Sluggish after molting?

[Fallenone05]

My hen turned a year old around Thanksgiving and molted, hard. She dropped a lot of feathers, stopped eating as much and just wasn't her usual, top of the pecking order (she Queen Witch with a B if you know what I mean) self.

It's been almost a few weeks since she's grown all her feathers back in and she's still not quite as peppy as she was. She's eating, drinking and going out with the flock when they free range but she just seems so... Bleh.

I've had chickens molt before and they usually seemed to have pepped up once their feathers were back.

Do y'all think I should be concerned or do you think she's still recovering from molting?

 

[aart]

She's eating, drinking and going out with the flock when they free range but she just seems so

Even tho she may look like she's done molting, she may still be working on it.
Some tolerate the molt and recover faster than others.

Have you checked her over for bugs?
Poops look OK?
What all and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[Fallenone05]

Wet or dry pox?
Dry pox doesn't really bother them much, a virus spread by mosquito's that heals up in a few weeks and leaves them immune to it.


When I have a bird that is acting 'off' I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

Sorry for the late reply! Holidays have been hectic already, and I hope you have a happy holiday, whatever you may celebrate!

Edit to add that she and the other flock members all had dry pox!

I checked her roosting spot and her poops under her spot were normal. Really dry because the temps dropped down to 27F and just dried them out to poopsicles but normal! Occasionally the wet, stinky cecal poop from my hens, including her.

I think she laid her first egg since molting today! It's the large one at the bottom of the image.

 

[Fallenone05]

so after making this post, I let everyone out to free-range today and she's her usual, weird but sassy self. She started laying again yesterday and laid again today, early this morning. She's talking her little sassy head off and bossing everyone around again.

I'm not sure what her little glitch was, but she seems over it now.

 

[Fallenone05]

Even tho she may look like she's done molting, she may still be working on it.
Some tolerate the molt and recover faster than others.

Have you checked her over for bugs?
Poops look OK?
What all and how exactly are you feeding?

This was her first-ever molt as well, so I'm wondering if it just side-swiped her.
Her poops are normal, I haven't checked her for bugs. She hasn't been itching or scratching herself except normal scratching and normal preening routines.

My flock gets Hearty Hen by Nutrena. I stood out in the coop with them for a while and watched her eat and drink, and she also ate some of the pellets out of my hand. Food access all day, every day (unless they run out while I'm at work and then it immediately gets filled up when I'm home) with oyster shells on the side that she also pecked at and nibbled on today.

Treats have been this http://www.naturalpeckingorder.com/content/5-grain-scratch-wboonworms and I estimate I feed about a cup between 8 birds? I give them about 5 handfuls to root around through when they free-range and forage.

 

[aart]

Hearty Hen by Nutrena.

18% protein?

Treats have been this http://www.naturalpeckingorder.com/content/5-grain-scratch-wboonworms and I estimate I feed about a cup between 8 birds? I give them about 5 handfuls to root around through when they free-range and forage.

A cup plus 5 handfuls...or do you figure that 5 handfuls is about a cup?

 

[Fallenone05]

18% protein?

A cup plus 5 handfuls...or do you figure that 5 handfuls is about a cup?

18% protein yes! and I'm figuring that my five handfuls is a cup!

I should also mention that she started molting in late September when the no-see-ums were terrible, and I had to fight off fowl pox. It's cleared up after extra cleaning in the coop and sanitizing, but I wonder if the fowl pox slowed her molt down or she's still recovering from both? My other hens that had it are full of energy and caught it around the same time she did.

 

[aart]

and I had to fight off fowl pox

Wet or dry pox?
Dry pox doesn't really bother them much, a virus spread by mosquito's that heals up in a few weeks and leaves them immune to it.


When I have a bird that is acting 'off' I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.