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

[TheFatBlueCat]

I think feeding animal protein may have some impact. It will be interesting to see what happens during their first major moult.

Well my leghorn and orpington just moulted at 16 months old and it was nothing to write home about. They stopped laying for about 2-3 weeks and there were a lot of feathers laying around. They didn't look much worse for wear except their tails looking pretty rough, and they were cranky.
My araucana hens (who are over 2 years old) have also just moulted but its hard to say with those 2 as they go broody often and raise chicks once or twice a year, so have a little moult for that and that may prevent them needing to do a full moult. They stopped laying for 2 weeks and dropped feathers everywhere they sat. Aside from that, just cranky. They have been getting meat meal daily, but in small quantities (1/2 cup across 11 chickens)

 

[Anime2lover]

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

Mine do not. They are piranhas, heavy molt or no heavy molt.

 

[RoyalChick]

My hen Maggie stopped eating commercial feed during the hard part of her molt. She has done the same thing two years in a row. She seems to only like worms that she digs up and various roots she finds.
This year I did manage to tempt her with some grower crumble which is super high protein.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

An update! My rooster and his sister just had their first adult molts (18ish months) they looked very rough and they DID go off their feed. The hen lost a lot of weight and was very miserable. She's fine now. Feathers grew back very quickly but she dumped a lot of them all at once. She was fat and doesn't go broody so it really was a good diet for her health!

In this photo rooster has his mojo mostly back, hen not so much.

 

[Perris]

I don't give commercial feed so I'm not sure how relevant my experience will be for your project, but in case it helps, herewith:

some flock members do seem less interested in the fermented whole grains when they're molting, though there's no obvious connection with a light v a heavy molt. I don't know what they forage from the lawn, borders, hedges and ditches, or whether it's different from what they normally seek out there, but I do know there's a wide variety of plant and insect life for them to eat if they're so inclined, plus the occasional amphibian or reptile, and that what's available while they're molting is not necessarily available at other times (most of what they forage seems to be seasonal, evergreen plants are generally untouched, and insect life cycles are very seasonal). Those that relatively quickly abandon the feed I supply usually forage in the lawn first then the borders.
They all like bread and dairy products at any time of year, but I have noticed that birds that go right off the grain will wolf down bread and curds even more greedily than usual, and I have wondered whether they are after foods that are easy to digest. Dairy is animal protein of course. Sardines and live mealworms remain as popular as ever.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I have fourteen females in my flock. Five are over four years old, five are about two years old, and four are just under six months old. My old gals are a Salmon Faverolles (my alpha), two Easter Eggers, a Speckled Sussex, and a blue Cochin. My alpha has molted HARD from her very first juvenile molt and goes off her feed, sleeps a lot, roosts in the corner, and doesn’t even want to leave the run to go out in the woods to scratch around. My SS, loses most of her feathers, but doesn’t go off her feed, and will go outside with me on most days. However, she and Puff, one of the EEers, sleep in the nest box on the heated seedling mats I put under the sand to keep the eggs from freezing in the cold weather. This is the first year they’ve done this, but after a few nights, one of my two year olds has joined them. (And no, I really don’t care at the moment. I’ll kick them out when they get their naked fannies covered with a few feathers.) Bertha, my other EEer, gets grumpier than usual and chases everyone away from the feeder - so no, she definitely doesn’t go off her feed!

My five two year olds are all Brahmas- two lights, two darks, and a buff. They are blowing out feathers like teenaged girls at a slumber party (think pillow fight). Lots of naked breasts and fannies. Only one of the dark Brahmas has gone off her feed and exhibits some personality changes. She’s quieter than usual, wants to be close to me all the time, and spent a few days in the run instead of outside with the rest of the Flockers. Ginger, my buff Brahma, started molting even before the older girls, lost a lot of feathers (but not a lot of down), and was crabby on the roost. All five had very heavy molts, but were only off their chow for a few days.

My four Littles (two SFs, a partridge Cochin, and a Barnevelder) went through a typical juvenile molt - they lost a few tail and wing feathers, but they’re little Hellions and didn’t go off their chow or change their behavior. In fact, my alpha in that group, also a SF, has laid three eggs already! (The white egg is wooden. Since no one else is laying right now, I left her a decoy when she started getting crabby, noisy, and paying attention to the nest box!)

Cupcake

Dottie just wants to roost on my leg and try to get warm

Poor Puff lost most of her feathers this year!

This year, since the chicklets are still on starter chow, The whole flock is getting 18% protein in the starter grower feed. To entice them to eat, I mix in some water to make it like a thick slurry. All the girls go crazy for it. I’ve also mixed in a tin of kitten chow. They really seem to like that too and it perked up the girls who were off their feed right away! When Butterfly (my alpha), Dottie (my SF), and Puff were at their worst, I scrambled each of them an egg to get them to eat. I also put a little Rooster Booster in their water for two days. That seemed to help a lot. (I think they like the molasses flavor, but then, who wouldn’t!)

Overall, this has been a tough year for molting, but at least the weather hasn’t been horrible. They got through the chilly, windy days by hanging out in the coop. Now we have a few days of Indian Summer before it gets chilly again.

