SuperC
Chirping
So my flock of 4 henhouse princesses just finished their first fall molt (they will be 2 on March 5th). I have noticed that while growing out the tail feathers and neck feathers, that 3 of the 4 seem to have stress bars on the tail and neck sections. Nothing extreme, but they are sort of ridged feeling and not as smooth as the first set was. I can’t figure out what’s causing it!!
All my reading points to “health issues” or behavior issues (stress, etc). But for heath, they are all super healthy and have a good diet. Main food is Kalmbach organic non gmo layer crumbles (they hate pellets!). Secondary food bowl has Kalmbach henhouse reserve (but they don’t eat the pellets, just the dried peas and seeds and stuff, so I don’t give much of that so they are forced to focus on the crumbles and not fill up on the “extras”. Every morning they get a warm breakfast of moistened Kalmbach crumbles and a “protien mix in” of usually 2 scrambled eggs, or 2 oz of shredded chicken or pork depending on what we made for dinner the night before. In the afternoons they are offered some greens for enrichment and fresh snacking (usually a small handful of homegrown organic parsley or cilantro or something similar and egg supportive based on what the garden still has alive in the cold- oregano, thyme etc). When it’s cold like now, they get a handful of organic scratch grains and sunflower seeds tossed around the coop to find/hunt and before bed I share a few tablespoons of dried old fashioned oats to lure them to the coop for bedtime and keep them warmer at night. They hate dried corn so oats it is. But I’d say 90% of what they consume in the day is Kalmbach organic gmo free crumble feed (before someone says o feed them too much other stuff; 90% of the overall diet is normal layer food, the extra is a lot of variety not a lot of volume!)Sometimes I offer mealworms as a treat instead of the sunflower seeds, but again, only a few tablespoons scattered to encourage foraging. They have shiny feathers, clear bright eyes, never sneeze or wheeze and are happy, cheerful and cuddly (I have lap chickens in the extreme and they spend every moment in out here jockeying for lap space to cuddle, preeen on me (or preen ME) or sleep on me. Vents, necks and underwings are all clean and bug free, and the coop floor is dusted with food grade DE under the hemp chips and I’ve never had any bug issues. Droppings are normal and healthy looking and everything seems as it should. Grit and calcium is free feed from a dish.
Stress wise, they are fully enclosed in a safe run and coop (we live in a hawk/owl/eagle/predator heavy wooded area so they don’t get to free range). They have assorted roosts and toys that I move around every few days for Enrichment and to keep them interested (they love a fresh scratch spot and love when the run roost spots get moved around) and I spend 1-2 hours a day with them (usually spent in 1-3 visits a day, so they gets lots of love and cuddles and attention too). They share about 100sf of run space and 16-20 feet of coop floor space (& have 2 nesting boxes to use and 4 feet of roosting bar space for nighttime but one - the large alpha- prefers the floor to sleep on anyway), so they are not crowded. No fighting ever or pecking or feather pulling. There is a pecking order of course, but it’s a VERY gentle one(except during molting when hormones were flaring a bit, but the ones who have the stress lines were normal).my Head hen is a calm, benevolent ruler and the beta is the same. Lady #3 is the one without any stress bars, and #4 is the most “pushed around” but has the least bars of the 3 that have them. They are well loved, seem super happy and had an easy molt all things considered. So I have a hard time believing it is behavioral or stress related as well.
The run is currently wrapped in plastic for the winter and on average the days are 45-60f in the coop and mostly breeze less thanks to the plastic (& the nights are about 18-30 in the coop thanks to the same set up, but there is ventilation at the top (& again, all signs of perfect health). We have all kinds of wildlife around here but they are in a Fort Knox of a coop and we never have anything approach the run, so they live a safe and happy life full of love, attention and cuddles.
So what did I do wrong to cause the damage to the feathers during growth and development? Due to winter/molt, we only have 1 laying right now (such a trouper!) and she lays a perfect 2.3 egg every other morning. Strong shell, perfect bloom amounts, no inclusions of calcium deposits or meat spots in the eggs (& yes, she has the lines on her tail and neck).
What did I do? How can I help if it’s nutrition? Everyone I know says I have the happiest and most affectionate and pretty birds, with shiny feathers and “oil sheen rainbows” on the darker ones. Combs are healthy and all seems fine.. so what did I do and what can I do to prevent it in future?
I do occasionally put rooster booster in one of the water jugs, but it’s been awhile, and I have treated 2 bumblefoot in the past, but those were almost healing themselves and we’ve had no issues since. So I have a hard time figuring out how to fix things for next time! And if it was in the DNA, you would think they would have had them before when they first feathered out, but they didn’t, it was just this first molt they it showed up. The ONLY thing I can think of, is that I “helped them” preen when they were covered in pin feathers. I would gently pick at them and help them open the kerritin shaft, but never all at once and never before they were ready. They LOVE me helping them on the necks and back of the buns and tail and on the head. I have had parakeets and parrotlets since I was a teen so I know when a pin feather is ready and when it isn’t and I always was gentle and stoped if it didn’t shatter off at the lightest touch. But did I maybe cause the damage? But I also preened all 4 of them and only 3 have the issue (to various degrees and the one I preened the least has it the worst and the one I preened the most has it the least…But I wanted to throw that out there just in case. I want to do right by my babies!
