Moulting in poultry
1) How do you tell if they are molting or infested with parasites?
Moulting tends to occur around 16 to 18 weeks in youngsters, so that’s a fairly obvious time to look for feather lose.
The next big moult is around a yr and a half old. One can also expect moulting to happen after being broody.
As for telling if it is parasites, a close inspection of the bird will show parasites like lice and mites. Feathers with lice will also become matted with egg masses. A purchase of some POL pullets last summer introduced me to lice! It was easy enough to spot them crawling on the belly, under the wings and around the vent. Poor wee ladies were so loaded with lice I could cry.
But a treatment of equine insect spray did a lovely job of getting rid of them. Repeat in 2 weeks to catch any unhatched eggs.
I didn’t notice a huge feather lose with the lice as I would see with moulting though.
Mites can be a bit harder to spot, and as I have never seen them myself I can only suggest checking online for info.
2)Feed supplementation - do you change their diet in any way?
I do not change my feed for moulting as a rule, if I have a bird that is really struggling with discomfort and not eating then I make sure to offer them tasty things like roast beef, boiled and scrambled eggs, and any other high energy foods.
For general discomfort I also give infant liquid Tylenol - I found this year that giving the Tylenol helped with the moulting birds appetite; much like giving a teething baby Tylenol to help with discomfort. My old rooster has been rather grumpy and unhappy during his moult, a couple doses of pain meds helped him along.
3)What do you do to prepare for emergencies during molting?
If I need to handle a moulting bird I always use a towel to wrap them in, especially those birds that love to go bald and throw out a whole body of pin feathers.
One of the things I do is make sure all my birds is used to being handled, I will pick them up randomly, and give them a good groping - making sure to check vents, and under wings. If the bird is used to being handled they won’t struggle so much when they do moult.
If a pin feather breaks it will bleed profusely, as I found with my rotten young hens over grooming my poor old rooster. They broke the feathers in his topknot that was growing out causing him to bleed copious amounts. Let me tell you, when you walk in the barn and your white rooster covered in blood you tend to freak out!
If you can find the broken feather, try to pluck it out so it stops bleeding.
Happy moulting everyone!
1) How do you tell if they are molting or infested with parasites?
Moulting tends to occur around 16 to 18 weeks in youngsters, so that’s a fairly obvious time to look for feather lose.
The next big moult is around a yr and a half old. One can also expect moulting to happen after being broody.
As for telling if it is parasites, a close inspection of the bird will show parasites like lice and mites. Feathers with lice will also become matted with egg masses. A purchase of some POL pullets last summer introduced me to lice! It was easy enough to spot them crawling on the belly, under the wings and around the vent. Poor wee ladies were so loaded with lice I could cry.
But a treatment of equine insect spray did a lovely job of getting rid of them. Repeat in 2 weeks to catch any unhatched eggs.
I didn’t notice a huge feather lose with the lice as I would see with moulting though.
Mites can be a bit harder to spot, and as I have never seen them myself I can only suggest checking online for info.
2)Feed supplementation - do you change their diet in any way?
I do not change my feed for moulting as a rule, if I have a bird that is really struggling with discomfort and not eating then I make sure to offer them tasty things like roast beef, boiled and scrambled eggs, and any other high energy foods.
For general discomfort I also give infant liquid Tylenol - I found this year that giving the Tylenol helped with the moulting birds appetite; much like giving a teething baby Tylenol to help with discomfort. My old rooster has been rather grumpy and unhappy during his moult, a couple doses of pain meds helped him along.
3)What do you do to prepare for emergencies during molting?
If I need to handle a moulting bird I always use a towel to wrap them in, especially those birds that love to go bald and throw out a whole body of pin feathers.
One of the things I do is make sure all my birds is used to being handled, I will pick them up randomly, and give them a good groping - making sure to check vents, and under wings. If the bird is used to being handled they won’t struggle so much when they do moult.
If a pin feather breaks it will bleed profusely, as I found with my rotten young hens over grooming my poor old rooster. They broke the feathers in his topknot that was growing out causing him to bleed copious amounts. Let me tell you, when you walk in the barn and your white rooster covered in blood you tend to freak out!
If you can find the broken feather, try to pluck it out so it stops bleeding.
Happy moulting everyone!
Poor Mr P was aggressively groomed and picked by my young hens, and once those pin feathers break they bleed like crazy.
Next day after it dried up and he had a dust bath he looked a bit less traumatic
Crazy hens!
Next day after it dried up and he had a dust bath he looked a bit less traumatic
Crazy hens!
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