Do your hens go off their usual feed when they moult?

[Shadrach]

For a great many chicken health topics we get our information from research done by or with the chicken egg and meat producing companies.

Most of the hens I know of that go through a particularly heavy moult do so in their second year and most battery hens are killed at this age because egg production declines from two years old onward so this may be the reason why so little research and information in general is available on this topic.

There are in the BYC threads quite a few posts from keepers who are very worried about the health of their moulting hens because they are losing weight and often producing watery poop, looking listless and isolated but most concerning is they reduce, or stop eating the commercial feed entirely.

I hope some of those who have posted on the threads about their experiences with moulting hens will contribute here.

What I have found is there is a lot of variation in how sever this first major moult is from hen to hen. I've had hens who "go off" for a couple of days and others who look decidely sick for a couple of weeks. Being concerned about their health I've checked a lot of moulting hens crops at roost time and found that the free range hens had at least partially full crops while more recent experience with what were essentially confined Ex Batts, their crop may be almost empty at roost time. Once the Ex Batts were allowed to forage away from their run their crop content at roost time was noticeably more, but it wasn't from eating the commercial feed.

I've observed perhaps 20 free range hens during their moult and tried with little success to establish what exactly it is they fill their crops with during the day. Also, the free range hens tended to forage in the same areas no matter where their "home territory2 was. One might conclude that these areas contained particular nutrients the moulting hen believes she needs.

Fudge. Her first sever moult. She spent most of the day away from her tribe foraging and her crop would be full at roost time.

Lima. An Ex Batt not only moulting but also trying to replace feathers damaged before she arrived at the rescue centre. She has improved dramatically since she been allowed out to forage and received additional food supplements from me.

 

[BY Bob]

Every time she has molted, Hattie has gone off commercial feed. She starts almost a week before there is noticeable feather loss. She stands away from the remaining hens and does not compete for treats. I even provide feather fixer feed. I am going to start switching them to feather fixer a month before their molts start in order to build up their protein prior to them going off commercial feed.

Here is Hattie during her current molt.

 

[Marie2020]

Amber loaths any excessive weather changes but melts awfully in the heat.

Since her last molt she's not laid an egg and has what looks like yoke in her poo.
This has concerned my greatly but she eats really well and enjoys her life in her grumpy way.

The past couple of day's it has been raining, she has lost a few few feather's and is not so interested in her food.
Yesterday I added some treats into the feed which drew her into eating again.

 

[wolfwalker]

It might be breed dependent or hybrid dependent. I never feed below a 20% protein feed and have noticed that even the cinnamon queens, who are a hybrid only slow down to a couple of eggs a week in a severe molt instead of quitting and they never seem to lose weight. Which I attribute to a higher protein feed. If my feed store is ever out of 20% I will switch to a meat bird and I have been known to switch to a meat bird, 22% protein, if when molting they start to look skinny.

I have not ever noticed any of my birds not wanting to eat during molt.

 

[fuentemoon]

Only one of my three (Brenna) totally went off her feed, and she had had the hardest moult both this year and last, not quite 2 and 3 years old. All three come running when I go out hoping I have something yummy, but get bored with eating what ever I bring them and go back to grooming or napping pretty quick.
Brenna separated herself for about a week as her moult was starting and ate very little of anything, once her new feather shafts started poking out she was eating again.
Brenna and Alinta are black Australorps hatched feb 2018, Rosie is a buff Orpington of unknown age, at least 6 months older. All are currently either walking feather bombs or prickly.

 

[rural mouse]

Silver, 2.5 year old colombian wyandotte, free range, quit eating commercial feed. Lived on scratch (with sunflower seeds and a bird nut mix added) and forage including EVERY grasshopper she could find for a couple of months. She also ate a lot of grass seed (right off the stems), certain grasses and ignored others (dunno much about grass so not sure about types). She's doing a slow moult, looks great head, neck, breast, wings. Behind wings through tail scraggly. Started laying again a week ago. Now topping up with pellets at bedtime.
Pear, 1.5 year old partridge rock, light moult, still off commercial feed. Also started laying again a week ago.