All my reading points to “health issues” or behavior issues (stress, etc). But for heath, they are all super healthy and have a good diet. Main food is Kalmbach organic non gmo layer crumbles (they hate pellets!). Secondary food bowl has Kalmbach henhouse reserve (but they don’t eat the pellets, just the dried peas and seeds and stuff, so I don’t give much of that so they are forced to focus on the crumbles and not fill up on the “extras”. Every morning they get a warm breakfast of moistened Kalmbach crumbles and a “protien mix in” of usually 2 scrambled eggs, or 2 oz of shredded chicken or pork depending on what we made for dinner the night before. In the afternoons they are offered some greens for enrichment and fresh snacking (usually a small handful of homegrown organic parsley or cilantro or something similar and egg supportive based on what the garden still has alive in the cold- oregano, thyme etc). When it’s cold like now, they get a handful of organic scratch grains and sunflower seeds tossed around the coop to find/hunt and before bed I share a few tablespoons of dried old fashioned oats to lure them to the coop for bedtime and keep them warmer at night. They hate dried corn so oats it is. But I’d say 90% of what they consume in the day is Kalmbach organic gmo free crumble feed (before someone says o feed them too much other stuff; 90% of the overall diet is normal layer food, the extra is a lot of variety not a lot of volume!)Sometimes I offer mealworms as a treat instead of the sunflower seeds, but again, only a few tablespoons scattered to encourage foraging. They have shiny feathers, clear bright eyes, never sneeze or wheeze and are happy, cheerful and cuddly (I have lap chickens in the extreme and they spend every moment in out here jockeying for lap space to cuddle, preeen on me (or preen ME) or sleep on me. Vents, necks and underwings are all clean and bug free, and the coop floor is dusted with food grade DE under the hemp chips and I’ve never had any bug issues. Droppings are normal and healthy looking and everything seems as it should. Grit and calcium is free feed from a dish.
Stress wise, they are fully enclosed in a safe run and coop (we live in a hawk/owl/eagle/predator heavy wooded area so they don’t get to free range). They have assorted roosts and toys that I move around every few days for Enrichment and to keep them interested (they love a fresh scratch spot and love when the run roost spots get moved around) and I spend 1-2 hours a day with them (usually spent in 1-3 visits a day, so they gets lots of love and cuddles and attention too). They share about 100sf of run space and 16-20 feet of coop floor space (& have 2 nesting boxes to use and 4 feet of roosting bar space for nighttime but one - the large alpha- prefers the floor to sleep on anyway), so they are not crowded. No fighting ever or pecking or feather pulling. There is a pecking order of course, but it’s a VERY gentle one(except during molting when hormones were flaring a bit, but the ones who have the stress lines were normal).my Head hen is a calm, benevolent ruler and the beta is the same. Lady #3 is the one without any stress bars, and #4 is the most “pushed around” but has the least bars of the 3 that have them. They are well loved, seem super happy and had an easy molt all things considered. So I have a hard time believing it is behavioral or stress related as well.
The run is currently wrapped in plastic for the winter and on average the days are 45-60f in the coop and mostly breeze less thanks to the plastic (& the nights are about 18-30 in the coop thanks to the same set up, but there is ventilation at the top (& again, all signs of perfect health). We have all kinds of wildlife around here but they are in a Fort Knox of a coop and we never have anything approach the run, so they live a safe and happy life full of love, attention and cuddles.
So what did I do wrong to cause the damage to the feathers during growth and development? Due to winter/molt, we only have 1 laying right now (such a trouper!) and she lays a perfect 2.3 egg every other morning. Strong shell, perfect bloom amounts, no inclusions of calcium deposits or meat spots in the eggs (& yes, she has the lines on her tail and neck).
What did I do? How can I help if it’s nutrition? Everyone I know says I have the happiest and most affectionate and pretty birds, with shiny feathers and “oil sheen rainbows” on the darker ones. Combs are healthy and all seems fine.. so what did I do and what can I do to prevent it in future?
I do occasionally put rooster booster in one of the water jugs, but it’s been awhile, and I have treated 2 bumblefoot in the past, but those were almost healing themselves and we’ve had no issues since. So I have a hard time figuring out how to fix things for next time! And if it was in the DNA, you would think they would have had them before when they first feathered out, but they didn’t, it was just this first molt they it showed up. The ONLY thing I can think of, is that I “helped them” preen when they were covered in pin feathers. I would gently pick at them and help them open the kerritin shaft, but never all at once and never before they were ready. They LOVE me helping them on the necks and back of the buns and tail and on the head. I have had parakeets and parrotlets since I was a teen so I know when a pin feather is ready and when it isn’t and I always was gentle and stoped if it didn’t shatter off at the lightest touch. But did I maybe cause the damage? But I also preened all 4 of them and only 3 have the issue (to various degrees and the one I preened the least has it the worst and the one I preened the most has it the least…But I wanted to throw that out there just in case. I want to do right by my babies!
