A
Anonymous
Guest
My most recent posting was about the problem of 3 of our 4 hens having bald bottoms. I listed all the things we had tried but to no avail. Many other's said they too are having the same problem with their girls, and offered lots of advice.
I can now update you that we have had success !
We have always fed our girls pellets, but taking advice from my Dad he suggested we gradually change them over to layers mash.
For the following reason-
Usually all birds have to 'work hard' to find their foodstuff. When they eat pellets their crops are full very quickly, and what are they to do whilst they digest this food ? Their natural instinct is to peck and be busy. But they don't need to eat.So they feather peck. Over a week we gradually made the swap and they took to the mash with no problems. All other aspects of their routine have stayed the same, they free range when we are home and have a few greens etc occasionally.
They have been on mash for almost 5 weeks and we've already noticed an improvement in the bald patches. This is no quick fix and I can't say it will work for everyone's hens, but ours are much happier, calmer girls.
Feather pecking also becomes a habit and for the first two weeks of the new diet we sprayed them with anti-peck a couple of times.
If you are also interested the bag of mash weighs the same as the pellets and they have eaten the same weight as they would of the pellets. They now just have to work that bit harder to be full !
I hope we continue to have this improvment and that this is of use to others.
Lisa
I can now update you that we have had success !
We have always fed our girls pellets, but taking advice from my Dad he suggested we gradually change them over to layers mash.
For the following reason-
Usually all birds have to 'work hard' to find their foodstuff. When they eat pellets their crops are full very quickly, and what are they to do whilst they digest this food ? Their natural instinct is to peck and be busy. But they don't need to eat.So they feather peck. Over a week we gradually made the swap and they took to the mash with no problems. All other aspects of their routine have stayed the same, they free range when we are home and have a few greens etc occasionally.
They have been on mash for almost 5 weeks and we've already noticed an improvement in the bald patches. This is no quick fix and I can't say it will work for everyone's hens, but ours are much happier, calmer girls.
Feather pecking also becomes a habit and for the first two weeks of the new diet we sprayed them with anti-peck a couple of times.
If you are also interested the bag of mash weighs the same as the pellets and they have eaten the same weight as they would of the pellets. They now just have to work that bit harder to be full !
I hope we continue to have this improvment and that this is of use to others.
Lisa