Contributing factors to ceasing to lay: significant changes to the flock over the summer, unusually hot temps.
Feed is an all flock mix, 18-20% protein. Oyster shell on the side for the layers.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

For a great many chicken health topics we get our information from research done by or with the chicken egg and meat producing companies.

Most of the hens I know of that go through a particularly heavy moult do so in their second year and most battery hens are killed at this age because egg production declines from two years old onward so this may be the reason why so little research and information in general is available on this topic.

There are in the BYC threads quite a few posts from keepers who are very worried about the health of their moulting hens because they are losing weight and often producing watery poop, looking listless and isolated but most concerning is they reduce, or stop eating the commercial feed entirely.

I hope some of those who have posted on the threads about their experiences with moulting hens will contribute here.

What I have found is there is a lot of variation in how sever this first major moult is from hen to hen. I've had hens who "go off" for a couple of days and others who look decidely sick for a couple of weeks. Being concerned about their health I've checked a lot of moulting hens crops at roost time and found that the free range hens had at least partially full crops while more recent experience with what were essentially confined Ex Batts, their crop may be almost empty at roost time. Once the Ex Batts were allowed to forage away from their run their crop content at roost time was noticeably more, but it wasn't from eating the commercial feed.

I've observed perhaps 20 free range hens during their moult and tried with little success to establish what exactly it is they fill their crops with during the day. Also, the free range hens tended to forage in the same areas no matter where their "home territory2 was. One might conclude that these areas contained particular nutrients the moulting hen believes she needs.

Fudge. Her first sever moult. She spent most of the day away from her tribe foraging and her crop would be full at roost time.
View attachment 2870977

Lima. An Ex Batt not only moulting but also trying to replace feathers damaged before she arrived at the rescue centre. She has improved dramatically since she been allowed out to forage and received additional food supplements from me.
View attachment 2870986

Butters (below) was loading up on their Feather Fixer 18% protein and any snacks prior to this molt, her first real molt (15 months old). Now she doesn't compete for treats and isn't eating normally, but I did see her nibble some pellets today. It looks like a hard one. Another bird (Popcorn) seems to really be pigging out now and I wonder if she will be molting soon too. Hazel has had less of a visibly hard molt, an even one it seems, but was way off her feed for weeks, could barely be enticed to eat anything except earthworms and greens, and lost a great deal of weight. She is coming back now. These chickens are all Buckeyes, same age.

 

[Ribh]

Of 20 birds not all go off the commercial feed when moulting. My frizzle, Lavender, was one who did. Most of her moult was underneath & her breast feathers but you may remember this is also when she decided to go broody. I was offering tinned fish to my moulters but she prefered to free range & feather pick.

 

[BY Bob]

Of 20 birds not all go off the commercial feed when moulting. My frizzle, Lavender, was one who did. Most of her moult was underneath & her breast feathers but you may remember this is also when she decided to go broody. I was offering tinned fish to my moulters but she prefered to free range & feather pick.

View attachment 2871449​

Lavender

 

[micstrachan]

I voted yes AND yes on their first hard molt, though I only noticed it being hard on the first molt after someone else mentioned it.

Remember Ester? This was her first molt and I had to tube her for two weeks. It was very challenging to get her to eat ANYTHING, let alone commercial feed. She was too cold and weak to free range. I took her in after this… she was quite wobbly.

Both Flash AND Minnie temporarily went off commercial feed this year. Even though they are a year apart, it’s a first molt for each of them. Interestingly, they both also clogged their crops up a bit. Here is Minnie when her molt first started:

Here is a screenshot of a video of Flash.

A few years back, Little Mill also starved herself during molt. After she had gone to roost weak and wobbly, I went to check on her and rescued her off the coop floor. She had fallen from the roost and was literally sprawled out on the floor. I can’t find a photo and don’t recall if it was her first molt. It was 2019, so probably not. When I go back and look at a PM thread I had with a friend on Millie, I remember Millie ALSO had a slow crop during molt. In her case, she might have gotten backed up due to eating feathers. But what’s up with all the crop issues in molting hens who starve themselves? Edited to add: I think it might be a combination of their digestion slowing while they are not feeling well and their eating of unusual things like feathers and hay.