YIKES!!! temp in the teens and have a hen starting to molt

[bambi]

I have a RIR hen that is starting to molt. She is only 9 mo. old. I have no heat source to the hen house and all chickens I have free range. Will she be ok? feathers everywhere.

 

[bambi]

anyone? help

 

[Baralak]

Poor Girl, do you have any way to put her in a temp cage or in your gararge?

 

[77horses]

Don't worry, you're not alone. Just about my whole entire flock of chickens, except for maybe a few younger ones, are molting. It's bad; they all look horrible right now, but in a cute way!

And it's been getting in the 20's-30's during the day here, and even lower than that during the night. Poor babies!

But I did put a small lamp out there for them, to help keep their water from freezing and to help give off some heat. For now, they often just huddle together for warmth and their beginning to recover from their molt.
Of course, my chickens that are molting are, for the most part, adults (or older than 1 year). At 9 months, for your chicken, she should be fully feathered if she weren't currently molting, right? I've seen many younger chickens molt during late fall and even into the winter, and they did just fine. As long as she has an enclosed, sheltered coop and other chickens to snuggle next to for warmth during the night, she should be fine and her brand new feathers will start coming in nice and beautifully again for even better warmth.

Good luck!

 

[bambi]

Yes, she did have full feathers until now. She is the lowest rank in the group of hens and the rest really are not fond of her, she has always been the lone wolf. If I put heat out there will this cause the other hens to start molting? I thought a hen that is only 9mths would be to young to molt suprise, suprise.

 

[DutchieWannabe]

It also might depend on how had the Molt is.

My australorp is still recovering from a molt but it wasnt ever really as bad as I expected. and the feathers grew in faster than expected as well. she still isnt laying, but she never had any complete bald spots, so i was grateful, I didnt suppliment any heat, or take her anywhere different, but I might have is she had some serious balding going on.

hope this helps..... why they molt when its so stinking cold, i have no idea....

 

[bambi]

Sorry, just another question. If I did put her in a cage in the garage how long does this molting last?

 

[bambi]

Yes they do pick a bad time of the year to molt. I just thought they did it in the early fall

 

[chuckzoo]

I am not sure I would seperate her from the flock unless you intend to keep her seperate. If she is already low ranking it will be hard to re-introduce her.

I have one that is also molting now. I have added a blue reptile 60W bulb in their coop, with the necessary safety precautions (making sure it is secured proerly and at the correct height from the chickens. I also have a temperature monitor in my coop so I can see how cold it is getting. I got it at Lowes for ~$13 it is the wireless temperature type.

I would increase their protein as feathering requires a good bit of protein.

 

[bambi]

Thank you to all for your advice. I am going to go with the plan of monitoring the situation, worry, pray then panic.