Molting

[OrpingtonHopeful]

In the past my gals have always had a rather gentle molt- This year one of the newbies, well she just looks plain awful and naked.

What do you do to support your gals during a hard molt?

 

[NonnasBabies]

Give them lots of extra protein to help grow all the feathers back!! (cat food, calf manna, scrambled eggs, etc.)

 

[frog522]

Quote:
Really? Is any canned wet cat food is okay? (I might go out and buy some after work). Will chickens eat it? Is it safe for them to eat??

 

[dawg53]

Too much protein can be harmful in the long run, possibly causing gout. I recommend switching to gamebird feed which is about 22-26% protein vs 16-18% layer feed. Gamebird feed contains many of the nutrients and minerals required by chickens vs catfood. Once molt is just about over with, switch back to regular layer feed.

 

[OrpingtonHopeful]

Quote:
I hadn't even thought of game bird feed- Brilliant! Even so, I JUST bought a BIG bag of layer pellets so I'd prefer not to buy another bag of feed right now- I am absolutely keeping this in mind for next time.

In the meantime, I gave them a huge dish of scrambled eggs yesterday and hope to do nonfat organic yogurt w/ vit drops today. If I alternate like that between two good protein sources, do you think that will be ok/enough? Are there other good "treats" I should add in every week or so (or more frequently?) More leafy greens?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I personally don't feed them anything extra. They quit laying so the protein that used to go to making eggs now goes to the feathers.

Some extra protein won't hurt as long as you don't get ridiculous and overdo it, but mine always grow bright, sleek, shiny new feathers back without a lot of extras. Extra protein might speed the process up a bit. I don't know how much protein their bodies can process and use, but it sounds logical that extra protein could speed it up.

One of the few things I am confident of is you won't hurt them by not increasing the protein as long as they are getting a decent diet already. Extra protein when they are molting is not something you have to do. More of a personal preference.