Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

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help4me said:
A silly question, but I keep changing the spelling as I have seen it both molting and moulting, so which is the correct spelling?
idunno.gif
Click to expand...
Either way. Both are accepted.

Molt is the preferred American spelling, and moult is outside of North America....so American vs. European.

Lady of McCamley
 
Lady of McCamley said:
You should see a difference in the pattern of feather loss.

Molting begins at the head, then neck, then breast then body then wings then tail.
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_feathers.html

Over-mated hens typically show baldness on their back from the male treading and often a bald spot at the back of the head where the rooster has grabbed hold...however it stays in that pattern and does not progress through the stages of a molt, ie primary wing feathers.

Lady of McCamley
Click to expand...

Wow, thank you so very much for both posts, it was very helpful and kind. So today on further inspection it is very clear that they both are losing their feathers. Today when sometimes as they walk feathers just fall off of them., Ricky is losing some around his legs, and then low and behold I noticed that he really only as two or three real long tail feathers left. Feathers in the coop, feathers blowing in the wind today. I notice on Collette that she has pin feathers on her head, and losing more in different parts of her body today. So, either they have mites (can chickens get fleas?) or they are stressed, (seems very unlikely,) or I messed them up by changing their food (husband bought different kind,) or they are molting in the wrong season. I don't know about them, but I know this weather surely feels like late fall.
sad.png
Even this winter Collette went broody in the dead of winter when we had a warm spell. I am trying to remember what month it was, I remember talking to my dad about it and he said sometimes when the weather changes so fast like that it throws them off. So far she is still laying and they both are acting normal. I hate to dust them for something they may not have, but I will have to figure out how to check them for mites. I am a rookie they are both very friendly, but once they got to be late teenagers the way we cooped them (before we became brave to let them free range) we could not handle them, now they free range all day long, but I think I would want to have Ricky in the coop while I try to check Collette. Just to be on the safe side, as I am sure she might be a little frazzled by my trying to hold her and check her over they really are like two peas in a pod, he is always watching out for her (she is very brave and is the first to try something for the first time or inspect something new.) Oh, if only a real chicken whisperer could come over.
smile.png
O.K. they are huge birds and I am the chicken.
lau.gif
 
Last edited:
Hello all, just gave my broody hen her 12 eggs shes been waiting for. She's been broody since january ish
th.gif
and after months of trying to get her to snap out of it (weather finally got above 0)I finally decided to just take the risk and give her some shipped eggs after months of trying other alternatives.

The first being to give her some chicks I had just hatched, she wouldn't have that (drug them out from under her and pecked at them.) This was after I had tried moving her though, and she hadn't really bonded with the new spot I guess.

The second being to try and collect enough of my call duck eggs, but I just couldn't get more than two.

Then I tried to get her to stop again, for two weeks, still wont stop.
he.gif


And now I'm on the final method that so far has been working with her golf balls, which is to leave her in her nest box of choice and just have a piece of wire stapled across the front (suggested by someone on byc, cant remember who) and let her out in the morning and the evening. She's always nice and content sitting in there and will USUALLY come out both morning and evening, sometimes have to bring her out but she always returns to her nest now (she used to always pick a random nest). I guess she knows that hers is the one with the wire curtain?
lau.gif
(personally I think she likes that the others cant bother her, something they love doing.

Really hope she pulls through with these little guys, as she so desperately wants to just be a mommy!
 
elsfieldchickens said:
Chicks and their mums going for a walk

Click to expand...

How absolutely adorable. I so hope to see that someday. My daughter is so desperate to see Collette be a mommy to her own chicks that she broods herself. (Meanwhile, I have to admit I enjoy the mini Brinsea so I can witness the whole process), we go in lock down later today with just 4 eggs from Collette. This is only the second time ever for us as Collette, Ricky and Rocky were what the Brinsea hatched last year. Time sure does fly.
 
help4me said:
Wow, thank you so very much for both posts, it was very helpful and kind. So today on further inspection it is very clear that they both are losing their feathers. Today when sometimes as they walk feathers just fall off of them., Ricky is losing some around his legs, and then low and behold I noticed that he really only as two or three real long tail feathers left. Feathers in the coop, feathers blowing in the wind today. I notice on Collette that she has pin feathers on her head, and losing more in different parts of her body today. So, either they have mites (can chickens get fleas?) or they are stressed, (seems very unlikely,) or I messed them up by changing their food (husband bought different kind,) or they are molting in the wrong season. I don't know about them, but I know this weather surely feels like late fall.
sad.png
Even this winter Collette went broody in the dead of winter when we had a warm spell. I am trying to remember what month it was, I remember talking to my dad about it and he said sometimes when the weather changes so fast like that it throws them off. So far she is still laying and they both are acting normal. I hate to dust them for something they may not have, but I will have to figure out how to check them for mites. I am a rookie they are both very friendly, but once they got to be late teenagers the way we cooped them (before we became brave to let them free range) we could not handle them, now they free range all day long, but I think I would want to have Ricky in the coop while I try to check Collette. Just to be on the safe side, as I am sure she might be a little frazzled by my trying to hold her and check her over they really are like two peas in a pod, he is always watching out for her (she is very brave and is the first to try something for the first time or inspect something new.) Oh, if only a real chicken whisperer could come over.
smile.png
O.K. they are huge birds and I am the chicken.
lau.gif
Click to expand...
A strange weather shift can definitely bring on an odd molt. I experienced that this late summer/fall. (I think we went from sunny 90 to a cool 40's, or something like that...ALL the birds molted).

I'll post a good info article on how to check for mites and lice. No, chickens (to my knowledge) do not get fleas.

The best time to do anything with your birds if you need to handle them is at night when they roost. I choose just after twilight as they are very sleepy but there is still some light left. Often you can pick them right off the perches and they'll be very calm. (It has to be significantly dim light though...if you go out too early, they'll jump up to great you for the treat bucket.)

Lady of McCamley
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
 

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