I would venture to say they need some sort of vitamins or minerals. Are these young chickens? They are very busy growing building muscle & bone, feathers & maturing to lay eggs. Mine are on an all purpose poultry, high in protein. I will change to a layer once this bag is gone as they are 12wks. AND I got $2off a broken bag! :-D They are free roaming, eating bugs, I give them all our scraps, not cake or candy but veggies,fruit peels, meat, beans,cheese, old eggs (boiled then munched up to hide the fact that they are eggs) spaghetti is fun to watch as one gets a mouthful & runs to hide & eat. Of course the others follow forgetting that there is a pile of food there! I don't get scratch cause it now costs as much as the all purpose or layer & doesn't have the nutrition. They also hang out under the bird feeders, they have to fight my cat Meka Cootie for the birdseed! Jody