Will hoey

[Minnie&Moose]

Hi,

 

Myrtle has suddenly started to moult. She's losing lots of feathers (she's white so the evidence is highly visible all over the chicken area!) and after only a couple of days of this is looking rather bald in the knickers dept She's been fine the last couple of days but today is looking miserable, hunched up in the eglu run all on her own, eyes half closed. She did come out for breakfast (a little tuna mixed in with layers pellet porridge) but has now retreated again. I checked her over at the weekend and she was bright eyed and healthy looking. I'm confident she's not being bullied (she's no. 3 of 5 and is by far the most assertive towards no.s 4 & 5: Nos.1 & 2 are confident and secure enough they don't seem to need to throw their weight about, and sort out s"Ooops, word censored!"s further down the hierarchy).

 

They're all due to be wormed within the next couple of weeks - should I bring this forward or wait until she's back to her normal bolshy self?

 

Reassurance and advice much appreciated - this is our first significant moult (the 2 older girls have taken the alternative approach of moulting little by little rather than this).

 

Thanks.

[abwsco]

I'd just keep a close eye on her and try to get lots of extra protein in her. She sounds like my Barney when she had a very heavy moult last year. She seemed to lose all of hers overnight and stood around looking very sorry for herself for a couple of days.

[Jools]

^^^^ what Anne says. Moulting is a tough time for them so they can look under the weather or miserable for a while. Just make sure she has plenty of shelter from the elements, maybe add some poultry tonic to her water or poultry spice to her food. Switching to breeders pellets helps (if you can get them) as they're higher in protein, otherwise a few mealworms will go down a treat. I'd wait until she's finished moulting before you worm her, you don't want to put her under any further stress.

 

And look forward to the nice new winter coat she'll be wearing in a couple of weeks.

[Minnie&Moose]

Many thanks abwsco & Jools - reassuring to know this isn't an unusual response to moulting. Poor Myrtle took herself off to sleep on her own tonight in the 'new' girls eglu, while the other 4 piled into the 'older' girls house - so I've popped Minnie in with her for warmth and company, since she and Minnie get on well.

[skye]

Hi Minnie & Moose

 

One of our chickens had a very severe moult a couple of weeks ago and she really did seem to go completely downhill as you describe. In fact she became so weak on her legs I brought her indoors and fed her up for a few days. She's grown her feathers back really quickly and is running around the garden with the others again now, although she seems to have lost a lot of condition and seems very thin.

 

More tuna, methinks! Hope your girl feels better soon bless er.

 

skye x

[The Dogmother]

It's always worth popping some Avipro in the water when they are poorly; it really picks them up. You can also put it in a wet mash.

[Minnie&Moose]

Thanks for the tip re Avipro Claret - I'll look for some tomorrow.