marylka Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 ten months ago my adult disabled son literally found a chicken walking about outside our front door...she has become a very much loved pet...Lady Gaga...I think she is a Warren and maybe an escaped battery hen. She had and still has, a large bare patch on her chest but you can only see this if you lift the feathers up. But the most perplexing thing is that over the last few months her feathers have gradually changed colour...she was a nice brown when she first came and now she is almost blonde from the neck down...is it the sun that bleached them or is it old age.....as I havent a clue how old she is..or is it just Lady Gaga behaviour!...I have lots of hen books but have never seen anything about the hen changing colour... Apart from all this she seems in very good health and lively..especially since we recently got her a POL companion hen and they are very happy together. But she has also stopped laying...laid an egg the first day we met her and has laid consistently until 5 months ago. Now is only laying egg yolks...sometimes takes her 2 days to pass them, she gets very still and you can see the contractions. This used to happen almost every day but now its about once a week, lovely dark gold yolks with no shell, sometimes the yolks are perfectly intact..on the floor outside the back door ready to fry, .. I have tried grits of all kinds which she refuses...and tonics but nothing avails. She is on good mash and has corn on the cob every day and some greens and sweet potato and fruit occasionally. Has she just come to the end of her egg laying life and is that how it ends?....or is it time to go to a vet?..hope someone out there knows something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 The change of colour is due to the sun as you say. When she moults, her new feathers wll be noticeably darker. Why not try cutting out all extras apart from her pellets for a few days? That might get her laying proper eggs again. It could just be that she has pretty much come to the end of her laying though, as you have no real idea of her age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marylka Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 thank you ever so much for your reply from Sheffield...its been a worry ...and its a relief its nothing serious, maybe I should put an SPF suncream on her!..she hasnt moulted for ages but will be very interested to watch and see if she does go darker again when she does moult again... I thought she looked nicer brown..she looks washed out now, especially compared to the new hen!...I have tried cutting out the tit bits but i thought they had to have something green, and they get bored with just dry food.....she likes cucumber which is mostly water. my other hen on the same diet lays every day without fail so far...but then she is just out the hen nursery at a farm...thank you again, first time I have used the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marylka Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 PS really really loved the quote about the known unknowns etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 PS really really loved the quote about the known unknowns etc It is a corker isn't it. A few greens won't harm, but it might be an idea to cut out the 'junk food' type extras for a few days, ie corn, rice etc, if she normally gets them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 One of my Bluebelles went from being a really lovely slate grey to a very pale grey and started laying softies too. Thankfully the softies have now stopped but she has looked moth eaten and I was getting a wee bit worried about her. I had a look at her yesterday thought and she has some beautiful slate grey feathers beginning to grow It would appear that she has been going through a mini moult and hopefully she will return to her former glory and eggs will follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 One of my girls changed colour a bit too . She was jet black but then some lovely brown feathers started to appear (it was very fetching ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
