My dumb chickens

[BGcoop]

6+ inches of snow tonight followed by sub zero temps and my girls have decided that NOW is the perfect time to molt. (oh and also I am in need of deworming but the dewormer says not to give during a molt as it can interfere with feather production!)

And this doofus: she has literally no feathers left under her wings or on her butt!

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Pretty birds, even if they're molting! Are you using fenbendazole? I dewormed mine a few months ago with it and noticed the same warning. You mentioning it made me look it up and it was difficult to find solid info, but I did find this old thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/safeguard-and-feather-damage-while-molting.926738/

It's a long thread, and I spent too much time reading through it But the consensus seems to be that nobody has had trouble with feathers when deworming during a molt. So I wonder if it's actually that big of a concern. I would be more worried about the worms if my hens had an active infestation.

 

[Cloverfluff]

Same here, my last molting hen hasn't grown her head feathers back in yet. She may need a cap

 

[BGcoop]

Pretty birds, even if they're molting! Are you using fenbendazole? I dewormed mine a few months ago with it and noticed the same warning. You mentioning it made me look it up and it was difficult to find solid info, but I did find this old thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/safeguard-and-feather-damage-while-molting.926738/

It's a long thread, and I spent too much time reading through it But the consensus seems to be that nobody has had trouble with feathers when deworming during a molt. So I wonder if it's actually that big of a concern. I would be more worried about the worms if my hens had an active infestation.

I want to do a full flock deworming with safeguard aquasol as I had one hen looking pretty thin and lethargic and just a bit of questionable poop here and there, I do not see massive active worm activity in the whole flock so I am going to wait on the full flock deworming for a couple weeks till we get a few more feathers at least, just in case. The one lethargic bird was given dewormer paste for the last 3 days and seems to be doing much better already- so a second round in two weeks for her would be beneficial, and if one has them there are bound to be others with them. Nasty buggers.