by Liz Hessen of For the Love of Chicken Poop
After almost a week of rainy, cold, can’t-leave-the-run weather the sun came out. And the girls all came out except Carmen. Carmen? My polish crested party girl where are you….? Still up on the roost. What’s wrong? Come out and play the bad weather is gone! I explained to her that it was okay, the sun was out no rain or ice anywhere. Slowly and sluggishly she came out. She wandered around like she was in a daze, didn’t want to scratch or hunt bugs and worms. She just stood around. So I found a nice worm and brought it to her and she just looked at it. Not a good sign. I picked her up and gave her a little attention – thinking she was still upset at having been stuck in the run so much. The other chickens were running around, crazy happy to be out
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| ‘I don’t want to come out’! |
She WAS drinking water at least, but not interested in food. One of her actions that really concerned me was when she was standing at one of the water bowls, leaned over took a drink, raised her head back up and just stood there. Her head was slowly dropping down towards the water like she was falling asleep. When her beak did hit the water it startled her – or woke her if she was asleep (I could not get a definite answer on whether chickens can sleep standing up or not). But whatever was going on was NOT normal for her!
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| What a look. |
I had checked her from beak to butt for injuries or signs of illness. Except for her sad, pitiful expression everything looked normal. But I was still concerned and thought it was time for second and third opinions so I called some friends who have quite a bit of chicken experience – (in fact they have just moved their huge flock from the city to a farm in the country so they can add even more chickens and ducks and turkeys)! The first thing they asked was ‘is she molting’? Molting, in the middle of winter? First of all chickens don’t molt in winter (or so I thought) and I hadn’t seen anything in the run or coop areas that looked even close to a pillow fight! She had no bald spots only some random, scraggly feathers. Polish cresteds typically lay every two or three days so I didn’t even think about the lack of her eggs until after they mentioned molting. We are not even sure when she actually laid her last egg but it’s been a while.
Except for seeing NO FEATHERS anywhere she was having all the symptoms of molting it seemed. The guys had told me to gently look for pinfeathers, which I did, and there they were! Lots of pinfeathers coming in around her eyes, and head and upper body area -hidden by bigger feathers already there. Pinfeathers are the tips of newly emerging feathers, sometimes looking more like goose bumps till they come through the skin. They supply blood to the newly growing feather until the feather is fully formed. This process is one of the reason they crave and need a lot more protein in their diet.
Once I held her and got a REALLY good look I realized she was not losing feathers – SHE was growing and growing in feathers that were filling in areas where she was growing and had no feathers…I know, it makes MY head spin trying to explain it to others. Is there a name for this type of molt I wonder?
My chicken keeping buddies told me to what to do for her until she came out of her molting. I started really pampering her, keeping an eye on her when she was in the run or coop with the others. She is getting lots of extra protein in her diet. I make sure she gets her share of oatmeal in the mornings and of course lots of fresh greens. I hand fed her scrambled eggs several days in a row when she seemed at her lowest. And she appears to be getting a teeny bit perkier…especially right after having been hand-fed cooked eggs or oatmeal.
I had read somewhere that high-end cat food, preferably a seafood flavor (nothing containing chicken), and even tuna fish meant for humans was high in protein and good for them.
Here is a list of my ‘concoctions‘ that seemed too be loaded with protein and they all LOVE anyway. They are easy to fix and most people have the ingredients on hand.
- One cup cooked oatmeal mixed with 1/4 peanut butter and couple of tablespoons of wheatgerm.
- About 1/4 cup high cup high-end cat food (not chicken), equal amount of uncooked oatmeal.
- Scrambled eggs of course.
- NO junk food – anything that would be unhealthy for humans to eat such as cake, cookies, salty foods, white bread, french fries – foods with no nutritional value.
Besides first aid supplies for the chickens, I think we need to keep special high protein foods stocked away just in case…
Hurry up Spring!
