worth of layers pellets inside them and have slimmed down a bit At least their laying tackle will have had a rest

[dawn]

there really not fussed about pellets do you think

we should cut down corn and grees till they lay again

[Janty]

Try them on layers mash. My girls don't like the pellets but they scoff the layers mash. I get the mash with bokashi from Wiggly Wigglers.

[dawn]

is that like smash mash if you get my drift

[Snowy]

They can be a bit like children - if offered the choice between broccoli and chocolate, which will they choose? Corn and greens are really treats, they will get all the nutrition they need from the pellets so you may need to withhold them until they are eating pellets again Mash is just the unpelleted form of layers feed. Sometimes they prefer it. You can make a porridge by soaking pellets in warm water - they seem to like the consistency and it will get the pellets into them again.

[mostin]

We had trouble a few weeks ago with softies and lack of laying caused by excessive treats from me.

 

They had become too s"Ooops, word censored!"by for their pellets, but I withdrew all treats and they got pellets or porridge made from pellets, hot water and bokashi bran.

 

Laying is back to normal now, and thay are not so fussy anymore about their pellets either

[Helen&Lee]

I would stop all treats - if the only choice is layers pellets they will soon get the message.

 

It might take a couple of days, but once they realise that you are not coming out with the treat bowl as normal they will eat what's there.

[Egluntyne]

I agree. Stop all other food. When they are hungry enough, they will devour the pellets. It might take a few days.

 

Have you checked the date on the bag off pellets? Maybe they are a bit past it.

 

I wonder why your neighbours chose not to follow your instructions? Seem odd.

[Madchook]

deffo agree with the tough love,theywon't starve themselves. Mine did this when I go some of the omlet pellets once- they were having none of it. I left them in the run for 2 days with nothing but and they were fine, went on to eat te sack fine!

Grr at your neighbours! I bet the chooks felt yukky, like if we ate chips for a week!