- Jun 9, 2013
- 8
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- 9
December and January here in the Chicagoland area hasn't been terribly cold but there were a few days back in December that it did get down into negative temps. at night. After the first really cold night, I went out to go check on them and I noticed that two of them were hard molting. One of them, a silver wyandotte, looked like she hadn't lost many feathers and was doing ok but the other, a cinnamon queen, looked to be in bad condition. I think they started molting because of a bit of stress from lack of water. We were fighting the weather to keep the water unfrozen even with our water heater. The chickens were mostly drinking the snow, so we didn't think it was a big deal, but maybe for them it was? Any how… like a good chicken mommy, I brought the cinnamon inside and sewed her a sweater! She wore it for 2 days before it got a bit tangled. She had been laying in the nesting box all day and night and was shaking. I felt bad for her and brought her inside to recoop. I kicked the dog out of his cage and made her a nice home. After several days she began to perk up and act quite a bit more normal. I waited until most of her feathers began coming in thickly and decided she should go back out. I introduced her slowly, keeping her in the dog cage but in the coop. Then I finally released her back to the coop. I'm worried about her now though becuase she doesn't seem to like being out there. She is deffinately picked on, but is not being really hurt by the other girls. But she is back to just staying in the nesting box. I don't want her to think my house is her home but she just doesn't seem to be happy. I don't have any thought about how to help her? What do you think, anything would be appretiated!! Thanks!
