Moulting!

[Seawaters]

Hi all 99 ,
I'm a newbie henkeeper, with 4 lovely girls who I've had for about 7 months now and received at POL.
One of them, a white leghorn, who is usually top of the pecking order, has started moulting, feathers everywhere, stretching out her wings and flapping about a lot! I'm a bit worried though, as her appetite has decreased, she is avoiding the other hens, her comb is looking paler and her eyes just aren't as bright as usual. Is this normal behaviour for during moulting or could there be something else going on as well?
Tia

 

[Shadrach]

Hello Seewaters.
Yes, going off their usual feed is normal. It can be quite concerning.
It seems from observing the free range chickens here and reading other peoples accounts of their moulting hens that during moult there are nutriants the chickens beleive they need that are not supplied in the majority of commercial feeds.
Here they look for particular bugs which I haven't been able to identify, soft roots, grasses and insects.
It is particularly concerning because conventional wisdom has it that during moult chickens require a boost in protein to assist in feather growth.
What I do is feed cooked lean pork and fish. Some people have reported that their moulting chickens will eat fish meal based feeds, but these are hard to find.
Other things moulting hens here will eat are; walnuts, sunflower seeds, yogurt (live if possible as it helps with their gut) and almost any meat.

 

[Icemaiden]

Shadrach!!!!! That's really not a good idea, not to mention completely illegal! You should NEVER feed meat to chickens. Insects that they find for themselves or mice that they catch are one thing, but you should never feed them meat.

 

[Marigold]

Well yes, i believe in the UK it is technically illegal to feed chickens or other farm animals with meat products, any cooked leftovers, or indeed any scraps or peelings etc from fruit or veg which have even been in a human kitchen. The regs were brought in after the foot and mouth outbreak which wreaked such devastation on herds nationally, and were mainly designed to prevent farmers feeding their animals with food waste from commercial kitchens. One of those regulations for the good of all, but which don’t appear to apply so obviously to domestic keepers of small flocks, like us.
I’m sure Shadrach is very careful about the quality and provenance of any meat he may feed, and of course regs may be different in the country where he lives. Personally I don’t feed meat, but this is mainly because we are pretty well vegetarian and if we do occasionally have any meat, we eat it all and the dog would be next in line anyway! And as a national poultry forum, I don’t think we could recommend feeding meat, knowing it isn’t DEFRA approved to do so.
As for condition during moult, well yes, a hen may be a bit listless and will stop laying because it is taking so much of her protein and calcium resources to make all that lovely new plumage. This is usually temporary and they just get through it in their own time and perk up once they have completed the process. It’s not an illness, just a bad hair day! I just add some Nettex mineral powder to their afternoon damp mash, along with a few sunflower seeds and mealworms, and make sure they’ve been recently wormed with Flubenvet, as a worm burden will in itself pull a chicken down and make him or her less able to meet nutritional challenges.You're right, Icemaiden, about the fact that they are omnivorous and will eat any live food that they come across, swallowing mice whole, but there is still the chance that a mouse which can’t run fast enough to escape is actually feeling a bit under the weather because of the rat killer it has recently eaten ....
As for Seawater’s original query, it is unusual for a 7-month-old pullet to moult at all. Usually they moult at the end of their second summer season. I wonder if you have wormed them all with Flubenvet since you got them, Seawater? It would be good to do this before the winter really gets going and then 6-monthly afterwards. Please ask if unsure how to do this.

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Seawaters and welcome to the forum.

We have Leghorns and they are quite alarming when they moult- their combs shrink dramatically and turn almost white. In cold weather a little vaseline keeps them supple and prevents the skin from cracking. Their appetite does decrease at a time when they need the extra energy for feathering and poos become watery white due to them preening new feather sheaths and eating them. The flapping could be to dislodge loose feathers- haven't noticed that myself. I haven't experienced or heard of any condition that creates a moult, other than a 'forced moult', which is an ancient commercial thing (and I've forgotten the details).

Half a teaspoon of sunflower hearts daily will boost the overall protein level of her feed because they themselves are 40%, whereas the pellet feed is about 17%. As an aside, we once bought fish based feed here by accident- within 24 hours the stench from the enclosure was unbearable. The remainder of that feed went in the bin and I bought some cereal based feed like the UK stuff.

