Molting in February?

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We’ll now call her “Hope - the escape artist”. She snuck out of her area but thankfully my husband saw her soon. My other lady MawMaw was pecking at her bald spots to no end. We wrangled her back into her area and pinned her fencing down (she wiggled underneath by digging through her deep litter). I feel absolutely terrible keeping her in “chicken jail” but my god, the other 2 will surely kill her if given the chance. I feel so conflicted and sad for her. She looks so much better today and i know its just a matter of time before she’s back to square one - but this chicken mama has some serious chicken guilt :(
 
Sue Gremlin said:
For what it's worth, I wouldn't interpret her reluctance to eat as being miserable. Molting birds often go through a sort of dormant period where they don't eat much, they get kind of gray and are quiet and sleep much of the time. Good to separate her if the others are beating her up, but don't fret too much. She looks completely normal for a molting hen. It will be over soon.
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Thank you so much for saying this. I‘M nearly in tears worrying about her - I’ve never done this before! I just want her to be happy and healthy and I’m trying my best. She’s so precious to me.
 
Try not to worry. Molting is totally normal and you will have a beautifully feathered hen back in no time.

The only thing to keep in mind is that the new "pin" feathers are very sensitive as they are coming in, so you want to be careful about picking her up and handling her. Please don't worry if you need to pick her up for some reason, but I would hold off on cuddling until the new feathers come in.
 
Here are pictures of one of my hard molters before and after. And, if you google "chicken in hard molt" you will see even worse!
IMG_1702.jpg
IMG_1810.jpg
 
Stuwe said:
It happens! I’m so panicked already, I’d be really losing it if her comb was funky, haha
Click to expand...
Very sorry. But at least now you will keep an eye out for paler combs. When I had my first son back in '71 my GP pulled down my lower eye lid and I asked what she was doing. She said quicker than the lab. Just checking to see if you are anemic. And my blood work came back fine. I tended to be anemic in my younger years.
 

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