Moulting and not eating

Sue

Sue

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I have another one of my hens moulting, but she hasn't eaten properly for over a week. She has lost an awful lot of weight and whatever I try to feed her with she refuses! She doesn't appear to be ill in any way and her droppings, although very small amounts, are normal. She doesn't have any other symptoms. She's not having a particularly heavy moult and her feathers are growing back. She is bright and alert. They are all having 'Total Moulting Solutions' I'm their water and have been for a while. They are fed Garvo and corn in the afternoon. Have veg several times per week. I don't know whether to just leave her to get on with it and hope she starts eating again soon or what! Don't know what else to do as there's no point taking her to a vet as there's nothing to tell. I'm going to worm them all from tomorrow with Flubenvet, but if she's not eating, she's not going to be wormed. Any suggestions?
 
Try dried mealworms and sunflower hearts. Mine are going thru moult and one wouldn't touch anything else for about 5 days. They are all on a warm mash mix with both these mixed in now & are only just starting to eat properly again.
I also had some luck with finely chopped boiled eggs (not to be fed too often according to past posts, in case of egg eating later)
 
Thanks BabyBantam. I tried scrambled egg with dried mealworms mixed in and sweetcorn and added some cod liver oil (smelled absolutely disgusting - have you cooked mealworms!) I mixed it all in with the raw egg and put it in the microwave to cook as I thought she'd like it more if it was warm and swelled horrible. She liked it the first time, but tried it again and she just walked away!!!! Felt her crop tonight and she has quite a bit of food in it - not full by any means, but enough to get her through the night. I'll get some sunflower hearts tomorrow and try those with the mealworms. I think she'll eat the mealworms, but I didn't want to give her too many as I didn't know whether that would be ok. I could mix her a separate amount of wormer and put that with the mealworms I suppose, but then if she eats the other food as well, she will then get too much wormer!!!!
 
Hi Sue. We have had the same problem. I think the reason is the feathers take all the protein leaving less for their brain, which then doesn't function properly and they slip into a depression, wandering about in an apparent daze. Sounds daft I know but with that increase in protein from sunflower hearts most have responded almost immediately. By that I mean they were back to their normal selves the next day. Bottom had to be fed by syringe though but has now perked up. I think he was missing Daddy Bird really and doesn't like the change in his surroundings either.
 
Hi Chris, nice to hear from you. I'm going to get some sunflower hearts tomorrow morning so hopefully this will help. Sorry to hear Bottom is having a tough time! Have the others settled down now?
 
If you get the sunflower hearts from a pet shop or agricultural outlet, in the Bird Food section, theyre much cheaper, for a larger bag, than from a health food shop for humans!
 
It is natural for some birds to feel stressed and therefore their appetite is reduced and they appear a little depressed, some birds are more affected than others and I have found the hardest hit are the yearlings going through their first big moult.

I would be careful about disrupting their normal diet too much as a steady supply of their usual feed is better for them then increasing their protein levels too much. Increasing the total amount by 1 or 2% will not cause any harm, ie switching from layers to breeders rations or adding a supplement which contains amino acids for 5 days. With this in mind it is useful to note that the protein content of sunflowers seeds is around 50% and mealworms I think around 22%. Standard layers pellets are around 14.5% on average.

Protein will not be stored but any excess will be excreted which in itself is not a problem necessarily but high levels would probably not be healthy. A balanced and consistent diet is all that is needed to help hens through a moult, not withstanding of course a bit of tea and comfort! :D
 
they all settled very quickly Sue. Botty is asleep on my lap after asking to be picked up (by a peck on the leg) and its the first time he's done that since we arrived.

Got our sunflower hearts from an agricultural merchant 749 miles away -6 miles from our UK address. £30 for a 20Kg bag. Appreciate the point Foxy has made. Ours seem to relish changes in feed but excessive protein isn't good. Our pellets are 15% which, when combined with grain and scraps leaves them deficient when moulting.
 
Have you tried a tin of cat food once a week while moulting or a tin of tuna in oil?
 
Not convinced cat food or tuna in oil is particularly good for them Sorrelsmum. Does have the protein though. Does the taste go into the eggs if any in that coop are still laying?
 
You might want to look at this

http://www.sprcentre.com/Online-Shop-Categories/Poultry-Supplements/SPR-Centre-Fishmeal-1kg

it came up on another forum and I questioned whether it was permitted by defra. Here's the answer

Prior to the development of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), animal
derived protein meals such as meat and bone meal (MBM), meat meal (MM),
hydrolyzed feather meal (HFM) and to a lesser extent blood meal (BM) and
fish meal (FM) were widely used in animal diets. Although they were used
principally as sources of high quality protein, they were also valuable sources
of other nutrients, particularly minerals. Their use was banned following their
association with the outbreak of BSE, but subsequently the use of fishmeal in
non-ruminant diets has been permitted.

(page 3 of ; http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/crops/documents/foodmatters-o...)
 
Interesting Margaid.

Significant that only fish meal has been allowed back into poultry diets and worth noting the optimum levels of fish meal in poultry diets is a very low %. Far less than feeding tins of tuna. Fish meal was fed to poultry for many many years prior to the ban and was a good source protein making use of fish waste.
 
I was advised by my vet to give them cat food weekly while moulting, not dog food he said, as the protein is mostly from grain, I have never noticed any taste transference through the egg. I only give them a spoonful each.
 
Yes Chuck, I keep searching for ways to get the hens back on a more omnivorous diet. No-one can convince me that chickens would have eaten soya beans - not sure how they'd have caught fish either! I do have concerns that the grain diet is lacking in protein, as there was a report from someone who had all sorts of problems with his hens on the grain diet - then I found that his hens were confined, and the hens he had free ranging were fined.

I'm also thinking of trying to formulate a warm mash, as recommended by Lewsi Wright, for the winter mornings and adding a small amount of fish meal (just before serving so it doesn't stink the place out) seemed to be a possibility.
 
The legumes are a good source of protein. Flaked peas are around 22%. Peas and beans are the staple food of racing pigeons which can fly 500-600 miles.

When I mixed my own feed for my dairy goats which needed around 16-17% protein, rolled oats and flaked maize had the protein levels increased by adding flaked peas and linseed cake. This enabled them to milk to their maximum potential for up to two years after a kidding. Much better than soya meal which was expensive, difficult to find and a lot of it got lost or not eaten.

One firm markets 'Super Mixed Corn' which has one or two more bits added but mainly flaked peas which are much liked by chickens.
 
Yes just before the fox hound attack I bought a bag of micronised peas and added them to the grain mix. They seem to be eating them although, as it tunred out, it's not the best time to have introduced something new.
 
My girls are about 11 months old but so far no sign of moulting - in fact they look really well - so not sure what to expect - do they have to be a certain age before they moult ? Any tips please ?
 
We use micronised peas for a little added protein, and this time of year for moulting and breeding stock.
 
How do you feed the peas? I've just mixed them dry in with the grain but I've read about soaking them and feeding separately.
 
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