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Luvachicken

Worried about all of my chickens.

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I took Lucie and Chloe to the vets on Tuesday - Lucie for a beak trim, again, and Chloe for a small lump above her eye - which turned out to be a cyst.

The vet weighed them and said they had both lost weight compared to what was in her notes.

Today I weighed them all and they have all lost weight - ranging from 100g to 150g :(

They all seem fine and been doing chickeny things. They were wormed in August and I've just dusted them for now in case but didn't see any lice/mites.

They have all been moulting really badly so I'm hoping their weight loss is down to that.

 

Can lice make them lose weight ?

The vet said she saw one but I cannot find any.

 

I never used to weigh them until recently so I wouldn't know if they had lost that much weight when they've moulted before.

 

What do you think ?

 

I meant to add that they have lost the weight gradually over time since April not suddenly.

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if their molting then they will lose a bit weight also laying hens will be a bit on the light side. put them on growers or breeders ration for the rest of the year the extra protein will help and give them a bit more mixed corn at night to keep them warm internally that will help them digest the feed better

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I'm sure it's the moult Luvachicken - it takes a lot of energy to grow all those feathers back. Mine are never weighed but by eye (and it is difficult to say because they've lost so many feathers) they certainly look much scrawnier just after a moult.

 

Mine are all on growers at the moment too. And ditto SJP - let them have a bit of extra corn.

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Chickabee, my vet didn't say anything about tonic but I have had them on the poultry tonic since they started moulting.

 

Thanks mollyripkim too.

 

I suppose I've only ever noticed them looking scruffy before when they are moulting. It's only because I've weighed them that I've spotted what's happened.

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I've just been out to top up their food in their original Omlet grubs.

I accidentally dropped some on the floor which made them very excited :? so I filled up their bowl with pellets that they had their fruit pops in during the summer. They think this is fab so I went to find them another bowl and filled that up too. They are all busy tucking into the pellets now.

I don't get chickens sometimes :?

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Ours lose a lot of weight when they moult Luvachicken. They seem to lose their appetite for a while, at completely the wrong time. We give them treats of Sunflower Hearts in that period to help them along. Part of the reason seems to be them eating and filling up on their own preened feather sheaths rather than pellets. This results in very watery poos for a while. Still, we haven't lost any this year and those that were underweight are now putting it back on in time for Winter. It's the late moulters that will be a problem, so they may need to come in at night as they won't have sufficient food in them to sustain their body heat.

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Mine always get normal bird food sunflower hearts when I'm feeding the birds in winter

 

I managed to get a bag from Pets At Home.

It was meant to be 600g for £1.50 but the bag I picked up was quite fat.

So I weighed it when I got home and it actually weighs 850g :D

 

The girls have been so funny though.

Each time I have given them some Gemma and Polly start chattering excitedly and then the others come running :lol:

Such a sweet little noise they make.

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