A few weeks ago I posted a problem with my 7 month old golden comet: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1143566/eggbound-or-something-else
Long story short... she went from laying normally to abnormal laying; like dropping an unshelled egg during the night, laying just the albumin, then laying something that looked like a lash egg (but was yolk inside), and at that point she quit moving, eating, and drinking. I brought her in the house and nursed her back to health in a few days, though she has not laid an egg since. It is like her entire hormonal system shut down. Not laying, no nesting behavior, she even quit squatting for me. Otherwise acting normal.
Yesterday I noticed some of her feathers laying around the run. This morning I found a lot more on the floor of the chicken coop. Then I realized... this hormonal problem must be triggering a molt at THE WORST TIME POSSIBLE!! The coldest air of the season is moving in mid week. We're talking daily highs around 7 and nights at -2! My first instinct is to move her inside, but I've read you should not stress them during a molt. That surely would, on top of extreme temp changes bringing her in and then when I have to put her back out. How should I handle this? Keep her locked up in the coop on the coldest days? Bring her in? Just wait and see how badly she molts? This is my first flock and my first molt. I wasn't expecting to go through this until next fall! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Long story short... she went from laying normally to abnormal laying; like dropping an unshelled egg during the night, laying just the albumin, then laying something that looked like a lash egg (but was yolk inside), and at that point she quit moving, eating, and drinking. I brought her in the house and nursed her back to health in a few days, though she has not laid an egg since. It is like her entire hormonal system shut down. Not laying, no nesting behavior, she even quit squatting for me. Otherwise acting normal.
Yesterday I noticed some of her feathers laying around the run. This morning I found a lot more on the floor of the chicken coop. Then I realized... this hormonal problem must be triggering a molt at THE WORST TIME POSSIBLE!! The coldest air of the season is moving in mid week. We're talking daily highs around 7 and nights at -2! My first instinct is to move her inside, but I've read you should not stress them during a molt. That surely would, on top of extreme temp changes bringing her in and then when I have to put her back out. How should I handle this? Keep her locked up in the coop on the coldest days? Bring her in? Just wait and see how badly she molts? This is my first flock and my first molt. I wasn't expecting to go through this until next fall! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
