Omlet cube and run

[sadietoo]

I have always fed my girls Mash as I believe it helps to prevent boredom during the long hours that they can only be in the run whilst we are at work. However, I had to take one of my ex-rescue girls, Katie, to the vets yesterday as she is poorly, and the vet said what they always say when you have a poorly girl "she's very thin at the keel" (Previously I've always found this a moment to make a mental note to up my prayers for a decent Chicken Vet in our area.....) but I did wonder if perhaps they aren't getting quite enough to eat?

 

I have five girls only two of which are currently in lay (two retirees, Katie being one of them one and one broody Brahma) and they get though about 10k of mash in approx a month, I keep them topped up at all times and there isn't much waste..a bit on the ground where they rake it out to eat. In the summer they free range for about an hour/hour and a half Tuesday to Friday, and for as long as we can manage on Saturdays Sundays and Mondays...in the Winter they probably only get to free range for an hour or so at the weekend because they have to be very closely supervised due to foxes(less of a problem in the summer when everyone is out and about in their garden). I supplement their mash with greens and they have mealworms (a lot it seems!) and a handful of corn each in the evening. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks for reading

[sjp]

laying birds don't put on much weight while they are laying and do appear to be thin around the keel bone

hybrids in general are breed to lay eggs and not grow 'meat' so again will look thin. as long as they are wormed and look happy and well cared for that's half the battle

they should eat about 100grams of food a day each but if they aren't laying a bit less so with 5 birds you're looking at about 500grams a day give or take I've found I get about an extra day and a half out of a bag of mash compared to pellets

[sadietoo]

Thanks SJP By your reckoning my girls are probably getting just about enough then. As I said, I always offer them more food than they take, and so I'm not sure how I'd get them to eat more. Next time I'm at the feed store I'll pick up some pellets to offer alongside their other food and let them choose which they prefer!

[Lavenders_Blue]

I've always been told my hens are too thin when I've taken them to the vet before. As sjp says, laying hens don't put on meat, all their energy goes into building eggs! As long as they have ad lib food available then they won't be too thin.