Sitting with a cup of coffee. (coffee lovers)

[Alaskan]

Blach


Day not great... Not really bad...... Whatever.

 

[pennyJo1960]

ok up let chickens out pottied dogs first
cup of coffee quite cool outside

 

[chickisoup]

HELP!!! My chickens have EXPLODED!!!!

I have never had my girls molt like this before!!!! It literally looks like one of them blew up under the roost bar. They all pretty much stopped laying weeks ago and I'm going?????? Then all at once, POOF! Mz Dumpling (my last sex-link) feathers everywhere, then POW! Literally over night (no kidding) Black Aussie feathers cover my coop from the rest of them. My Aussie Ms Nugget has zero tail feathers, big bare patches on her neck and sides and her butt fluff is pitiful. The poor girl looks like she's been attacked by a weed whacker

The other ones don't look a whole lot better. We've been having days of cold rain with some wicked wind gusts so no body will come out of the coop or enclosed area/greenhouse. That is except my two Wyandotte teenagers who are bouncing around the grassy area of the run like "whoopee! We have the place all to ourselves!" (The wind/rain is even keeping them mostly in the smaller run area even tho they have access to the big yard).

Anyone else having an unusually hard molt this year?

 

[pennyJo1960]

not much out of ordinary but you just had them go all out to molt is what it sounds
like

 

[chickisoup]

not much out of ordinary but you just had them go all out to molt is what it sounds
like

yeah, just wondering why this year? Not had it happen quite like this before. For weeks it was---a feather here a feather there- oh great, they're going to be molting for months, then, BOOM!!! Looks like they had a slumber party and somebody lost a pillow fight on the roost!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Thats about the size of it how old are your chickens the 5 of mine that did are
right about 16 months

 

[chickisoup]

Thats about the size of it how old are your chickens the 5 of mine that did are
right about 16 months

Two are from this spring, the Aussies are 2 1/2 and my sex-link is 3 1/2

 

[chickisoup]

 

[Alaskan]

What penny said..... In regards to molt.



I hate the hard molts like that... Makes them look so ugly.... But supposedly lots of people say it is great because they are finished with the entire thing faster.


Hard molt verses a more gradual thing..... Mostly genetic, but weather factors ect. Can make them do an explosive hard molt.

 

[chickisoup]

What penny said..... In regards to molt.



I hate the hard molts like that... Makes them look so ugly.... But supposedly lots of people say it is great because they are finished with the entire thing faster.


Hard molt verses a more gradual thing..... Mostly genetic, but weather factors ect. Can make them do an explosive hard molt.

We had the weather do a sudden temp drop and stay there from truly unseasonably warm sustained temps so that makes sense. Now my poor unacclimated naked birds are hiding

Like I described this was a verrry slow molt that suddenly turned into a VERY fast molt! I just hope they re-feather fast. You know what we have coming very soon, DH is already asking if we should turn on the furnace (I just toss him a chamois shirt when he asks

)