 

[Shadrach]

I don't give commercial feed so I'm not sure how relevant my experience will be for your project, but in case it helps, herewith:

some flock members do seem less interested in the fermented whole grains when they're molting, though there's no obvious connection with a light v a heavy molt. I don't know what they forage from the lawn, borders, hedges and ditches, or whether it's different from what they normally seek out there, but I do know there's a wide variety of plant and insect life for them to eat if they're so inclined, plus the occasional amphibian or reptile, and that what's available while they're molting is not necessarily available at other times (most of what they forage seems to be seasonal, evergreen plants are generally untouched, and insect life cycles are very seasonal). Those that relatively quickly abandon the feed I supply usually forage in the lawn first then the borders.
They all like bread and dairy products at any time of year, but I have noticed that birds that go right off the grain will wolf down bread and curds even more greedily than usual, and I have wondered whether they are after foods that are easy to digest. Dairy is animal protein of course. Sardines and live mealworms remain as popular as ever.

I hadn't considered digestibility as a factor.

 

[Shadrach]

I have fourteen females in my flock. Five are over four years old, five are about two years old, and four are just under six months old. My old gals are a Salmon Faverolles (my alpha), two Easter Eggers, a Speckled Sussex, and a blue Cochin. My alpha has molted HARD from her very first juvenile molt and goes off her feed, sleeps a lot, roosts in the corner, and doesn’t even want to leave the run to go out in the woods to scratch around. My SS, loses most of her feathers, but doesn’t go off her feed, and will go outside with me on most days. However, she and Puff, one of the EEers, sleep in the nest box on the heated seedling mats I put under the sand to keep the eggs from freezing in the cold weather. This is the first year they’ve done this, but after a few nights, one of my two year olds has joined them. (And no, I really don’t care at the moment. I’ll kick them out when they get their naked fannies covered with a few feathers.) Bertha, my other EEer, gets grumpier than usual and chases everyone away from the feeder - so no, she definitely doesn’t go off her feed!

My five two year olds are all Brahmas- two lights, two darks, and a buff. They are blowing out feathers like teenaged girls at a slumber party (think pillow fight). Lots of naked breasts and fannies. Only one of the dark Brahmas has gone off her feed and exhibits some personality changes. She’s quieter than usual, wants to be close to me all the time, and spent a few days in the run instead of outside with the rest of the Flockers. Ginger, my buff Brahma, started molting even before the older girls, lost a lot of feathers (but not a lot of down), and was crabby on the roost. All five had very heavy molts, but were only off their chow for a few days.

My four Littles (two SFs, a partridge Cochin, and a Barnevelder) went through a typical juvenile molt - they lost a few tail and wing feathers, but they’re little Hellions and didn’t go off their chow or change their behavior. In fact, my alpha in that group, also a SF, has laid three eggs already! (The white egg is wooden. Since no one else is laying right now, I left her a decoy when she started getting crabby, noisy, and paying attention to the nest box!)

View attachment 3311901

View attachment 3311906
Cupcake
View attachment 3311907
Dottie just wants to roost on my leg and try to get warm

View attachment 3311908
Poor Puff lost most of her feathers this year!

View attachment 3311909

This year, since the chicklets are still on starter chow, The whole flock is getting 18% protein in the starter grower feed. To entice them to eat, I mix in some water to make it like a thick slurry. All the girls go crazy for it. I’ve also mixed in a tin of kitten chow. They really seem to like that too and it perked up the girls who were off their feed right away! When Butterfly (my alpha), Dottie (my SF), and Puff were at their worst, I scrambled each of them an egg to get them to eat. I also put a little Rooster Booster in their water for two days. That seemed to help a lot. (I think they like the molasses flavor, but then, who wouldn’t!)

Overall, this has been a tough year for molting, but at least the weather hasn’t been horrible. They got through the chilly, windy days by hanging out in the coop. Now we have a few days of Indian Summer before it gets chilly again.

Thanks for writing.

 

[Shadrach]

It's a very small sample size but it seems that hens favouring other foodstuffs when moulting isn't uncommon. It's not something that gets mentioned much given the ratios in the poll and not something I have read or heard a satisfactory explanation for.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

It's a very small sample size but it seems that hens favouring other foodstuffs when moulting isn't uncommon. It's not something that gets mentioned much given the ratios in the poll and not something I have read or heard a satisfactory explanation for.

Mine sure do. Of course, they love eggs anytime I scramble some up! My offering the kitten chow is new this year, so I can’t say whether they’ll like in if I offer it again when they’re not molting, but I think they will. Adding water to their chow is ALWAYS cause for great excitement. I do that frequently during hot weather so they stay hydrated and get some calories. My girls don’t get a lot of variety in their diets. They have chicken chow crumbles and treats are usually BOSS, cracked corn, and a mix of other grains. Summertime means lots of veggies and tomatoes from the garden and they have the opportunity to forage in the yard and in the woods several times a day for an hour or two at a time. During the molt or really cold weather, I might a couple of small peanut butter flavored suet balls for each girl, but they don’t get those year round. (Here’s the link for the suet balls: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VLPL2SN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

The lack of variety might be why they get so excited.