EmuCat Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Minnie spooked us this morning by leaving feathers -everywhere-! First thought was "oh god fox/cat attack?!", but upon catching her (tricky! She's apparently a cousin of the road runner!), I can't find any injuries, and that's correlated by the fact it took so long to catch her! She's a Pekin bantam/silkie cross, and she's a bit under two years old (so in right time for "first moult"?) She's stopped laying for a couple of weeks, but she's never been a strong layer anyway, and the weather has been so bad. She's also the "loner" of my 3 hens, but she isn't bullied, she just tags along when she feels like it. I've checked for lice/mites, and can't find any evidence of them. She did wheeze a little when I caught her, but she calmed down and breathed normally after I put her in my lap for a bit, so I put that down to the chase and cold air. Any reasons why she'd do this moult now? I'm a bit paranoid after having such bad luck with hens in the past, and we've lost one during a moult before. Minnie on my lap, and the feet (moulting scales, but I don't think it's scaly leg because there's no detritus). http://m.imgur.com/a/kAmJQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 My Tilly has only just finished moulting in the last week or so. I put them all on poultry tonic to help them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 One of my Pekins moulted her lower neck feathers in November, then laid during December and January, but is now moulting her upper neck feathers. She's just under 2 years old too. Having said that she is squatting again now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmuCat Posted February 16, 2016 Author Share Posted February 16, 2016 Ok, Thankyou! Good to see it's not too unusual. I can be a bit paranoid chicken-wise due to our previous bad luck! She got some goodies while I closed the other two in the run so they wouldn't steal it all! Included protein foods for her feathers and calcium because she laid a shell-less egg the other day. She's a funny bird...she often "tid-bits" food like a mother hen or a cockerel, repeatedly picking it up and dropping it and chittering! Usually she does it to herself, or to "imaginary chicks", but I realised this time that she was actually trying to feed the two girls in the run! Very odd...guess she's just super maternal!? http://m.imgur.com/fotwreO This is Minnie trying to tid-bit feed the other hens a piece of grape! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
