Is your dog's unusual barking a secret code for something mysterious?

[maryannlucy]

Hi

I hope someone can help! We have had the girls for 11 months and they are acting very out of character. Our "head" chook is moulting badly....she is very unlike her usual bossy self. She is quite lethargic, being quiet and not attempting to jump the fence to get into the garden and cause her normal havoc (her new feathers are coming through a lot paler than the old ones too).

Chicken no2, who lives to worship Audrey, is also very quiet, not moulting but spending a lot of time being quiet sitting next to Audrey.

Audrey, who has never been a prolific layer, hasn't laid for nearly a fortnight, and Amelie who lays nearly everyday hasn't laid for about 3 days, but has produced 1 egg, no sac, no shell yesterday evening (she normally lays about 8am) and this morning laid a very small egg in a thickish sack.

 

Is this all normal for a moulting chicken, and is Amelie just coming out in sympathy?

 

They are in the garden now, looking fairly lively, but after all the sleeping they did yesterday I am not surprised!

Thank you in advance for any advice, it is very welcome.

[Chucky Mama]

They can get quite down when there is a softie on the way. I would advise flubenvet worming if they haven't been done within the last 3 months and a good poultry tonic. Many are fans of Nutri Drops but any good tonic is fine. Also give them a good once over for parasites, especially lice.

[maryannlucy]

Thanks for this - they are all tonic'd up (well according to DH but I will check again), diatom is everywhere but they could be due a worming. I will check with the chicken meister - thanks for your advice. They certainly make you worry

[Chucky Mama]

If you have only ever used Diatom in terms of worming you really need to crack on and give them a course of Flubenvet.

[Jools]

Moulting certainly takes it out of them, the stroppiest chicken can go quiet and sulky for a few weeks. It's good to give them a tonic in their water at this time and to up their protein a little to help with the production of new feathers. I do this by changing their feed to breeders pellets (some use chick crumb) plus a few mealworms each day.

 

Someone will correct me if I have this wrong, but I believe it's not a good idea to worm them during the moult, though before or after is fine.

[Chucky Mama]

Dosing when under par is never the best plan of action, unless of course a worm burden could be contributing to the overall health. As you know chickens can cope with a degree of illness until something, often stress, pushes them over the edge. Then everything comes crashing down. If a hen is coping with worms and then the stress of moulting pushes them over the edge, it will be necessary to get them sorted.

[maryannlucy]

Thanks, I can see what you are saying. She is scratching around at the moment, hunting out snails though not as voraciously as normal, my borders are pretty much in one piece (never thought I would be worried about typing that ). We'll keep an eye on them and look to worm as soon as seems reasonable. I have never seen so many feathers! Amelie's must have been a mini-moult.

[Chucky Mama]

Thought I'd had a fox attack when one of mine moulted, there were so many feathers They can look very rough. So give a tin of tuna or mealworms for extra protein.

[maryannlucy]

tuna?? hadn't thought of that.

Can I admit that Audrey occasionally gets into the kitchen and will fight the cats for Whiskas - surely that can't be right

[Chucky Mama]

The though of giving tuna weirds me out a bit so I stuck to extra rations of mealworm

[maryannlucy]

As she likes Whiskas would it be ok to give her some to get some protein into her

 

honestly, feathery lovelies! What we do without them

[Chucky Mama]

I think that there are plenty that give a bit of cat food (give me the heebie jeebies so I don't - don't know why I worry, they ambushed a vole this week and shared it for supper )

[maryannlucy]

hadn't thought of it like that - why worry about a bit of cat food, when I have seen the way they devour snails

 

 

- but voles haven't seen that yet! You must have eagled eyed, fleet of foot girls!

[maryannlucy]

Now the "well" one has just laid another "splatty" egg. One day I may get a usable egg from one of these 2. Really don't know why this is happening, they have plenty of grit etc fingers crossed they get back on track.