Your hen was probably older than point-of-lay because they don't normally moult in their first year and should continue to lay at a reduced rate over Winter, subject the the weather. If it's very cold they will stop for a few weeks during the darkest days. If she is indeed older than the others, that would place her as top hen, which may be why she is?

 

[Shadrach]

Shadrach!!!!! That's really not a good idea, not to mention completely illegal! You should NEVER feed meat to chickens. Insects that they find for themselves or mice that they catch are one thing, but you should never feed them meat.

You are quite right icemaiden. I consider myself suitably chastized.
The relevant guidlines for the UK are here.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supplying-and-using-animal-by-products-as-farm-animal-feed
I'm not in the UK so I forget about these small matters of legality.
You should probably not let your chickens have access to the compost heap, donkey middens, or sheep droppings and keep them locked up in a run, bearing in mind the guidlines for space per bird etc and feed them expensive vegan feed sold at outragous prices that don't supply adequate protein and don't provide a full nutritional analysis.
You should of course buy any meat, including chicken from a regulated and approved supply that will have adhered to any guidlines laid out by the Health & Safety exec.
Like these places for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD4kpLiA2Qo
You should most defintely not allow chickens to into your home, or carry out any natural chicken activities should they contravene some rule or other.
Most of all one should never even consider thinking for oneself, or making any type of risk assessment.
I don't live in the UK I hasten to add.

 

[chrismahon]

Wow Shadrach, you've hit all the nails on the head there! Problem with Brits is they think they know better than anyone else and soon they will learn otherwise. In the meantime we have chickens in the house as well- Winnie has 10 ½ years, is moulting in a most peculiar manner and feels the cold, so she has a nice warm coop in the bathroom. Even in the South of France it gets too cold for an old chicken.

 

[Shadrach]

Wow Shadrach, you've hit all the nails on the head there! Problem with Brits is they think they know better than anyone else and soon they will learn otherwise. In the meantime we have chickens in the house as well- Winnie has 10 ½ years, is moulting in a most peculiar manner and feels the cold, so she has a nice warm coop in the bathroom. Even in the South of France it gets too cold for an old chicken.

The large Black Marans hen in the picture was ten years old this past spring. The eldest here died this year at around 12 years old.
They don't live in my house but the door is always open dawn till dusk and as they point out, they are free range and my house is part of their range. I can't complain. They don't throw me out of their house.

 

[Seawaters]

Thank you all for the advice. I suspect that she is an older hen, as she has always been much bigger than the others, and could explain why she is top bird in the flock. I will get the sunflower hearts, and will also worm all the girls. I have checked for worms after they first arrived, so it would be time for me to sort that out. They do get Nettex, so at least that's covered. I'll keep an eye on her comb too and pop some vaseline on when (if?) it gets very cold. I feel reassured that she is just having a "bad hair day"!! Thank you.

 

[Tweetypie]

Just a question...is it OK to give them cat food containing fish during their moult or as a treat? I am sure I have read this somewhere.
Anyway, that's what I do Shoot me now.

 

[rick]

Bang! Bang! Mine have all had a little extra protein just because it seems like a good excuse for something they like and they look so bedraggled in the middle of a molt. Logically, layers pellets have more than enough and they tend to be off lay at the time so that protein doest have to go into eggs They are doing tiny off lay poops at the moment and the feed bin is going down fairly slowly.
... Actually, Mo and Lulu now have some clothes back on at last. Pom started early and is looking totally up to spec. There is feather sheath 'dandruff' everywhere!

 

[Marigold]

Seawaters, when you first got your hens, did the leghorn already have a fully grown red comb? And did she start to lay straight away, whilst the others looked smaller, with little combs that grew bigger in the weeks before they began to lay? If so, the dealer was indeed selling you an adult, older bird, not a point of lay pullet, and this would account for her moulting now, at what is a normal, second-autumn time for her. I wonder if you took any photos of them when they first arrived? It would be interesting to see them, if you have any.
If the forum software puzzles you, this post may help. http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=11259

I agree with Rick, healthy hens fed a normally nutritious diet don’t need extras to get them through the moult, although it’s a good excuse for humans to give them a few treats!