Okay, just want to make sure my little darling is okay here....Xena, my Americauna was born back in mid-March and I got her from the feed store with 3 other chicks. I have 5 chickens and 2 ducks. The pecking order is pretty much this: Silver (about 6 yrs., a second hand chicken from a friend), Daisy (a Leghorn), Xena, Ginger (an RIR) and then Petrie at the bottom (a BR). I have 2 female Runner ducks, Ivy and Willow. Now the ducks are funny because they will chase off Silver AND Xena if either of them gets too near a water dish they want or a piece of food etc...but the ducks will run from Ginger who picks on them and are also scared of Petrie. They are somewhat indifferent of Daisy.
Sorry, I like to give a proper background of my situation...here's the real deal...Xena has decided to molt, but none of the others are. Silver did a couple of partial molts but she's pretty much done and no one else is molting. My question is...is it normal that just Xena decided to molt? I don't think she's too stressed, she gets plenty to eat and she isn't even the bottom chicken. Did she just decide to go for it? I didn't think first year hens did a molt. She doesn't have any bald patches, the molt doesn't seem too heavy but I do feel bad for the poor girl since it's rather chilly at night here. I went ahead and put everyone on extra protein feed and oyster shell free choice for a while to see if that helps her. It will be good for the others to put on a healthy layer of winter fat anyhow. Also, she is normally a VERY friendly chicken who loves to be stroked and held and is easy to catch. She now runs away and doesn't like being held and squirms and chitters at me. She has also been going to bed earlier than usual. Normal? I just assumed that her new quills coming in are making her more sensitive to the touch. Is there anything else I should do for her?Thanks.
Sorry, I like to give a proper background of my situation...here's the real deal...Xena has decided to molt, but none of the others are. Silver did a couple of partial molts but she's pretty much done and no one else is molting. My question is...is it normal that just Xena decided to molt? I don't think she's too stressed, she gets plenty to eat and she isn't even the bottom chicken. Did she just decide to go for it? I didn't think first year hens did a molt. She doesn't have any bald patches, the molt doesn't seem too heavy but I do feel bad for the poor girl since it's rather chilly at night here. I went ahead and put everyone on extra protein feed and oyster shell free choice for a while to see if that helps her. It will be good for the others to put on a healthy layer of winter fat anyhow. Also, she is normally a VERY friendly chicken who loves to be stroked and held and is easy to catch. She now runs away and doesn't like being held and squirms and chitters at me. She has also been going to bed earlier than usual. Normal? I just assumed that her new quills coming in are making her more sensitive to the touch. Is there anything else I should do for her?Thanks.
She won't be too cold right? I don't heat, light or insulate, I have a small coop and 5 birds inside. The lowest overnight so far has been 20F
