Broody in winter

[Ms.tiamaria]

My 8 month old silkie has gone broody right in the middle of winter. She's pulled out all the feathers on her underside, and I'm worried about her keeping warm. It's currently getting down to the low twenties, and the worst of the winter weather is yet to come. How long will it take for her feathers to grow back?Anything that I can/should do in the meantime? And is it normal to go broody in the dead of winter???

 

[Ridgerunner]

Where do you live? Potentially how cold are you talking about? If you check out Naked Necks (Turken) you can see that they have no feathers on a fair portion of their head and neck. They supposedly have half as many feathers on their body where they do have feathers and they are considered a cold hardy breed. Some chickens go through a pretty heavy molt in winter and do fine. I don't think you have much to worry about as long as she has a dry place with good ventilation she can go to where she is out of the wind.

If the entire feather shaft came out she should replace that feather fairly soon, probably within a month. If a bit of the shaft was left in she will not replace the feather until her next molt. That could be your next fall.

Is it normal for a hen or pullet to go broody in the winter? It dd not use to be but it's not that rare now. Before they were domesticated they would lay a clutch and hatch them in spring, do it again a couple of times before fall, then quit laying until spring and the weather and food supply got better. We have domesticated them and taught them to lay a lot more eggs each year. We typically feed them well all year long. Artificial lights may extend their day, either on purpose to get them to lay or a security light or street light by coincidence. Some people provide heat in the winter. Any of these things can increase their chances of going broody, especially if it is a hen or pullet that has a strong broody instinct. It is not "normal" for a hen or pullet to go broody in the winter but it is not that rare anymore either. There have been several other threads recently about hens going broody in winter.

 

[centrarchid]

If the pullet is like mine, then she is loosing few if any feathers from the breast area. Rather the skin down there has become extremely stretchy making so she can expose a very warm surface to the eggs which she is settling on the clutch. When my broody's come of the nest, the skin tightens ups closing all but a small strip under the cover of breast feathers. She can open the gap even for chicks as she broods them.

 

[Ms.tiamaria]

Thanks for responding. We are in western NY. Right now we're talking 20s, but as the winter progresses, we're looking at 0.

Where do you live? Potentially how cold are you talking about? If you check out Naked Necks (Turken) you can see that they have no feathers on a fair portion of their head and neck. They supposedly have half as many feathers on their body where they do have feathers and they are considered a cold hardy breed. Some chickens go through a pretty heavy molt in winter and do fine. I don't think you have much to worry about as long as she has a dry place with good ventilation she can go to where she is out of the wind.

If the entire feather shaft came out she should replace that feather fairly soon, probably within a month. If a bit of the shaft was left in she will not replace the feather until her next molt. That could be your next fall.

Is it normal for a hen or pullet to go broody in the winter? It dd not use to be but it's not that rare now. Before they were domesticated they would lay a clutch and hatch them in spring, do it again a couple of times before fall, then quit laying until spring and the weather and food supply got better. We have domesticated them and taught them to lay a lot more eggs each year. We typically feed them well all year long. Artificial lights may extend their day, either on purpose to get them to lay or a security light or street light by coincidence. Some people provide heat in the winter. Any of these things can increase their chances of going broody, especially if it is a hen or pullet that has a strong broody instinct. It is not "normal" for a hen or pullet to go broody in the winter but it is not that rare anymore either. There have been several other threads recently about hens going broody in winter.

 

[Ms.tiamaria]

I DIDN'T KNOW THIS! Thank you for the info!

If the pullet is like mine, then she is loosing few if any feathers from the breast area. Rather the skin down there has become extremely stretchy making so she can expose a very warm surface to the eggs which she is settling on the clutch. When my broody's come of the nest, the skin tightens ups closing all but a small strip under the cover of breast feathers. She can open the gap even for chicks as she broods them.