Horrible molting experience

[Liaanne2425]

My chickens have been molting for a while now , and I’m starting to get very concerned . The molting started close to when they were a year old , it seemed normal at first and now I’m getting nervous . I only have one girl maybe two or 3 that have put feathers back on . On top of that I have a rooster in each pen , and they have just torn these poor girls up . I’m feeding high protein feeds and blackoil sunflower seeds . I’m giving them scrambled eggs . I’m at a point where I really just don’t think they will put feathers back on until I remove and rehome the roosters . No one keeps their hen saddles on either . I might need heavy duty ones . But some of my girls are basically bald bc they are favored so badly

 

[Liaanne2425]

My chickens have been molting for a while now , and I’m starting to get very concerned . The molting started close to when they were a year old , it seemed normal at first and now I’m getting nervous . I only have one girl maybe two or 3 that have put feathers back on . On top of that I have a rooster in each pen , and they have just torn these poor girls up . I’m feeding high protein feeds and blackoil sunflower seeds . I’m giving them scrambled eggs . I’m at a point where I really just don’t think they will put feathers back on until I remove and rehome the roosters . No one keeps their hen saddles on either . I might need heavy duty ones . But some of my girls are basically bald bc they are favored so badly

What can I do? Are there any other reasons they don’t have feathers back on ?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any photos? Hard to tell from only a written description but it sounds like rooster wear and not molting.

 

[Liaanne2425]

Any photos? Hard to tell from only a written description but it sounds like rooster wear and not molting.

Honestly it’s gotten so bad I’m embarrassed , no one has open cuts or sores . But they are just bare on their backs and when the feathers do try to come in , it just seems like they get ripped out

 

[LaFleche]

How many hens per rooster are there in your pens and how much space do they have to get out of his way if they want to?

You could trim the spurs and nails/claws of the roosters and file them nicely, so they will not cause as much harm.

 

[Liaanne2425]

How many hens per rooster are there in your pens and how much space do they have to get out of his way if they want to?

You could trim the spurs and nails/claws of the roosters and file them nicely, so they will not cause as much harm.

I didn’t think of doing that , they haven’t seemed to develop spurs , my Roosters are black diamonds . Honestly we went through a move and I don’t think there is enough room at this point , I have tried to separate everyone evenly but I have hens that want to be with other hens . I have a space where I might be able to put some chicken wire around it and create an area just for the roosters , we went through this move and they had more free range time at the other house to cut down on this issue . I have also thought of giving up some of my hens just bc of the changes . I didn’t work before and I was home more . Now I am working and so a huge chunk of my day is taken over

 

[Morrigan]

We built a small separate pen to put particularly randy roosters into during molting season in order to give the hens a break and let them re-grow their feathers.

 

[LaFleche]

I didn’t think of doing that , they haven’t seemed to develop spurs , my Roosters are black diamonds . Honestly we went through a move and I don’t think there is enough room at this point , I have tried to separate everyone evenly but I have hens that want to be with other hens . I have a space where I might be able to put some chicken wire around it and create an area just for the roosters , we went through this move and they had more free range time at the other house to cut down on this issue . I have also thought of giving up some of my hens just bc of the changes . I didn’t work before and I was home more . Now I am working and so a huge chunk of my day is taken over

Maybe rehome some of your roosters and pen the remaining roosters separately from the hens until you are able to build bigger runs etc.

 

[Liaanne2425]

We built a small separate pen to put particularly randy roosters into during molting season in order to give the hens a break and let them re-grow their feathers.

I have thought of this , I am more inclined to giving them a better home , we had to move to a house that was not rooster friendly in a neighborhood . It wasn’t what we wanted but price wise we didn’t have a choice . Our neighbors have not complained , but I am concerned the roosters will make worse noise once separated from the hens . All of our neighbors have been friendly and understanding but I don’t want to push it too much . I’m ok if the roosters have to go . I’m more worried about the hens bc things do get cold here . I’m in southwest Virginia and last year we had some very scary temperature drops . I could always separate the roosters until finding a new home . I have looked on Amazon and found some sturdier hen saddles and will order those . In my personal opinion they really just haven’t stayed on very well but I am willing to try again with a better quality