Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat - Part 2 : Chicken Boogaloo.

[heatherlaw]

My gals haven't been laying after their molt either. My olive egger, Emma, laid yesterday and she only quit 2 weeks ago and is definitely not done molting. I don't know why my other girls are on strike. Emma is running around with a single tail feather looking absolutly terrible. The others are fully feathered out and looking beautiful but no eggs

I swear Emma knows that is the only way she gets to stick around. She is the most obnoxious bird I have ever seen. She stands in the run loudly whining for no reason from sunup to sundown right outside my bedroom window. If she wasn't my best layer i would eat her!

 

[bobbi-j]

My gals haven't been laying after their molt either. My olive egger, Emma, laid yesterday and she only quit 2 weeks ago and is definitely not done molting. I don't know why my other girls are on strike. Emma is running around with a single tail feather looking absolutly terrible. The others are fully feathered out and looking beautiful but no eggs

I swear Emma knows that is the only way she gets to stick around. She is the most obnoxious bird I have ever seen. She stands in the run loudly whining for no reason from sunup to sundown right outside my bedroom window. If she wasn't my best layer i would eat her!

It's not just the molt. It's also the shorter hours of sunlight. Now that the days are getting longer, they will work their way into it. When I don't use a light on my chickens, they usually start laying again sometime in Feb.

 

[heatherlaw]

It's not just the molt. It's also the shorter hours of sunlight. Now that the days are getting longer, they will work their way into it. When I don't use a light on my chickens, they usually start laying again sometime in Feb.

Yeah I know i should put a light in my coop. I just haven't gotten around to it. I guess I was holding out hope that, like my moms flock, they would just start laying ahain as soon as the molt was over.

 

[junebuggena]

Yeah I know i should put a light in my coop. I just haven't gotten around to it. I guess I was holding out hope that, like my moms flock, they would just start laying ahain as soon as the molt was over.

At this point in the year, there is little point to adding lighting. The days are starting to naturally lengthen. I've found that a higher protein feed can get a few back to laying after molt, before days get too short.

 

[heatherlaw]

I should up their protien. My feed only has 16 percent. The ladies did enjoy the Christmas turkey carcass which may have something to do with Emma laying again. I will start adding protien to their feed. Thanks for the tip

 

[7 Biddies]

[quote name="WVduckchick" url="/t/949464/dumbest-things-people-have-said-about-your-chickens-eggs-meat-part-2-chicken-boogaloo/1730#post_178821


My girls had all quit too, and young ones that "should" have been laying by now, haven't. But...I found an egg in the run in the mud, and 2 in another coop, and one in that nest box today! (I think all 3 of those are from new layer, I just hadn't checked inside the coop for a few days) I think the warm-up in temps has sparked it, but hopefully they continue![/quote]
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It's been my experience that, except during their first year, they stop when they are molting, and start up again right after the Winter Solstice. It's day length that determines laying, not temp. They must know that's the shortest day of the year, and that days will start getting longer again, now.

BTW - my EE, Betty, gave me a green double yolker today!

OUCH!

 

[7 Biddies]

I should up their protien. My feed only has 16 percent. The ladies did enjoy the Christmas turkey carcass which may have something to do with Emma laying again. I will start adding protien to their feed. Thanks for the tip

Be very careful adding protein; you can overdo it. Although I normally go all organic, I got my girls a Purina feed called Feather Fixer. It's got 18% protein - more than that isn't recommended. It's supposed to help with regrowing feathers and getting them back to laying. I'll take them off just as soon as this second bag is finished. I mixed it with their organic feed because they didn't like the Feather Fixer. They're used to it, now, though and I think it helped some.

 

[heatherlaw]

Be very careful adding protein; you can overdo it. Although I normally go all organic, I got my girls a Purina feed called Feather Fixer. It's got 18% protein - more than that isn't recommended. It's supposed to help with regrowing feathers and getting them back to laying. I'll take them off just as soon as this second bag is finished. I mixed it with their organic feed because they didn't like the Feather Fixer. They're used to it, now, though and I think it helped some.

Thats what I will do then. My girls eat the nutrina feed noramaly (I cant afford organic yet $30 a bag here!!!) so im sure they would love the feather fixer. Ive seen it in my local store.

 

[junebuggena]

You have to feed a crazy high amount of protein to cause damage, it's something like 28 to 30% protein that is harmful. Way higher than what can normally be found in most poultry feeds. And it takes a while to cause any harm. The occasional, high protein treat isn't going to hurt.

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

My silkie roo, Sully (his name is Sultan, but he's too dorky to have such a regal name), started his molt and he looked so pitiful, I gave him a bath in the bathroom sink. It's freezing cold outside and snowy, so I lightly toweled him off and let him enjoy the blow-drier. Since he was still damp, he got cuddled by the fireplace by 3 different family members and myself, not to mention an hour of youtube-watching on someone's shoulder (there's a chicken "hip-hop" ringtone that drives everyone nuts; he likes to "sing" along by crowing loudly). He thinks that he's a house chicken now.
I also bought bird-bath synthetic preen oil with molt-ease from Eco-trition, made for parrots and other pet birds, and it really helped replace the oils on his feathers. I am also using it on my older birds and they definitely look healthier during the molt. I would suggest it if anyone has birds that fray their feathers or are going through a tough molt.....
Anyway, a few days after his bath and spritz, Petco had Santa pet pictures. Being the crazy person I am, and having the aforementioned crazy rooster, I have a picture of santa and a silkie (nearly blends into the beard). Sully loved all the attention (apparently the best behaved pet that had a picture taken) and had fun "barking" (he can sorta yip, definitely not a chicken noise though?) at some of the dogs from his basket. The thing that got me was when I was in the checkout line with dog food, and the lady behind me asked about him. She figured out that it was a chicken, but this question always makes me cringe: "Is it a chicken or a rooster?"
I always realize that not everyone has the same experiences or knowledge of animals, but in my head all I hear is "Is that a (either gender) bird or an exclusively male bird". With true Christmas spirit, I held back my inner chicken geek and replied that he was a rooster. They gasped because "I didn't know they could be so tame! Or trained to be on leash!" (I used a cat harness so he wouldn't run off, and he rides in a plastic shopping basket that I use as a carrier). He is also so fluffy that he can only see about 10 feet either direction, and he's not too keen to leave the safety of standing on my foot.
Just my little holiday humor...