Rob Thomson Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hello all, I'm a first time poster, and also new to this chicken keeping malarkey so please be nice! My better-half and I adopted three hens from the BHWT in mid-November. They seem to have settled in well, they seem to enjoy their new home, and we're loving having them in our lives. When we collected the hens all three were missing most of their feathers on their backs, bellies and necks. Two of the three have had pretty good re-growth, they're still a bit untidy but they're massively better than they were. The other - which happens to be our favourite - has some new feathers on her belly and neck but her back remains as bare as the day we collected her. Initially we put this down to the others pecking off new growth (to the point that she had bloody areas and scabs on her back), but the pecking seemed to stop several weeks ago. We've been feeding them Smallholder Ex-Bat crumb, corn in the afternoons whenever we're at home, and a fair amount of mealworm because we love them so much. Any ideas how we can help Milly's feathers grow back? Many thanks, Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I gave mine Total Moulting Solutions in their water,it is to promote feather growth.Good luck,they are lovely pets aren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Welcome from me. Keeping chickens is addictive When my girls had feathers missing - from bullying - it seemed to take forever for their feathers to grow back. I gave mine LifeGuard tonic. This seemed to help but they still took a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 It's hard to get ex-batts to feather up sometimes; the constant laying will take a lot of protein out of their systems, which is what they need to make feathers as well as eggs. As Grandmashazzie has said, Total Moulting Solutions is excellent, as is either of the following: Biotin powder (available from horse feed suppliers), bind it into the pellets with a drizzle of cod liver oil. Hard boiled eggs, mashed up. Both will provide with plenty of Biotin and other trace proteins, which are essential to make feathers. Good luck, and welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulad Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Congrats on getting your girls - We have 5 hens, 3 are ex-bats which we got in the summer. Ours did take a while to feather up but they do eventually come thru - like the others have said a Tonic in their water seemed to really help. Im sure she will feather up soon xx Enjoy xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Thomson Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hello all, Thanks very much for taking the time to reply and for your helpful suggestions, we'll definitely look into some tonics for them. I do worry a bit that she'll be cold when the temerature drops (forecast for this weekend) but they've got an Eglu Classic which always seems to be pretty warm inside when I open the door in the mornings. Do you reckon she'll be okay or I do I need to knit her a jumper? Cheers, Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Thomson Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 I also meant to answer Grandmashazzie's post above... yes, they are wonderful pets, we absolutely love them. We've had them for nearly two months but over the last two or three weeks they suddenly seem a lot more interactive - they come running whenever we walk into the garden, they fuss around under our feet, they're a lot happier being handled. They're brilliant little things, and we're getting on average a couple of eggs per day which is a great bonus. We should have done it years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi Rob and welcome to this amazing forum, you will have many questions I don't doubt and this forum has been a god send to me. I have had four ex commercial girls since June and it seems to take forever for the feathers to come through and apparently new quills taste very nice and the other girls may like a liking to them. The dogmother a advice as always was spot on. I considered a coat for the cube but the consensus is that it's not really needed, they will snuggle up together to keep warm I could watch my girls all day, they are so funny and entertaining, just wait till they start jumping on your knee for treats...so cute...I love them:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Welcome to the forum . Can't add much to the advice above but would just say that one of my girls had all her neck feathers pecked out by her "friends" until she looked like a Transylvanian Naked Neck but it took until she had a moult for them to grow back in. She looks beautiful now and the others have shown no further interest . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I think dogmother will agree, jumpers are not recommended. BHWT are certainly against them BTW welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntielizzie Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 As ANH says above, I also found that it took until a full moult for one of my girls to regain her feathers. When I got Betsy (not an ex-bat or anything, but she had been in a massive pen with lots of other POLs) in August 2012 she had a really pecked at bald patch at the base of her back. The other girls I got with her at the same time continued pecking at it on and off and I treated it will all kinds of stuff to try and clear it up because it was quite sore-looking at times. Anyway, it all healed up nicely after a while, but she still had the bald patch up until late December. ~Then she had a major moult. As she has feathered up over the last couple of weeks, so the bald patch has finally disappeared :clap and finally she looks like a big fat fluffy chicken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I think dogmother will agree, jumpers are not recommended. BHWT are certainly against them BTW welcome Absolutely Their body temperature is 105deg, so much hotter than us. they tend not to feel the cold as much as you'd think, but like us, they do slow down in the colder months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillyJude Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Oh, am confused now, when we got our three newest ex batts in november one of them (woolley) had been put in a jumper by the bhwt volunteers, so we kept her in it for a few weeks. She was pretty naked and its a bad time of year to come out of the sheds, so i thought it was a good idea. Maybe sometimes the risk of them getting caught up in it is outweighed by the need to keep them warm. She is fine now, a little 60mph maniac, so funny seeing her storming round the field. But we thought she was never going to make it, she was so bald and is really tiny too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimmyCustard Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Rob Chickens are attracted to the colour red too, so if your baldy girls have red skin, the others could peck at the red skin as well as new quills. I have a bottle of Purple Spray on hand for this, sold by Omlet and loads of other places, make sure you wear old clothes and rubber gloves as it stains everything it lands on and is a nightmare to scrub off! You catch a hen, spray the red skin with Purple Spray and this can help towards disguising the redness, thus the others stop their pecking. I've sprayed all three of my ex-batts as they were bald in various places, they are still a bit naked in places but all have new little feathers poking through Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Jumpers are a no no. Apart from anything the new feathers emerge in a casing which would make things very uncomfortable if pressing up against a jumper and you risk ingrowing feathers. Being very warm may also prevent feathering up too You may find that if the hens are still laying this is using up their resources which could be used to grow feathers I have some exbatts from around the same time which ate taking a while to feather up so have switched them to growers pellets which have more protein but that can also slow down any egg laying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Mine are on layers now. They have been on ACV and poultry spice. I've just started using orego-stim for all my girls, it's marvelous stuff. Got the exbats near the end of October not quite got all their feathers yet, but looking great and still laying big eggs, nearly every day Milyjude, did you get your hens from BHWT or Little Hens Rescue (little hens are in favour of jumpers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillyJude Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 They came from BHWT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
