The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

More pictures..she is showing them the food and water so I do not need to intervene. She is trying to get them out of the box..so by tomorrow they will probably be all over the place. Some hop out and in pretty easy..others are just chicken...ha ha

I had the food and water just outside their nest box and mom took them right out there. Then...she never went back to the box. Just settled in a corner and has been in a corner ever since. I just ended up taking the nest box out.

Now...in all my "infinite wisdom"

I thought they'd be much warmer in the box because the body heat would be captured. So...the first night - the night that I put in the additional babies - I put her back in the nest box with the one that hatched and put the other 3 under.

First thing next morning - out of the box to show them the food and water and never went back.

I was really hoping they'd stay in the "boxed area" for the insulation but.... mom had a different idea. I even asked STONEY

and he said that's what they do ... and he was right.

 

[chickiemomy]

Even though I'm behind I want to pose a question for discussion.

About Moulting
My oldest girls will be a year on March 25, so still technically pullets. I have read that pullets don't moult during their first year.

-It appears to me that every bird has moulted except for the 2 RIRs - and most of them just started at the beginning of January. Is that odd?
-Why in the heck would a bird moult in winter or even late fall? Seems counterintuitive...like they should drop feathers when its warm and keep them when its cold?

-One of the BRs has a strange "crop circle" on the back center of her neck. It looks like a circle of feathers about the size of a 50 cent piece was just gone and now it's full of new quills that haven't opened yet. I can only see it if she fully extends her neck. She's also scruffy other places, with loose feathers, but not like the "crop circle". Anyone seen anything like that?

I'm very behind, so this may have already been answered - but in case it hasn't --

Re: moulting in pullets - I am new to chickens, and was also concerned & wondered about all the feather loss in the first year - I had understood they moult in their second late summer-fall - or about 18 months. thought I had feather pickers, or bad nutrition or ???

Turns out chicks actually molt 4 times in their first 6 months -- not as dramatic as the full molt they have at 18 months of age - but they molt nonetheless. my brother found this article -- http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/27_2709.htm keep in mind that this is written for AUSTRALIA - so you need to add 6 months to their calendar. took me, can't tell you how long to figure that out -- ahh to have a brain again!

at any rate - don't know if this makes sense to your situation - but it answered many of my questions, so thought I'd pass it along.

 

[rambunctious]

Alright. I'm starting to get concerned. They're all huddled up together under the light. Not many peeping at all. I lowered the light a bit. Temp says 90.

 

[delisha]

Alright. I'm starting to get concerned. They're all huddled up together under the light. Not many peeping at all. I lowered the light a bit. Temp says 90.

The high and low adjustments is going to take them a while. 90 before or after lowering the light?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm very behind, so this may have already been answered - but in case it hasn't --

Re: moulting in pullets - I am new to chickens, and was also concerned & wondered about all the feather loss in the first year - I had understood they moult in their second late summer-fall - or about 18 months. thought I had feather pickers, or bad nutrition or ???

Turns out chicks actually molt 4 times in their first 6 months -- not as dramatic as the full molt they have at 18 months of age - but they molt nonetheless. my brother found this article -- http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/27_2709.htm keep in mind that this is written for AUSTRALIA - so you need to add 6 months to their calendar. took me, can't tell you how long to figure that out -- ahh to have a brain again!

at any rate - don't know if this makes sense to your situation - but it answered many of my questions, so thought I'd pass it along.

Thanks...these 2 BRs are definitely molting and look like total scruff buckets in this cold weather.

ETA: They'll be 1 year old March 25

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Is your thermometer on the floor where the chicks are standing?

 

[delisha]

Quote: Depending on when pullets are hatched out during the year..they will in fact molt during there first year. Time of hatch will determine.

 

[delisha]

they can get away from the heat so lowering it is OK. you have a nice set up for them. Just don't cover them.

 

[rambunctious]

Temp says 100. The thermometer is almost under the lamp directly. A few almost look like they're standing there falling asleep. It's like a few of them will stand and sway then 'catch' themselves.

Thank you everyone so much for helping me with this!!

 

[aoxa]

Look what the kiddos learned to do! (Must be watching mom.) 5.5 Weeks








They have their own canning jar waterer on the other side of the hen house and I never showed them that there was water in these cup waterers.

And...I DID find a way to keep these from freezing in the winter!

I'm going to do a blog post on winter use of the cup waterers when I get some time.

Wow they grew a lot since you last posted pics of them!

Depending on when pullets are hatched out during the year..they will in fact molt during there first year. Time of hatch will determine.

A lot of my early hatched birds last year molted late this fall or early winter.