# skinny chickens



## treeclimber233

I bought some Rhode Island Red chicks in the spring.  Recently since they had outgrown their cage I put them into a pen with 4-6 inches of grass/clover mixture.  After being in there for about a week I noticed last night that two had died.  Upon checking the carcasses I discovered they were skinny with hardly any meat on them.  Can anyone explain how chickens (4-5 months old) could starve with plenty of grass to eat.  I have another pen of chickens (Banty Cornish) that are doing fine in a similar pen.  Fat and sassy, laying eggs and some are even setting.  Are Rhode Island Reds not able to free range?  I feel horrible that they died from my neglect.


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## secuono

Is that ALL you are feeding them??
They need bugs, seeds and young plant shoots. As well as a pellet diet. 
Did you feel the other chickens? Just because they look round and fat, does not mean they actually are. 

If you're feeding pellets and others are thin, you might not be feeding enough. If they still wont gain, you need to deworm them or have them checked for disease.


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## treeclimber233

My chickens in the other pen don't get any grain and I checked them tonight and they are plump. Not a bit skinny.  And I see them pecking and scratching all day long like chickens are supposed to do.  I went and bought food for them tonight.  Guess I will fatten up the skinny ones and butcher them.  I will just stick with the ones that can fend for themselves.  Maybe when they hatch out their eggs they will teach their babies to fend for themselves too.


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## woodsie

We let ours free range and have a feeder of pellets in the coop. I noticed that the rhode islands are at the feeder more often than the others but they are learning to forage more as time goes on. A good rooster often finds the best food and calls the girls over to the feast. I would never leave them to completely fend for themselves without any feed personally, but they seem to prefer foraging and don't really go to the feeder except at the end of the day for a top up. Sometimes there is not all the food they need, especially for heavy layers like rir.


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## babsbag

My chickens all free range on about an acre. They have grass, bugs, seeds, you name it. But they still get chicken feed. I can't imagine that they could find enough food in the wild and lay eggs like a machine too. 

I too lost some young chickens the basically starved to death. They were in a pen, with food, but also had to compete with some older hens for the feed. I had a necropsy done and they also had a mild case of cocci. Not enough for me to see, but the lab determined that it was enough to slow down the nutrient absorption from the food and they starved to death.

I think that the chickens that are bred for egg making need more food.


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## recardomaurice12

Can you share some cool images of it.. Very much appreciated.


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## bcnewe2

I to have some Rhode island red chickens, they are free range pecking at "things" all day long. But they also get scratch or cracked corn in the am and have layer pellets in their coop free choice.  I also see the RI's in at the pellets way more than my Aracuana.  Never thought about it till now but that's how it goes.

I would never expect them to find enough to eat. They would wander way to far and they don't do that on a normal basis. But they do come running every time I call them.  So I know they appreciate what they get.

Does it say somewhere that you can raise healthy egg laying chickens on grass and free range alone?


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## Southern by choice

We have a poultry business. 300 birds free ranging. They all still need some form of supplement. Even with the grass and plenty of bugs for protein their nutritional requirements may not be met just off grass. Geese and ducks here never need anything, but chickens are different.

If penning/tractor use it must be moved 1-2x daily or they end up eating the grass they are pooping all over, that opens the birds up to all kinds of nasty.

Our RIR are quite hearty. We have 17 breeds we breed , mostly heritage and we have about 20 breeds we don't breed but have. All do fine but they still get feed.

Our Mediterranean breeds are pretty much the ones that are very feral and pretty much can live off the land. These breeds however are not big meat bird dual purpose. They are naturally a lean thinner smaller breed. Some of these breeds are hamburgs, Ancona ( anconas are laying machines!) Penedesenca, Empordanesa, Andalusians. They tend to go deep in the woods, spend very little time in the grass areas. Wooded areas provide lots of proteins from all the termites, bugs, insects etc. tadpoles, frogs, lizards.


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## bj taylor

i'm pretty baffled by my skinny chickens.  I have flock raiser out free choice, & scratch thrown out once a day.  they free range over 1 1/2 acre.  I will be processing in about 3 wks & will see how skinny, but I just don't see much meat happening.  they are buff orp, Delaware, red sex link, black australorp, and silver laced Wyandotte.  I realize they are not going to be on par w/the cx, but can't figure out what else I need to do for them


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## Godsgrl

bj taylor said:
			
		

> i'm pretty baffled by my skinny chickens.  I have flock raiser out free choice, & scratch thrown out once a day.  they free range over 1 1/2 acre.  I will be processing in about 3 wks & will see how skinny, but I just don't see much meat happening.  they are buff orp, Delaware, red sex link, black australorp, and silver laced Wyandotte.  I realize they are not going to be on par w/the cx, but can't figure out what else I need to do for them


hmm...have you wormed them?


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## Southern by choice

Free ranged birds use a lot of energy ranging, keep that in mind. If they live in a pen with nowhere to go and nothing to do they will be heavier.

Also keep in mind, grains have been ground for thousands of years and givin to livestock and poultry. *Not feedlot style*, but look back over hay/grasses were fine but wheat, corn has always been fed.

The feedlot issues have made everyone think it is bad practice to feed anything bur "grass" not true. Chickens eat a small amount of grass compared to everything else out there. 

I do think you may need to de-worm you chickens too.

I just thought of something else... I recently had a farm visitor who has RIR, when she saw ours she was shocked to see how large they were. Her RIR are 3-4 lbs at 18 months old. Very small!  I am wondering if you got your RIR from the same place.

I have 2 12 wk olds growing up thathave never lived with the other chickens ( they grew up on our porch) they LIVE in the woods all day, we have no feeders out in the areas these girls are in. They are living off of something.


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