- Sep 9, 2007
- 87
- 0
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Hi, everyone -
I'd love some guesses as to what is causing my 1 y.o. EE hen to stay in moulting mode. All three of my hens started moulting and stopped laying toward the end of August, just shy of their birthday, and two of them started laying JUST when Hurricane Ike hit, and I had to evacuate with them.
Obviously, the evacuation messed everyone up, and egg production stopped again for a bit, but as soon as we were home and back to the normal routine, my BR started laying, followed by my RIR. The EE, however, just keeps losing feathers. Every morning, there are a bunch under their roost, and her neck is looking quite straggly (although I can't see any skin). It looks like there are new feathers growing in, but even though the weather's turning colder, she's shedding like crazy... or is she? I don't see any behavior problems during the day, but could it be that the other two are pulling her feathers at night?
And if her feathers are being pulled, would that keep her from laying? We're at almost two months with no eggs from her.
She's a hard one to catch (she's always been the most skittish of the three), but I finally cornered her yesterday, and when I picked her up, I was surprised by how light she is. It seems like her weight is down, and her crop felt empty.
So, right now, I'm isolating her once a day and giving her a bowl of her favorites, and the other two can't take any of it. She likes cottage cheese, rice, and grapes... and the cottage cheese is especially a fave right now, probably b/c she's low on protein.
Any thoughts? I'm not super worried, but if there's a problem brewing, I'd like to take action if possible.
Thanks in advance...
I'd love some guesses as to what is causing my 1 y.o. EE hen to stay in moulting mode. All three of my hens started moulting and stopped laying toward the end of August, just shy of their birthday, and two of them started laying JUST when Hurricane Ike hit, and I had to evacuate with them.
Obviously, the evacuation messed everyone up, and egg production stopped again for a bit, but as soon as we were home and back to the normal routine, my BR started laying, followed by my RIR. The EE, however, just keeps losing feathers. Every morning, there are a bunch under their roost, and her neck is looking quite straggly (although I can't see any skin). It looks like there are new feathers growing in, but even though the weather's turning colder, she's shedding like crazy... or is she? I don't see any behavior problems during the day, but could it be that the other two are pulling her feathers at night?
And if her feathers are being pulled, would that keep her from laying? We're at almost two months with no eggs from her.
She's a hard one to catch (she's always been the most skittish of the three), but I finally cornered her yesterday, and when I picked her up, I was surprised by how light she is. It seems like her weight is down, and her crop felt empty.
So, right now, I'm isolating her once a day and giving her a bowl of her favorites, and the other two can't take any of it. She likes cottage cheese, rice, and grapes... and the cottage cheese is especially a fave right now, probably b/c she's low on protein.
Any thoughts? I'm not super worried, but if there's a problem brewing, I'd like to take action if possible.
Thanks in advance...
