Late molt? Or something else?

[Sberrie]

I have an australorp hen who is a little over a year old. She was fine until yesterday morning when I went out and noticed she had dropped ALOT of feathers at once. She looks very mangey and is keeping to herself. She is normally up close to top of the pecking order and bossy. Today she doesnt want to leave the coop. Seems lethargic and is just standing still.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It is probably a hard molt if she hadn't molted previously this summer or fall.
They often feel like crap when the molt.
I've had birds molt as late as January. But those were Jaerhons and that was probably their way of saying they didn't think our winters were that cold even at well below zero F.

 

[Pretty Birds]

She looks like she is molting, and they can be very tired during this time.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

I have a hen in exactly the same state. She moulted quite heavily in early spring then surprised me by going into a very hard moult a few weeks ago. She dropped so many feathers in such a short amount of time, she was half bald. She also became inactive and very reluctant to leave the coop and has lost weight.

Now the worst of it seems to be over but she is still working on the last new feathers and is still weak looking. However she does appear to be eating alright and poop is normal. Egg production has stopped altogether. She just seems so miserable. It's hard to watch.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Feed her some extra protein to help with the molt. Scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, tofu, meal worms to name a few.

You may want to update your profile with location. Helps us figure out your climate/weather conditions, predator possibilities, supply availability and time zone.

 

[Sberrie]

Thanks for all the replies. I went and got her some high protein snacks. She's still staying in coop but it's insanely windy here so I don't blame her. She's talking to me though and will still stare down the bottom rung girls, which both are encouraging to me

 

[Sberrie]

I have a hen in exactly the same state. She moulted quite heavily in early spring then surprised me by going into a very hard moult a few weeks ago. She dropped so many feathers in such a short amount of time, she was half bald. She also became inactive and very reluctant to leave the coop and has lost weight.

Now the worst of it seems to be over but she is still working on the last new feathers and is still weak looking. However she does appear to be eating alright and poop is normal. Egg production has stopped altogether. She just seems so miserable. It's hard to watch.

Egg production is tough to tell because I have a sexlink who lays eggs that look exactly the same. They also like to hide their eggs so I never know who has laid what