Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:32 am Post subject: Diet tips please
Hi,
I'm hoping someone can help with some advice, I have a hen that has been laying eggs, its her first lot and in total she has laid 10, I think she has stopped now. I have decided to go with the 'let her nest' approach rather than removing them as I don't want to encourage her to keep laying. My question is mainly what do you recommend I feed her to get her back into condition, she has a varied diet of whatever fresh fruit and veg I have in the house at the time, if we eat a suitable meal she also gets a little of that (ie tuna pasta etc) and she does also have access to mix.
Lately whatever I try giving her she leaves and only picks at the mix, should I take the mix away and risk her eating even less as I know its not that good for her or do I let her have more mix in a short term attempt to get her to eat more.
I think she is losing weight and although I half expect her to have after laying so many eggs (she is still only about 8 months old) I'm still worried about her, she spends so much time in her box that she only comes out for snacks and is doing very little flying so I don't want to fatten her up in an unhealthy way.
Can anyone recommend any particular foods that are good for them when they need to gain condition but aren't particulary active.
hi there! hope all is well..
i only know of a few superfoods that are pretty good for us and hopefully very much the same for our kikes...
Alfalfra sprouts - 4x richer in vitamin c than fruit.
Wheat grass - helps boost immune system- rich in calcium,iron,magnesium and potassium.
nettles- helps detox liver..helps sluggish bowel activity
spinach - vitamin c and antioxidant
blueberries - antioxidant and lowers cholesteral
kale - rich in beta carotene,vit c and calcium
wakame - sea veg, minerals
There are afew others but not sure wots safe for birds...these are mostly green and leafy and as far as i know safe.
all else fail, a sprouting mix is probably best full of all the essencials....
hope this helps
x
Kakariki dont so much go for leaf material, rather the tems.
Calcuim could be an issue...
Chopped stems of cali, broccoli, silver beet stems,
Chopped carrot, beans, peas, capsicum, beetroot stems and tubers.
A little diced cooked lean steak and/or fish each day
Along with what Looby says above
But pasta NO... pasta is just refined, processed, bleached, flour and water, bad for them and us.
Keep a close eye on weight, if continues to loss weight see a vet and a vituim/mineral/calcuim injection. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Thank you both for your help, she has improved alot and looks to be back to her normal self, minus her belly feathers which she has plucked out to sit on her eggs , I rescued this little hen and spent a few months restoring her to health as she had mites and lost alot of feathers and weight so i was a little worried when she started to lose condition again, paranoid owner syndrome!
I'm now worrying about whether or not she will ever give up sitting on her eggs (I know I have to find something to worry about! ), its now been just over 4 weeks and shes showing no signs of giving them up, they are all empty as she has not been with a cock, Should I be more patient or take her box away? I've ued the search facility on this site (which is great BTW) but can't seem to find an answer to this one. Any help/opinions gratefully received.
I had the same problem with 2 hens at different times. They started lying on the floor of the cage I removed the eggs and they carried on laying so I put a nest box in. I then left them in and I think it took about 7 to 8 weeks for them to give up and leave the nest box. This was about 2 years ago and they hav'nt laid since.
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