stacey30 Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Hello, I wondered if I could get some advice. A little background. We have 6 hens, 1 hen has 3 chicks another hen has been broody on/off 6 weeks. We decided not to let her hatch any now as it's getting colder and we wanted to be sure what the chicks turn out to be (3 yellow combs at 5 weeks so hopefully pekin girls?!) Recently dealt with mites, powdered all the girls/chicks and the house is now clear. Obviously the broody hen Pepper was sat in the house for many days and her condition wasn't good so we closed the hen door and she was made to stay outside. Mean I know, but exhausted all other options. Pepper is now raising the chicks with Nangirl who has the chicks, they both mother them with no problem still keeping them warm under them and calling them. Pepper does look a little frantic sometimes really fluffing up like she's still broody and has now lost a lot of feathers. Is this a molt? A few feathers are coming off the others but nothing like pepper, she's very bare around the neck. I check for mites daily, but none. She's eating, bathing etc the same just the feathers are dropping. Not laying but I noticed she stopped a while ago when she first went broody. She is nearly 10 months but thought this maybe early for a molt. Feeding the layers pellets, greens, sweetcorn and they have some yoghurt for extra calcium. Any advice gratefully received for Pepper, sorry it turned out to be an essay, am a little obsessed with my girls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 broodies do moult towards the time they're ready to leave thier brood and broodies that haven't hatched at about the time that start to give up on been broody also I'm finding the drop in temp. last week as started a few of mine to start thier winter moult early Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adams Egg Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 My broody has been slowly shedding which is normal, but the replacement feathers are much more mottled, I wondered wether the diet change on chick crumb had anything to do with it, to make it worse, most of the others have now started the autum moult so eggs are limited Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
