Mom Hen Molting

[what did I do]

My hen that has 3 chicks that are about a month old is molting. If it was warm it wouldn't be a problem but it is getting cold. We are down into the 20s and low 30s at night with highs in the 40s and 50s. They seem to be ok at night but during the day the chicks are all puffed up like they are cold. They don't show any signs of distress right now. Will the chicks be ok?

 

[sourland]

In my experience late season chicks and late molters always feathered out rapidly. As long as your coop is not drafty I think that they will be fine.

 

[what did I do]

In my experience late season chicks and late molters always feathered out rapidly.  As long as your coop is not drafty I think that they will be fine.

Thank you for your reassurance. These are special babies for my kids

 

[ll]

Mine molted while raising her chicks too, though it was a tad warmer temps here.
I piled extra nesting material around her & the chicks while they were in the nest.
Good luck!

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have 2 that are molting and raising babies right now. The babies will be fine.

 

[donrae]

My momma hen isn't molting but at 3 weeks the babies are only under her at night, and I think they keep each other warmer than she keeps them!

 

[what did I do]

The chicks are feathering out nicely and they are back in the coop. We have had a lot of cold days. It has been in the 20ies for highs! The chicks had a few real cold days but their feathers seemed to grow in faster. On the first cold days the chicks huddled with mom, when their feet got cold they stood on mom's back - so cute. If anything was going to happen to them from being cold I think it would have happened by now.

It looks like we have 2 hens and one rooster. We lost one of our other roosters so this rooster is very much wanted. We have 2 Barred Rock Leghorn crosses and one Barred Rock ?- it came out of a brown egg . The Barred Rock Leghorn crosses are beautiful.