Naked chicken in January

[CatWhisperer]

Had to bring one of our hens in this morning. She is a 1 1/2 year old Austrlorp in the middle of her first full molt. All our chickens molted late in the year. This one could hardly move this morning. Our coop is well insulated but has no supplemental heat. Don't know why the molt was so late. Any feed suggestions to get her thru this as fast as possible? Will she be ok to go back outside after a couple weeks in the house in January? How to prevent such a late molt next year? The chicks get no extra lighting either.

 

[Odelia]

You want to feed molting birds more protein. They need it for growing the new feathers. It is also a good idea to feed a higher protein feed in winter because they need the extra energy to keep warm.

 

[Dandelioness]

I had some girls molting in November, when we had some unexpected and pretty hard temperature drops. Five to ten below. We get teens below & twenties below zero here, but not usually that early so I was concerned they were not acclimated.

Of course those molters really had me worried. We do not heat either. But they were just fine, even leaving the coop for periods of time once they got used to the snow. I made sure to throw down some BOSS during their molting instead of scratch grains.

These girls were in the stage of molting where the middle feathers (picture a belt of pinfeathers) were showing skin. They were Marans and Easter eggers.

I wonder if bringing her in will make it harder on her later? As she will not be acclimated to the cold when you send her outside? What are the temps you are dealing with for the next week?

 

[CatWhisperer]

She goes back out tomorrow

 

[Dandelioness]

I'm glad she's gotten through the molting quickly.