Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[emmalou]

We have had our chickens for a week now and my father in law thinks they look quite big for just over 20 weeks. Sussex, marans coucou and medicis are bigger than the rouge and noir but atm I cannot handle them as they are still a little timid. Is there any way of telling if they are overweight without handling them? I understand the keel bone is a good way of telling but as mentioned handling them atm is not easy. I am still unsure on feeding. I leave some food in the dispenser. I know there is a said amount as a guideline for each bird but is tricky when you have more than one to watch their diet. I am a little unsure on the extras I give. They are quite fussy atm and will only eat carrot tops at a push, meal worms and slugs. I know meal worms are high in protein. Is there any failsafe method so I can easily monitor what they are eating? It is also hard to know how much they are foraging in their run. They are not completely freerange yet but will be in a few weeks maybe.

[Egghead68]

My view is that if they are eating mainly chicken food and what they can forage they are unlikely to be overweight (they usually don't like chicken food that much). I wouldn't worry. They tend to lose weight when in lay.

 

You can try picking them off the perch when they are sleepy when you need to check them over.

[Olly]

if you feed mainly on proprietary chicken feed and don't give too many treats, they won't be overweight. It's best to just put the feed out and let them help themselves, I have never tried to regulate the amount. Carrot tops won't fatten them too much, it's corn and grain that might make them put on weight. Unless you're going overboard with the mealworms I doubt that they're a problem either.

 

You won't be able to tell without handling them, if this is difficult then I wouldn't bother but as Egghead says, picking them up after dark is easier and if you want them to get used to being handled that's a good way to do it.

 

Are you sure they're exactly 20 weeks? 'Point of lay' is a term of art, they could be anywhere between 16-24 weeks so it's possible one group is younger and therefore slightly smaller than the others.

[emmalou]

i cannot be 100% sure now but they are bought as 20 weeks chickens. Thanks for your replies.

[sjp]

sussex and marans are 'big' birds point of lay covers a multitude of sins and should only be taken as a guide

Is there any failsafe method so I can easily monitor what they are eating? basically no as chickens don't reed the same books and forums we do if their laying good usable eggs then your feeding the right if their happy and healthy then your feeding the right

a rough guide is 100grams of layers ration per bird per day fed ad lib i.e. put it out in the morning and leave 'em to it they'll eat most of it early on and then go back as and when. to save weighting the feed out every day get an empty meal worm tube and put it on a set of scales zero the scales then weigh out 100grams of feed into the tube if the tube holds more either fill the tube and see how much it weighs or put a line on the tube at the level of the feed that's your scoop for feeding if it's a 100 gram scoop then add one scoop for each bird plus 'one for the pot'. at the end of the day ( you only need to do this for 3 or 4 days) if there's any food left don't worry about it they aren't over eating plus if they aren't laying they will eat a bit less

[kopperdrake]

As others have said already, if you're mainly feeding them layers and the treats are a minimum then they're unlikely to be overweight. As far as treats go, an eggcup full of mixed grain per bird on an evening is plenty - it gives their crops something to work on overnight, and in the winter that helps keep them warm. All this said, however, a lot can depend on the strain of bird you have - we had three Light Sussex hens who *were* overweight, and would sit at the pellet feeder for hours. They were so fat that two died of a heart attack (cockerel induced) and we finally learned that they were sold as 'utility' Sussex - bred for fast weight gain and decent egg laying ability. The last one we mated with a slimmer cock and their offspring are a lot healthier in weight and size, which is how we prefer them - less cruel in my opinion. So some of the your chooks might have some utlity use built into them, which could lead to them being bigger girls

[emmalou]

Ok, ours do not sit at the feeders and I am leaving pellets in the feeder along with some mix. I know that they are likely to pick out the mix over the pellets but once the feeder is empty will resort back to just the pellets in the feeder and a cup of mix later in the day. It does make sense. The Marans Coucou and medicis are slightly larger than the other birds but do think it is their breed and whilst they had a few meal worms a few days ago they are mainly eating just the feed and some carrot tops so am confident that they aren't overeating. They are getting plenty fo exercise each day too chasing each other around the run, which is quite entertaining!

