- Jun 17, 2014
- 13
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I may not post much but am today due to an unexpected summer molt from my old, pet hen.
She is a pet and having no idea how old she is, am concerned about her feather loss this time of year. We are in Northern Nevada and still in a Spring-like state although with the earth going through such random changes the last few years, wonder if all the environmental impact has something to do with it. We had a couple days of high 90's then today it rained and a chill has lingered for the past few days too. The old hen and the three 1 year olds are mixed Aracauna and seems to be Red. The other 3 hens are only a year old and a Wynadotte Lace came as a surprise, over the fence. There are hundreds of wild birds feeding here and it is a paradise for wild things - that is what does live around here. They have a varied diet but I avoid treated food and hormones. Mostly they eat bugs, worms (I dig for them daily), wild bird food, sunflower seeds and there is allot of volunteer bird seed growing up this year but hasn't gone to seed yet. There is a lot of clover, red and white and other things sprouting all over the place. I avoid chemicals in the yard but did apply fish emulsion a month or so ago and watered it into the yard well while they were roosting so I doubt it would have affected just the one hen. The only culprit I can think of is her age and she has what appears to be arthritic toes. They have a nice coop and lay in there which has fresh orchard grass recently replacing straw (which they had for a year). They are free to roam around so other than if she got into something none of the others did, I am at a total loss. It isn't as if her feathers are falling out all at once, it appears to be a genuine molt like that which happens at the end of the summer, normally. I also supplement them with available oyster shell . . . hmmm, that's about it. Any suggesitons? Thanks so much, I love my charges and find them better than TV. They come into the house as they wish, using the back and front door as a shortcut to avoid the hot rocks in the driveway; none seem affected in any other manner.
Caught me by surprise I must say and I will examine with magnifying glass tomorrow when it's light out. They are roosting now and while she wouldn't mind, I don't stress them.
I appreciate any and all responses. Guess I could have posted in a "molt" category already established but most were from 2013 and I hoped to find more information by posting a new thread. Thanks all, smiles4miles
She is a pet and having no idea how old she is, am concerned about her feather loss this time of year. We are in Northern Nevada and still in a Spring-like state although with the earth going through such random changes the last few years, wonder if all the environmental impact has something to do with it. We had a couple days of high 90's then today it rained and a chill has lingered for the past few days too. The old hen and the three 1 year olds are mixed Aracauna and seems to be Red. The other 3 hens are only a year old and a Wynadotte Lace came as a surprise, over the fence. There are hundreds of wild birds feeding here and it is a paradise for wild things - that is what does live around here. They have a varied diet but I avoid treated food and hormones. Mostly they eat bugs, worms (I dig for them daily), wild bird food, sunflower seeds and there is allot of volunteer bird seed growing up this year but hasn't gone to seed yet. There is a lot of clover, red and white and other things sprouting all over the place. I avoid chemicals in the yard but did apply fish emulsion a month or so ago and watered it into the yard well while they were roosting so I doubt it would have affected just the one hen. The only culprit I can think of is her age and she has what appears to be arthritic toes. They have a nice coop and lay in there which has fresh orchard grass recently replacing straw (which they had for a year). They are free to roam around so other than if she got into something none of the others did, I am at a total loss. It isn't as if her feathers are falling out all at once, it appears to be a genuine molt like that which happens at the end of the summer, normally. I also supplement them with available oyster shell . . . hmmm, that's about it. Any suggesitons? Thanks so much, I love my charges and find them better than TV. They come into the house as they wish, using the back and front door as a shortcut to avoid the hot rocks in the driveway; none seem affected in any other manner.
Caught me by surprise I must say and I will examine with magnifying glass tomorrow when it's light out. They are roosting now and while she wouldn't mind, I don't stress them.
I appreciate any and all responses. Guess I could have posted in a "molt" category already established but most were from 2013 and I hoped to find more information by posting a new thread. Thanks all, smiles4miles
and Welcome To BYC! Not sure if you have seen it, but here is a nice article on molting 
