Molting chickens are shivering in the cold

[rolffamily]

Quote:
I don't know about the rest of you, but my chickens would go crazy and tear those bales apart within one day.

 

[centrarchid]

When cold and windy my birds like to stand or lay on dry vegetation out of winf and in sunlight when they can. What about using deep bedding method in addition to straw bales around coop. A lot of heat is dumped through feet, keeping them off cold ground helps.

Another point to bring up. On cold mornings my flock seems to go through a warmup phase immediately after first feeding. They appear to me (if they were mammals) to be misarably cold but they do same thing at 32 F as at 0 F so I may be "mammal-thropizing."

 

[Beekissed]

Several of my older flock had a very hard moult this year and are showing bare spots. Last year was the same way for a few of the older birds.

I found the deep litter really kept them warm and content during these times. I also let those birds sleep in the nest boxes if they feel like it, as the loss of feathers makes it hard for them to fly up to the roosts.

If you can provide warm and fluffy bedding and little areas with fluffy hay or straw in corners of the buildings and such, they have plenty of places to get in out of the wind and areas off the cold ground. This seems to suffice for mine. A smart bird will seek out these places if they are excessively cold and I like perpetuating intelligence and hardiness in my flocks.

I have never provided heat for the simple fact that, with good nutrition and places out of the wind and cold, I feel the cold triggers their feathers to grow back more quickly. Just like chicks that are exposed to the outdoors at an earlier age will feather out more quickly, dogs that live outside develop deeper winter pelts than house dogs, same with cats....exposure to the cold seems to encourage deeper and faster plumage growth. In the end, I find this healthier for the bird.

 

[centrarchid]

This business of hard-molt is interesting. When most of my birds molt they do not loose abiltilty to stay warm or for that matter to have bare spots. Nor do they become essentially flightless. Is something being done prior that delays molt onset so that when molt starts it is more drastic. Most of my outdoor birds are largely done with molt. Birds I acquired from breeders started molt very late even though same breed as many I already have.

 

[welasharon]

There are some frizzle chicks that are half naked and shivering in our Florida cold. They have been under a heat lamp but it has now been turned off. During the day yesterday it was cloudy and 50 something-ish. They are out in the run with the others but look so cold and miserable. What is the best way to help them adjust and grow their feathers out? A couple are so naked they can't even fluff up to keep warm.
sharon

ETA: I just realized that this may be off topic a bit as I don't think this is result of molting....but they are still very naked. I have never had chicks so I don't know what they look like as they are feathering out.

 

[ellieroo]

Quote:
I don't know about the rest of you, but my chickens would go crazy and tear those bales apart within one day.

That's why they go on the outside of the coop/pen. That being said I have bantys BCM Welles and SLW and they have never bothered the bales when they are out free ranging.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Centrarchid, most of the chickens I've had have not had hard molts. They've had more gradual molts. A few years ago I got some birds that have had much more extreme molts. Their first year as adults, they were also extremely broody, compared to my other chickens. The one that was most bare during her fall molt had started molting immediately after being broody. Her entire belly was as naked as a grocery store chicken at one point. The rest of her didn't look that good, either. At one point, she looked like a porcupine when her feathers were growing in. Fortunately, they have been less broody as they've gotten older. Their molts have also been better.

Molts seem to be effected not only by environmental conditions, but by genetics as well. I think there are other people that have particular chickens in their flocks that have hard molts, when others in the flock don't. What I mean is that you can force chickens to have hard molts, but you can also have great conditions and still have a chicken that has hard molts.