4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Space Chick]

Whilst my 3 beautiful girls have integrated perfectly, have become interested, inquisitive and affectionate girls, they have still not re-feathered as much as I would have hoped yet.

 

Certainly, the feathers on their wings are starting to come through, but they still have bald patches near their crops and underneath towards their vents and they still have some broken quills. They have been with me since late August.

 

I give them ex batt pellets (mixed with some mash aswell, they are on 80% pellets/20% mash now), they have lifeguard in their water, and lots of mealworms for protein.

 

I am confident that they are not getting feather pecked.

 

They are laying well, too well really, I wish they would take a break. Polly is laying an average of 5.8 eggs per week, Barbara is 5.4 eggs per week and Ace an astonishing 6.3 eggs per week and hasn't had a day off since 7th October

 

They are happy and healthy girls, who get plenty of free-ranging time too, and love to forage for additional worms.

 

Is there anything more I can do to help them re-feather? I was hoping that they would be fully feathered for the winter.

 

Having seen photos of other ex batts a month or so on which look in better shape feather wise, I am worried that could be doing more.

[veggiemad]

we've had our ex batts since 30th august. one came to us almost fully feathered anyway. One was ready for the oven and has feathered beautifully, the othe, had bald wings, vent, bottom and underneath - she started to grow feathers but now is moulting so is still bald on her behind and vent etc. She isnt laying , but has given us a couple of softies the lastfew days.

 

All laid well at first but now only the best feathered lays, not sure if its the feather situation or the winter drawing in (my first winter with hens).

 

It sounds like you could be doing no more- just the same as us , and we still have a bald girl.

 

They are fun though arent they!! - jealous of your egg count mind you

xx

[Sarahsausage]

I had one of my ex-batts, Rita, for a year before she passed away and her feathers never really improved in all that time but the other two look gorgeous now. Rita had quite a few broken quills that never fell out to be replaced with fresh feathers so she looked like a scruffbag all the time I had her, bless her heart. Think you'll just have to be patient with the feathers, sounds like they're happy and healthy girls which is the main thing!

[Rhapsody]

I gave mine the odd can of tuna and they feathered up well dont know if that might help.

[The Dogmother]

Debs, it sounds as if you're doing well for them, just up the amount of protein they're getting as Rhapsody suggests. They tend to slow down on all fronts at this time of year, so just keep at that excellent routine and they'll grow the feathers back in time.

 

It's a hard time of the year for new rescues which aren't used to the cold, but they acclimatise very quickly, and chooks have a higher body temp than ours (c105deg) so you needn't worry about them being cold.

[Space Chick]

Thanks all, I had thought about a tin of tuna in spring water, its just keeping the other 9 lunatics away from it (although Rose has started to moult, so I may let her share)

[EmmaJC]

I wouldn't worry terribly, I've had mine for nearly 3 months now and whilst they are well feathered they're still right skinny things, despite being the greediest creatures known to man. They consumed an entire pumpkin in 2 days!

 

They did, and still do eat an astonishing amount of grit.

 

- Nigella, ex-batt

- Clarissa, ex-batt

- Jennifer, ex-batt

[The Dogmother]

They did, and still do eat an astonishing amount of grit.

 

They're probably replacing their calcium reserves, which will have been depleted with all the intensive laying. Try adding a bit of limestone flour and a dob of cod liver oil to their feed.

[Jools]

Also don't forget that while they're laying, they're using up a lot of their resources on egg production. They should slow up soon enough (as they're recent rescues and the time of year) and then hopefully they can concentrate on themselves for a while!

[Lydia]

You sound like you're doing everything right and it's just one of those things.

 

Trilby has still got no proper knickers on despite being out of the cage since September 2008. Only in the last couple of months has she grown more than 2 tail feathers. She's otherwise healthy and perky though.

 

Her mates all feathered up nicely quite quickly but our Trilby is taking her time.

[beulah59]

I've been told that with ex-batts it's feathers or eggs but not both ...

 

Certainly after two months mine have some new feathers, but not a lot, and we've had plenty of eggs, an average of 3.5 a day from 4 hens