Here is Dotty’s mugshot for Monday.
She is a very depleted little chicken and is still leaving feathers everywhere.
I have resolved I will bring her into the garage for Wednesday night when we go back down to single digits again.
Right now it is sunny and above freezing in the sun. The ladies are enjoying butternut squash and dried up cat food. Except Maggie who is eating her way through the patches of snow remaining in their yard.
:idunno

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I need advice from all you chicken-people.
This is the back of Diana’s head. It has been like this for weeks now. The rest of her seems to be fully feathered so I am not so worried about her in the cold - but my guess is she cannot reach to preen the back of her head.
Will the casings fall off on their own? Should I help?
Maggie had the same thing but her feathers emerged just fine.

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Poor old Nellie seems off, and she is limping. Don't see anything obvious and it's only when she is running it's very pronounced. Also she didn't come running just now when I gave the gang my croissant.

I found her in a corner in a stall so I brought her into the tackroom thinking she might be cold and arthritic like me 🙂

She is just standing looking around, I gave her a chunk of the croissant which she did eat, but she is not interested in the chick started I gave her for a treat
Which they generally like...

She will be 6 in a couple months so I guess that is older for a chicken...

Just hanging out
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Monday Mug
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Lilly is 6+. She has arthritis in her hips. She also has twice hurt herself getting off of the roost where she limped pretty bad for a while.

I would check the leg to make certain there is nothing going on with her foot pad and then move the joint to make certain it is not catching in any way.
 
Here is Dotty’s mugshot for Monday.
She is a very depleted little chicken and is still leaving feathers everywhere.
I have resolved I will bring her into the garage for Wednesday night when we go back down to single digits again.
Right now it is sunny and above freezing in the sun. The ladies are enjoying butternut squash and dried up cat food. Except Maggie who is eating her way through the patches of snow remaining in their yard.
:idunno

View attachment 2971082View attachment 2971083View attachment 2971084View attachment 2971085
I would bring her in too. It's not safe for her to be molting in these temperatures.
 
I need advice from all you chicken-people.
This is the back of Diana’s head. It has been like this for weeks now. The rest of her seems to be fully feathered so I am not so worried about her in the cold - but my guess is she cannot reach to preen the back of her head.
Will the casings fall off on their own? Should I help?
Maggie had the same thing but her feathers emerged just fine.

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They will fall off on their own but if she will let you groom her I don't think it would hurt. She has very pretty feathers.
 
I would bring her in too. It's not safe for her to be molting in these temperatures.
Thanks Bob. Do you think I should bring her in at warmer temperatures? I have arbitrarily picked single digit F mainly because it just feels a lot colder to me! It was in the 20s last night and she was OK. But she gets fewer feathers every day.
 
Thanks Bob. Do you think I should bring her in at warmer temperatures? I have arbitrarily picked single digit F mainly because it just feels a lot colder to me! It was in the 20s last night and she was OK. But she gets fewer feathers every day.
It depends on the total square area uncovered. If she still looks covered I would be ok into the 20s. Teens and single digits concern me most. I would definitely not leave a molting hen out in single digits. I would have brought Sansa in for sure.

Here's the balance. You need her to grow the extra downy feathers needed to survive in the cold so she needs to be out in the cold. It is all about the extreme.

Also constant moving from warm to cold and back is also not good. Large changes in temp are also not good. Do you keep her in the mud room when you bring her in? I would use my garage which is much cooler than the house but not below freezing.
 
It depends on the total square area uncovered. If she still looks covered I would be ok into the 20s. Teens and single digits concern me most. I would definitely not leave a molting hen out in single digits. I would have brought Sansa in for sure.

Here's the balance. You need her to grow the extra downy feathers needed to survive in the cold so she needs to be out in the cold. It is all about the extreme.

Also constant moving from warm to cold and back is also not good. Large changes in temp are also not good. Do you keep her in the mud room when you bring her in? I would use my garage which is much cooler than the house but not below freezing.
Very helpful.
I think I will adjust my cut off to bringing her in when we hit the teens rather than single digits which will be several nights this week.
I would bring her into the garage and put cardboard boxes around her because I think there are drafts underneath the garage doors (or maybe put her container in a wheel barrow so there is some draft protection all around).
The garage is unheated - at single digits outside I had an issue with the utility sink faucet freezing so I will have a small (750W) heater under the utility sink. I doubt it will make a huge difference to the area as a whole.
I could move her into the mud room which gets down to about 35 degrees when it is single digits - but again I am worried about a utility sink freezing so I may put a little heater under that sink too. Garage probably best and I will put a thermometer in there so I know what temperatures she was experiencing.
 
Very helpful.
I think I will adjust my cut off to bringing her in when we hit the teens rather than single digits which will be several nights this week.
I would bring her into the garage and put cardboard boxes around her because I think there are drafts underneath the garage doors (or maybe put her container in a wheel barrow so there is some draft protection all around).
The garage is unheated - at single digits outside I had an issue with the utility sink faucet freezing so I will have a small (750W) heater under the utility sink. I doubt it will make a huge difference to the area as a whole.
I could move her into the mud room which gets down to about 35 degrees when it is single digits - but again I am worried about a utility sink freezing so I may put a little heater under that sink too. Garage probably best and I will put a thermometer in there so I know what temperatures she was experiencing.
Excellent plan. I think this feels good to me. She could use some help at those temps.
 
Lilly is 6+. She has arthritis in her hips. She also has twice hurt herself getting off of the roost where she limped pretty bad for a while.

I would check the leg to make certain there is nothing going on with her foot pad and then move the joint to make certain it is not catching in any way.
Yes checked the foot yesterday and its clear, and leg range of motion seems fine.

I have been lifting her down in the morning so she doesn't have to jump down from the roost.

They all just came running when I opened the office door and she does this gallop motion. But she came running so guess she knows it's almost 3 and scratch grain time! They have me well trained....
 

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