2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[AEH]

This will be my first Autumn & Winter with my 3 girls. I think they should be coming into moult about now, but there isn't a great deal of feather loss yet. Their behaviour has changed a little - the youngest seems to have gone off her food to some extent and they seem a great deal more moody - leading to the youngest getting bullied again (which had stopped over the summer). The do seem a bit depressed too - particularly with the rain. Does anyone out there know whether these are the signs of chickens coming into moult? If they leave it much longer they will be without feathers when there is snow on the ground!

[sjp]

2 of mine have been have been abit like that while they've been in moult the columbine perked up yesterday

[Raina]

Sorry i don't have a clue.

 

I've had Orakiah since April 2009 and she didn't go through a moult Last year.

 

But this year i think she might be moulting as i'm finding alot more feathers than i'm used to in the nest box & run.

 

I'm not sure about the depression though as Orakiah has been quite quiet since her Friend died.I can't say much about the food either as she'll have days where she'll eat hardly anything to days when she'll eat anything in sight lol

[karlotta]

Most of mine haven't moulted in their first year. They replace their feathers lots as they are growing and haven't been through a 'breeding/rearing cycle' so don't really need to the first year.

 

Later years are a very different matter! Lots of mine look like cloth dusters and the garden like a pillow fight has been going on!

[Lavenders_Blue]

If they leave it much longer they will be without feathers when there is snow on the ground!

 

Mine did this last year

I have photos of them in the snow trotting about semi naked

It wasn't really a problem, they squashed up together at night time and went back into the coop during the day when they got too cold.

[chickencam]

My younger hens who are coming into their second autumn look awful at the moment, they all have bald patches, one of them in particular has had a bald neck for most of the year. They are in good health and are regularly treated for mites etc. One of my original girls looked really bad by her second autumn too, but by the following spring she was a real beauty.

 

My youngsters need to stop laying now and have a rest, get some new feathers and bulk up a bit. I was amazed how much my original girls grew after their rest in their second winter.

 

My older girls who are 3.5 and coming up 4 are just starting to moult, my Light Sussex is nicknamed duvet bird because of her lovely thick white feathers and her size, but the garden has started looking like the inside of a feather duvet in the last couple of days, you can't see the loss on her yet though.

 

I did have one poor White star who didn't stop laying in her second winter, and by the following spring she had worn herself out and died after a prolapse. It seems such a shame to breed hens that lay so many eggs that they have short lives. I will choose my breeds to include ens that lay less than 300 eggs per yeat next time, because I think they have a happier life. My Light Sussex lays 5-6 eggs per week from February to October and they are always an even size and good quality, whereas a couple of my super layers may lay every day but sometimes their shells become very thin despite suplements and they start to look very scrawny too.