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

Do your hens go off their usual feed when they are moulting?


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what did you do to help her after coming off the floor? what did you do to help her crop? i have one regurgitating some bc of that.
If she is "regurgitating" that may be because her crop is too full (tube feeding too much) or she has a blockage somewhere. Have you found a crop issue? How does it feel?

Be slow and careful if you are trying tube feeding. It's really best to get personally trained by a vet or someone who has done it and can walk you through it. I got training by a vet on what the tube feels like on their neck when it's in correct position, and @micstrachan has a very good video with tips on it.

A slow or blocked gizzard is problematic and may not be survivable. I added coconut oil to wet baby bird formula in tube feeding a hen, and she did pass a long very tough fiber that had been in her system for weeks and possibly caused an infection. She appeared to recover and did gain weight after that as I continued with less intensive tube feeding - every few of days - but ultimately passed from unknown causes (cancer I suspect).

For molts that the hen drastically changes her diet - my limited experience (two hens in four years) has been that it's not that they won't eat, but they don't want to eat the same things they used to, like their usual feed. They will eat new things, at least a little of it, before rejecting it. Try baby bird formula (not thick though, it tends to be very gooey for them to try to eat), and seeing if she'll eat salt-free sardines, cooked chicken or beef, dandelion or collard greens. Try a high-protein feed like chick starter. Kaytee Exact formula: https://www.amazon.com/Kaytee-Exact-Hand-Feeding-Birds/dp/B0002DGJH8?th=1

Also, have a friend or two with the hen in question, inside or out. Company is very helpful in healing a sick or injured bird and getting them to act like a normal chicken again. I had a recovering chick/pullet that ate much better when her sisters were eating near her.

Do you have a cooking scale? Weigh your bird to get a clear idea of their weight and any subsequent weight loss or gain. You can gauge the keel-to- muscle ratio and actually tell if they are starving by feel:
 
this is the first time in 3 years, my molting birds are not even pecking at their chicken food. untouched all day. they are being very picky with other foods/snacks offered as well. i just had a clear fecal from 1 of them, but showed 1 mite egg. i do not see mites on them. i'm wondering if this is a problem? i also lost a flock member a week ago.
I doubt you can see mite eggs without a magnifying glass, but I have never seen mite eggs. The mites themselves are so tiny. Could it have been a lice egg? For lice you don't look at the skin, look at the feather shafts carefully.
 
@micstrachan has a very good video with tips on it.
Oh goodness, do I? I’m having trouble finding it. Feeding Ester was my maiden voyage with tubing. I had to push through my fear, as her life depended on it. I’m trying to figure out which video you are referring to, but will see if I can find something. Or maybe I’ll try to record Minnie’s morning feeding tomorrow.
 
Oh goodness, do I? I’m having trouble finding it. Feeding Ester was my maiden voyage with tubing. I had to push through my fear, as her life depended on it. I’m trying to figure out which video you are referring to, but will see if I can find something. Or maybe I’ll try to record Minnie’s morning feeding tomorrow.
Actually I think you had shared a link to a third party video which was very good. But I have no idea if I would be able to find it!
 
Oh goodness, do I? I’m having trouble finding it. Feeding Ester was my maiden voyage with tubing. I had to push through my fear, as her life depended on it. I’m trying to figure out which video you are referring to, but will see if I can find something. Or maybe I’ll try to record Minnie’s morning feeding tomorrow.
Was it around Dec 2020-Jan 2021? I found only a post in reply to Bob which referred to Esther having the crazy molt after Christmas the previous year, which suggests that time frame.
 

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