Feather pulling and protein question (Update on page 3)

[chad-o]

This could be just boredom. Try hanging a head of cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower. No danger to their health and keeps them occupied.

 

[chickiegrrl]

Yesterday I went out to check on Flora. When I picked her up and took a close look at her chest I noticed that she has pinfeathers coming in! I am so excited!! I thought she was going to be bare chested until she molted her big-girl molt next fall. I am so happy for her because it's getting cold again here in MN. I also believe she stopped picking her feathers because she's not any barer than she was the last time I checked her.

What I did for her:

• I gave her 1 tablespoon of cat food every day for 5 days.
• I mixed game bird food in with all of the girls' regular layer rations 50:50. I will do this through the coldest part of the winter. It's supposed to be -20F tomorrow, plus -45F wind chill.
• I added a dash of salt to Flora's oatmeal in the morning. I separated her portion from the rest of the girls.
• They are getting a vitamin/probiotic in their water, too.

For now I've stopped the cat food and the salt. I started the probiotic/vitamin, which has some sodium in it, so I didn't want to overdo the salt. I will say, everyone looks really lush from their time on the game bird food. I weighed them all and nobody has gained weight, their feathers just look really good. I also noticed that some of the others, besides Flora, also have some pin feathers coming in. Our RIR has been losing some feathers, but she is one of the girls with new pin feathers.

I'm not sure if this is a molt or what's going on, but they all look good and are happy/healthy.

Here is a pic of Flora and her pin feathers: It was hard to get a good shot because she doesn't like to be held.


Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread! I really appreciate all of your suggestions. I just wanted to update and let you know how Flora is doing.