All these feathers!!!

[aart]

Ok and it's not so much the expense but the Crack like behavior exhibited by the hens when they eat it. Have you experienced anything like that?

I've had them do that with granite grit in a small feeder, had to get rid of it and just start throwing some out with the scratch once in a while.
No problem like that with the oyster and egg shell feeder.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/oyster-plastic-jar.7897731/

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Ok and it's not so much the expense but the Crack like behavior exhibited by the hens when they eat it. Have you experienced anything like that?

Oh yes, every single day! Any time the birds see me with a container in my hand. It could be a bowl, box, bucket, coffee can, plastic tub, you name it. They go wild. They think they're getting treats and usually, they are. Scraps from prepping dinner, or their daily bit of scratch. Heck, I could even put their regular feed pellets in a can and toss that around, and they STILL think it's a party. (I do that sometimes, just for laughs.)

I'm guessing here, but I think your birds may be having the same reaction - not because it's oyster shell, but because it's the same behavior you exhibit when they get a treat.

 

[K0k0shka]

Mine do a very boring, slow, soft molt that drags on for months and it barely looks like anything. Definitely not picture-worthy.

My cat though... She sheds year-round, even though she never leaves the climate-controlled house, where it's one season all year long. And we find her hair everywhere, and I mean everywhere - in food and drink, floating in the air, in every corner of the house, and one of my kids even found cat hair in her underwear (that was still on her butt)

 

[utefan47]

Oh yes, every single day! Any time the birds see me with a container in my hand. It could be a bowl, box, bucket, coffee can, plastic tub, you name it. They go wild. They think they're getting treats and usually, they are. Scraps from prepping dinner, or their daily bit of scratch. Heck, I could even put their regular feed pellets in a can and toss that around, and they STILL think it's a party. (I do that sometimes, just for laughs.)

I'm guessing here, but I think your birds may be having the same reaction - not because it's oyster shell, but because it's the same behavior you exhibit when they get a treat.

It's true. I appreciate your comments. Chickens are nutty, I just have to get use to that.

 

[DebinCR]

OMG every time I check on the birds, the feather layer gets deeper and deeper! It looks like a few pillows exploded in the run and coop. They're blowing all over the yard, into the garden, across the driveway.... I even found feathers in the garage! Not to mention how they show up in the laundry, sweeping the floor, in the vacuum cleaner - next I'll be picking them out of dinner plates!

Soon the birds will be naked, or at least look like they've just come from a very BAD hairstylist. About 1/3 of my flock (25 +/-) are going into their first 18-month molt. Another third, their annual fall molt. The rest are chicks, going through juvenile molt. Everybody all at once! I expect to get lots of good molt pictures this year!

How is the molting going in your flock?

Has anyone ever used a shop vac to remove excess feathers??

 

[Vicker]

Lol. I thought I'd lost one from my juvenile coop based on all the feathers that turned up almost overnight. Nope. Just growth molt.

 

[TylerBareneckChickens]

OMG every time I check on the birds, the feather layer gets deeper and deeper! It looks like a few pillows exploded in the run and coop. They're blowing all over the yard, into the garden, across the driveway.... I even found feathers in the garage! Not to mention how they show up in the laundry, sweeping the floor, in the vacuum cleaner - next I'll be picking them out of dinner plates!

Soon the birds will be naked, or at least look like they've just come from a very BAD hairstylist. About 1/3 of my flock (25 +/-) are going into their first 18-month molt. Another third, their annual fall molt. The rest are chicks, going through juvenile molt. Everybody all at once! I expect to get lots of good molt pictures this year!

How is the molting going in your flock?

 

[TylerBareneckChickens]

My 5 hens are 18 months and only one is molting. Once I took the fake eggs out of the coop, forcing her to stop nesting, she stop molting. She lost less than half of her feathers, none of the main feathers per se, and I do not see any skin showing, well maybe I think there is a little on her butt. Seems like feeding them a little more protein like crickets, meal worms, sardines and ground beef caused her to stop brooding, molting and start laying again.

 

[DebAnneDigi]

No they shouldn't be eating layer feed. My suggestion would be to switch everyone to a 18%-20% flock raiser or all flock with free choice grit and oyster shell on the side, you'll never have to play the food swap game again because everyone from chicks to roosters can eat it.

Done! Purchased a bag of crumble and layer feed… thanks for the advice!

 

[utefan47]

Has anyone ever used a shop vac to remove excess feathers??

From the chicken or the coop? Lol