[sjp]

Ok, ours do not sit at the feeders and I am leaving pellets in the feeder along with some mix. I know that they are likely to pick out the mix over the pellets but once the feeder is empty will resort back to just the pellets in the feeder and a cup of mix later in the day. It does make sense. The Marans Coucou and medicis are slightly larger than the other birds but do think it is their breed and whilst they had a few meal worms a few days ago they are mainly eating just the feed and some carrot tops so am confident that they aren't overeating. They are getting plenty fo exercise each day too chasing each other around the run, which is quite entertaining!

that's sounds fine I think part or the 'problem' is like most of us when we first started down the chicken keeping path We did to much reading and focused to much on the negatives which as said elsewhere most of the posts on the forums tend to be about the problems and not the joys of keeping chickens but you'll get there like the rest of us have.

[emmalou]

You are so right . My problem is I do so much research into everything in life before committing to anything and whilst this is not a bad thing it can make things terribly complicated. Never more so than in chicken keeping as everyone does things slightly differently and can complicate matters reading too much on forums etc.

[kopperdrake]

It's good to be informed, but like you, I have had to learn to be a bit less stressy about them. You'll find the more you know, the more relaxed you'll be, as you'll have seen it before and know what and what not to do. You'll also build up a handy cupboard of remedies for various ailments over the years, and find your own way

 

For example, to help combat thin shelled eggs, our older resuce chooks get a 'porridge' on a weekend of mashed potatoes, a little live yoghurt, cod liver oil, garlic granules (or fresh garlic) and poultry spice. It's a mix of stuff we've read over the years that helps for one reason or another, and it seems to work. But more importantly, the chooks love it and therefore love you even more

 

With our overweight chickens it was obvious - they were podgy to the hand when lifting them up - not nice and firm. They were that podgy it was hard to hold on to them with the mix of podge and feather!

 

To give you an idea of the utility strain, the header pictures on the webpage linked below show the three sisters when they came to us (and Spotty the rescue banty photobombing in the background - she was a darling) - and the other header picture shows Charles the cock we put them with - much slimmer and not as large in relation to them. Their babies were gorgeous - the cockerels grew large enough, larger than their father Charles, but were a lot 'neater' and less fat. One of them, Colin, is now in charge of the flock, and a good job he's doing!

 

http://www.merrybower.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1782

 

Below is Daisy, the last of the three initial 'chubby' sisters from the header image above - her favourite position on the treadle feeder! She passed away earlier this year, having been the mother to four lovely girls and several cockerels last year, and is buried under a nice patch of daisies beneath the walnut tree.

 

 

The motley crew below (apart from the lighter headed girl on the left who's a rescue) are her offspring, from which we're hatching this year - see the body shapes are a lot more solid, although Emma - the one in the foreground on the right - does have a tendency to be more lazy and food gobblery like her mum! She also has the same slightly wobblier comb that Daisy had - it's lovely seeing the similarities, knowing your favourite chooks are living on in their children. Colin the cock is Daisy and Charles' son, so we're running brother and sisters together as a one off, to get the flock going. Charles died whilst performing 'the act', with a smile on his beak, and his sons have the same very gentle temperament, something important to us. They're not loud either, hardly crowing much. Colin wasn't our first choice as the new leader of the flock - his brother Ethelred the Unready (Cooked) had that honour as he was a handsome chap, but the fox took him last spring, which was awful, but he put up such a fight that he saved his ladies, giving us time to realise what was happening and running down to the orchard. He really was a gallant fellow. This is why we now have electric fencing in the orchard where they live during the summer. Luckily we'd found homes for all of Red's brothers, so Colin came back to Merrybower to live with us and start the flock up again - and he has the same gentle temperament.

 

 

 

The two-legged hen in the background is Mrs Kopperdrake, cleaning the Cube out

 

Sorry - I've rambled!