Chickens are known to grow quite quickly, but a couple of things can stunt a chicken’s growth.
This article is a look into why your chicken may not be gaining weight.
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Why is my chicken not gaining weight?
Raising a living thing has its ups and downs, this process can be fulfilling, but it can also be stressful at times.
A chicken who isn’t growing may worry you. Here is why this happens:
Stress:
Stress is not good for humans nor is it good for chickens, in fact, stress can stunt your bird’s growth and keep it from gaining weight.
One stress that can keep your bird from gaining weight is the stress of being in a new environment.
This stress can overwhelm the bird’s body, the stress can also cause the bird not to eat and this can keep your bird from gaining weight.
What to do:
If your bird is new to your property then it will soon get used to its environment and will warm up to eating.
Once it warms up to eating it should gain weight.
You may have to encourage, or even force-feed, the bird if the bird is not eating at all.
Issues with food:
Without food, your birds will not gain weight. Your bird may have issues with weight gain because it is malnourished.
If your bird isn’t getting high-quality foods, isn’t getting enough quantities of food, or is being bullied away from food sources, then the bird may have issues gaining weight.
What to do:
Observe your bird to determine if the bird doesn’t like the food being given, if it is being bullied away from food sources, or, if it isn’t being given enough food.
The solution to this may be giving the bird a different feed that it enjoys, giving it higher quantities of food, offering the flock more feeders so smaller birds aren’t bullied away from food sources, or, switching out your bird’s current feed to a more high-quality feed.
Parasites:
Any internal or external parasites that your bird has will suck blood and or take nutrients from the bird’s body.
This can cause the bird to stop gaining weight even though it is eating well, this can also cause the bird to lose weight.
What to do:
Chickens can become infected with many different types of parasites.
Some can be treated at home, and some need to be treated at the vet.
We recommend taking your bird to the vet for an examination, diagnosis, and treatment.
Illness:
If your once growing bird comes down with a disease, then the bird may stop growing.
Diseases and illnesses can take quite a toll on these birds and stunt their growth.
When a chicken gets sick, its body focuses all its attention on getting better and lowers the bird’s appetite, this can keep the bird from gaining weight.
In addition, some illnesses will affect the bird’s digestive system and will keep the bird from eating. This will result in slow or no growth.
What to do:
The recommended course of action for any sick chicken would be to take the bird to the vet.
Diagnosing and treating the bird at home can also be a solution for some birds.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Baby Cockatiel Not Begging For Food, Baby Chick Losing Weight, Chick Not Gaining Weight, Baby Chick Feathers Not Fluffy, Chicken Trouble Swallowing, How To Help A Choking Chicken, Chicken Looks Like It’s Choking, Baby Chick Having Trouble Swallowing, Chicken Can’t Swallow Food