leghorn molting?

[claytonhain]

so i have 2 white leghorn hens about a year old and theyve been great layers now they have started molting. there is feathers all over the ground... the leghhorns always go into the boxes to act if they were laying but i never see a white egg! i felt there butts and they arent egg bound. whats happening?

 

[thebanthams]

Thats normal for them to act like that when they are molting ! they probably feel funny and wanted to rest !

 

[claytonhain]

its weird and she has been doing this for a month! and shes still in there since morning!

 

[thebanthams]

Is she acting like shes gone broody? Hows she eating? will she go out on her own like a normal chickie? Maybe she is afraid because she feels naked! Just kidding. Molting is unpredictible, they can go on for a long time. my chick molted about 3 months. now she got the prettiest feathers I ever seen!

 

[they'reHISchickens]

A month is a bit long for her to stay in the nest for molting. How does she look? Is it a bad molt with a lot of feather loss? Try giving her supplements of sunflower seeds for extra protein.

 

[yellowchicks]

One of my white Leghorns kept sitting in the nest box today, which is very unusual. Her abdominal feathers looked bare if you flip her over. She just kept grooming herself, didn't even respond to the shake of the treat jar. I had all four chickens fenced-in in a separate run this morning, this one did a jail break went back into the coop by herself and sat in the nest box. She laid an egg probably around 4 PM today (the egg was warm at 5 PM). However, it doesn't matter how many times I removed her from the nest box, she just went back in and sat there. Is she molting, going broody or something else?

 

[Amina]

Based on your description of her sitting in the box constantly and having a bare breast, it sounds like she is going broody. Does she sleep in the box too?

However, if she's broody, she shouldn't be laying eggs. Are you sure the egg was from her?

 

[yellowchicks]

Based on your description of her sitting in the box constantly and having a bare breast, it sounds like she is going broody. Does she sleep in the box too?

However, if she's broody, she shouldn't be laying eggs. Are you sure the egg was from her?

I think you are right, she is broody. She tries to sleep in the nest whenever possible. The egg was probably not hers, someone else squeezed in the same nest to lay an egg because we only got 3 eggs max instead of 4 eggs all week. She is messing up everyone else's biological clock though, today (Day 5 of being broody), only one chicken laid an egg. I served her breakfast in bed/nest every day, but also gave her lots of outdoor activities away from the coop to keep her occupied, such as treasure hunting for treats in fresh lawn clippings. She is still broody but active.

 

[Amina]

Are you going to let her hatch chicks? If not, you should break her from being broody ASAP.

 

[yellowchicks]

Are you going to let her hatch chicks? If not, you should break her from being broody ASAP.

No rooster, no chicks to hatch, so yes, she has to break the broodiness.

I fed her "breakfast in bed/nest" everyday, then remove her from the nest box, lock her out of the coop, gave her plenty of activities and treats to preoccupy her, and moved her back to the roosting bar at night if she was sleeping in the nest box. Day 7, she is out of the nest box voluntarily this morning, so I hope she is done with the motherly thing.