Liz-
14 Comments
I buy beef tallow at a local butcher, CHEAP. I grind it and melt it down slowly, then add bird seed mix, and mealworms if I have them. You can mis in any grains and seeds you want. I do this by the large bowl full at a time. I then scoop into cheap plastic cups. These sit out on my back porch until ready to use.I give my chickens a cup a day, sometimes 2, if they flock me, and seem to want it.They are spoiled. I usually put in microwave for 30 seconds first. This helps to pour/fling it outside so they can gobble it up. I have also made these in little single serving cups too. My birds love love love.
It’s expensive but a little goes quite a long way. Quinoa cooks up in just under 15 minutes, exactly the same as rice: 2 parts water, 1 part quinoa. The chickens love it and it’s very high in protein.
Half my flock molted this late fall/winter and came through with very nice feathers, however now the other half that didn’t molt at that time are starting to. They looked awful! What I did was switched to Ranch Way 20% protien crumbles, added sunflower seeds to their feed as well as upped the scratch. I add two packets of unflavored gelaten mixed into their warm oatmeal in the mornings as well. I figured what was good for my hair and nails ought to be good for their feathers too, after all they are pure protien as well.
We have a closed loop heater in the feed storage side of the coop with a sliding screen door into the main coop (which is insulated)this allows the heat to filter into the main coop without getting too warm. Because we don’t shut the hen door to the outside we have put heavy plastic strips, like you see at some grocery stores in the dairy section, kind of like a doggy door, over the hole and they can come in and out as they please, into the pen. The heater kept it warm enough so that they were not facing the bitter cold without feathers.
Also my flock was started in late April so I think that that may have been one of the reasons they molted so late in the year.
My problem now is broodies. Last summer I had 3 hens go broody on me and now I have one starting to go around cluck, clucking and acting all goofy like they do when they want ot set and the other hens jump on her like roosters and pick at her. So I’ve had to seperate her. Not real sure just what to do with this one because they all pick on her. Any suggestions other than putting fertilized eggs under her? Tried that last year with the others and none hatched. I just had to wait for the 21 days to go by and for them to finally get their brains back.
Yikes! I have been feeding my hens bread soaked in coconut milk. They love it and go for it before their other treats of greens and scratch! I had no idea bread was not good for them. Thanks!
Please do not give your chickens processed pet foods!! It defeats the whole purpose of having natural free range hens/chickens and yummy eggs!! What you feed them is what is in your end product…the processed pet foods are loaded with icky preservatives and fillers such as brewers rice..which is the left over rice from a brewery. I would NEVER recommend it to anyones chickens! Not very good friends to tell you so…or not very well informed!!
My Domminker molted this past December in very cold weather. Since I only have three chickens, I was very worried about her staying warm. Each night and on very cold damp days, I brought her inside in a dog crate loaded with shavings. She came through it all just fine and is now laying again. It seems this was a bad winter. Wish I had done something for my honeybees, as I lost them.
Diane
My chickens always molt in December or January. I am in California but its still cold during those months!
I read somewhere (I think Mother Earth News or Countryside) to give them fresh raw hamburger. I would give my chickens some occasionally and they loved it. I guess this would count as extra protein. Good luck!
My chickens enjoy pig and cow stomachs during the winter. Feed the foxhound pack real meat from the local Mennonite butcher and they give me the “tripe” too. Cut the main stomach in half and put some in all winter for the hens. They love it. Great protein – stomach has semi digested alfalfa and other hay products along with grains. They too eat the individual sections of the stomach. So they are definately omnivous. Think the extra protein during the winter and cold spells can be helpful. So anyone having access to ‘tripe” don’t be afraid to treat your hens with what they love. sjp
One of my splash orpingtons molted in Dec.really bad lost almost all her feathers at once,of corse we had a few days of extremly cold weather way below 0,I put out heat lamps and she stayed mostly in a nesting box,but sadly to say I lost her.So it does happen more often than you think.
Sorry for your loss:(
I like all breeds frizzles r very nice to.
acenicole1@gmail.com
Nicole Ace
I NEED A BLACK COCHIN FRIZZLE!
I NEED A BLACK COCHIN FRIZZLE!