Chicken bald back

[Space Chick]

In this cold weather I have noticed my girls are eating a lot more.

 

I am giving them their usual treats - mealworms in the morning (3 moulting girls) and corn in the afternoon.

 

But I would say that they are eating about a quarter more pellets than they usually do.

 

Are my girls alone in this?

 

I am not worried, just interested

[Sandychick]

Yep, mine too! They use so much energy keeping warm at night that they have to eat more. I give mine some rice or pasta in cold weather

[Valkyrie]

My ungrateful bunch turned their noses up at boiled spuds this evening, except for Tipsy who usually holds back had her beak firmly in one of the dishes.

[chick wiggle]

Im glad you posted this SC, my girls seem to be eating for england at the moment! I thought at first we might be having 'visitors' but the food is covered at night now so its definately them scoffing like mad!

( I cant manage carrying 3 feeders in every night and out every morning so I bought some cheap bins from Wilkinsons and they are a perfect fit, so with a small brick on top so they cant be pushed over, nothing can get to the food. Plus, the girls like jumping on top of the upturned bins during the day )

Glad its not just mine

[docsquid]

Our chooks are eating more as well - they attack their warm porridge in the morning like little raptors, bless them! It is a bit of a struggle keeping the water un-frozen, but there are little bits of water here and there in the garden that defrost in the sun, and I pop out every so often with hot water to defrost the glug.

 

They are also laying an egg every day, so they probably need the extra calories. I'm trying to keep them in until a bit later before letting them out to FR so they can eat more proper high calorie chicken food, but they do complain!

[mostin]

My girls are not eating at all at the moment , but that is because only 1 out of the 12 hens are laying at the moment , the rest are in heavy moult or winter shut down.

 

Its weird going from 4 feeders to 2 .

[Barkisland]

Mine are eating lots, but they are hardly laying at all. I am getting 2 eggs on alternate days. They have all moulted and grown a fine new set of feathers though, ready to go a courtin' in the Spring!

Warm pellet porridge, with added dried cranberries, and a tablespoon of olive oil (for extra calories) is going down well with them at the moment