Friday, August 26, 2011

Don't Count 'em Out, Till They're Down

Poor chickie!

When I moved the tractors this morning I had one that was very pale, frazzled, and sickly looking. It happens with meat birds, they get too big for their hearts and just fade out. So I took him to a quiet shady spot beside the muck pile to let him live out his last moments... so I thought.

Go to check on the chickens 4 hours later, and guess who is sitting outside the tractor waiting to get in? Glad I didn't put him out of his "misery" this morning! Guess he just needed a nap because he looks much revived!

Evening update:  He did eventually expire today. I picked him up again and noticed how under-weight he was compared to the others. I've been trying to find some time to weigh them and will hopefully get a heads up if any others are that underweight. As it is there are 2-3 that are way too small to go in 3 weeks. We'll probably hang onto them until the turkey go (end November/early December).

I assume there was just something wrong with his system, happens a lot with these meat birds. In the tractor they all have equal access to any food; plus I've still been feeding them grain by spreading it out all over the ground when I move it.

No comments:

Post a Comment