Oh how their temperaments change during molt

[sealer39]

I’d switch to a high protein feed if they were going through that hard of a molt.

 

[The_Flock]

@sealer39 thank you for your advice. They are all together, can the other younger chickens have the same feed?

 

[sealer39]

What are you feeding them now?

 

[The_Flock]

This is my crew this morning. Amelio the rooster is getting a cleaning from one of his girls, Ethel. The original girls are at the back. 3 golden laced wyandottes (Dottie, Blanche and Rose), 1 black olive Egger (Cosmo), 1 grey copper maran (Georgie), in between them is a black and white cochin (Grace) and the white necked, brown bodied Ameraucana (Lucy) who's wandering around. Thelma is the bully and she seems pretty good in jail.

 

[The_Flock]

What are you feeding them now?

I feed them a layer pellet. I can't remember the brand right now. I really want to do fermented feed but I'm not sure how to do it here in a very cold part of Canada.

 

[sealer39]

You can switch them to a Flock Raiser or All Flock till they finish molting. It won’t hurt the younger chickens. A typical layer feed has 16% protein and Flock Raiser has 20%.

 

[The_Flock]

Thank you @sealer39, is that available in Canada. Are you talking about a juvenile feed?

 

[sealer39]

Flock Raiser is Purina and All Flock is Dumor. I don’t know if those brands are available to you. They are an all purpose feed if you have a variety to birds. Anything with a higher protein content should help.

 

[The_Flock]

Flock Raiser is Purina and All Flock is Dumor. I don’t know if those brands are available to you. They are an all purpose feed if you have a variety to birds. Anything with a higher protein content should help.

Perfect. Thank you.

 

[Shadrach]

The problem with molt, although a temporary state, is that it does cause loss of appetite, and that can cause weakness, which can cause a chicken to be withdrawn, and that can cause stronger chickens to bully them away from the feeders, causing a loop of woeful consequences.

You need to identify the chickens that are suffering in this manner and feed them high quality protein to restore their energy levels or they can continue to decline emotionally and physically.

Hardly anyone points out these risks inherent in molt.

I've come to a different conclusion here. The hens that have a heavy moult just won't eat the commercial feed, even if you try feeding them separately. Other foodstuffs not a problem. I've fed them cooked pork, fish and walnuts.....
What I see is the moulting hens foraging for particular things. There is a very small bug they look for. I don't know what it is. They also get very interested in particular grass roots.
They will take a certain amount of commercial feed; it's about one tenth of their normal intake.
I've checked lots over the years when they go to roost and their crops are full. So, they are apparently eating and enough to fill their crops. This doesn't suggest a loss of appetite to me.
My belief is it's not a loss of appetite, it's a change of diet.
I have tried to identify what it is they are looking for. There are areas that the hens having a heavy moult prefer to forage in. Some of these areas are quite high risk regarding predators but the hens take that risk to find what they seem to believe they need.
I think Rebrarscora who used to post here observed a similar behaviour. Most of the men at the chicken club here concur.