Never-ending Molt????

[TXchickenchick]

Nights and rain events can be stressful if bird half naked.

I have never had a bird fail to complete a molt so this is beyond my experience.

Mine happened last year so well before Texas turned into a rain forest! When she was going tbrough it we were having warm temps all through the night and were still in severe drought so not a drop of rain. I assumed it was just her before seeing this thread but this shows it really is something that can happen with at least some frequency.

 

[sab]

Quote: So here's the thing.... I sit and watch my 26 girls & 3 Peking ducks.... and what I see are nice fluffy healthy looking butt feathers.... They look like little feather dusters -- they are so perfectly feathered in the butt area. Can one be so infested and the others not? They pick at each others poop!

I am going to separate the one bird I have concern for and de-worm her. Because it won't hurt her to do so.... but in regard to stress - the action of separation might stress her more than any stress she has had to this point in her life. She was naked as a jay-bird this winter. And WV did have a tough winter. I put a heat lamp in the coop just for her since she was the one with the severest molt. She took advantage of the heat lamp and stayed in front of it day and night. And was the last to start getting her feathering back. It seems that by Nov. most all my flock is in a molt to the point that I have had to buy eggs for the holidays in the past. Then by Feb. they start ramping up to full speed. By March the girls are back in full production. (I keep egg laying records and I can tell you on what day the egg laying switch was turned on - they are that sensitive to the light cycle) Not this chick. She stayed stuck in her molt. I will be cooking her eggs everyday and I might even give her oatmeal with cayenne pepper to see if that will stimulate her in what ever way she needs stimulated to get out of her funk.

The statement made above about something stopping the process in mid point, is what I am curious about. Have others experienced that and what was the outcome??? The only correlation that is prominent is the very severe molt. This thread has been read by 81 people. And very few have experienced this or they simply chose not to respond. So.... has anyone had a chicken go through a really severe molt and the feathering process stopped in mid process and what was the outcome? I'm waiting for someone to tell me that one bird in 26 can be the canary in the mine -- the indicator of something unseen in all the others. Or that one bird in 26 can be wildly infected with worms while others go about with healthy guts.... Keep in mind, I never said she was declining through these last months. She is not declining. She molted. She began feathering. She stopped feathering. That's it.

 

[TXchickenchick]

But I did tell you that. That is, in fact, EXACTLY what I said happened to mine. She is now completely normal and doing great. She acted and appeared healthy throughout her entire ordeal except for her lack of feathers and no eggs.

 

[sab]

TXchickenchick -- yes you did. So you think it's more stress isolating her and de-worming her? I am sure I will increase protein giving them scrambled eggs in the AM and making sure she get's hers. Did your girl's feathers come in all the way and the egg laying started back up? Or just the egg laying? Old farmers will say cayenne pepper will bring them out of a molt faster. Don't know that's true. But wouldn't hurt to put cayenne pepper in the eggs. The chicks love it. The hotter the better.

 

[TXchickenchick]

Her feathers came back honestly the prettiest she has ever been. I realky think separating her would be too much stress, plus you would have the problem of re integrating her later. Mine took so long! It was over a year. Probably at least a year and a half. If she had actually been sick I would have separated her but she acted so normal. It's really confusing and I wish I had some idea of what caused it. I just know it finally ended well.

 

[sab]

Good for her! I will follow in your steps but watching her closely for any decline. I just took scraps out to them and she ran as fast as the best of them. No decline.... just no feathers and no eggs....

 

[TXchickenchick]

Yes, sounds exactly like what my girl went through. I sure hope yours goes the same. I know there has to be a reason. I am wondering if it is genetic. I don't feel like it can possibly be environmental since I have had hundreds of birds through the years and only had this happen to one.

 

[chickenychicken]

Hello again sorry to ask a question on your thread but does anyone know the answer to this question from another thread? Thanks!

"Okay folks so I hear that giving vitamin B complex is a lot better than the soluble multi vitamin/electrolytes. I have just purchase of durvet maxi-B 1000 but not quite sure how many CC/ML to give per bird. I was thinking of giving .5CC per bird since I have large fowl but thought I would check with everyone else's opinions."