feathers, feathers and more feathers

[angelat]

when does this moulting stop!! my whole garden and their bed is covered in feathers!!! poor miranda only has one feather left at her tail!! she looks like a red indian. not laying either, have others hens stopped laying now?

[Suechooks]

The only one of mine who has ever really moulted properly went on for a few weeks! I noticed as she was the only one left when we had the others stolen a couple of years ago from the allotment. I brought her home so the feathers were more noticable! I could have made a duvet!
My girls are laying well at the moment - between 6 - 10 a day from 12 hens. I've tried to get 3 or 4 POL each summer/autumn so they boost the egg numbers through the dark days. 2 of the ex-batts are also laying sporadically. Only 2 not laying at all.

[Nicos]

My cockerels have only one tail feather each too!

Out of 5 gals- Sunday- 3 eggs
Monday- no eggs
Today- none so far

Still- can't complain- they laid all through last winter!

[Eco-Chic]

How long will it take for their new feathers to grow through? Seems daft that they're left nekkid at this time of year

[RichmondHens]

It is said the sign of a good layer is if she moults and regrows feathers quickly, say in about 2 - 3 weeks. Ones that lose a few here and there without really getting the naked look are supposed to not be as good. I have to say, my top hen for the last two seasons is like an oven ready at the moment, and dropped her feathers over about 2 days. I picked her up tonight to have a look at her and she was nothing but a mass of feather stumps. It is crazy that it happens just as the weather gets colder though.

[walldanzig]

I have feathers everywhere it is a nightmare and they have stopped laying

[julesapple]

Out of my six girls, all POL this year, two are moulting. Only one of the moulters has stopped laying but of the others, three have come out in sympathy. We've just got to grips with a lice & mite infestion and, thanks to almost daily dusting, are now on the upside. Helpfully the feathers that had egg clusters have dropped out and we plucked the stragglers.

Daisy hadn't started laying yet so I don't suppose she will start now until next Spring. We used to be on four eggs a day but we're down to two now.

Yesterday was our first truly cold day for quite a few weeks so the girls got hot couscous for a treat - just the plain stuff with a few raisins chucked in. It went down very well even, or especially, because it was still very hot.

Jules

[Glutton4...]

I thought mine were beginning to moult a month or so ago, but if they are they're not doing it properly! Egg count has gone down from 12-15 a day right down to 5-6 a day, so I can't keep up with orders, and I'm having to go without how daft is that?

Several of my Batties/Rangers have stopped laying, and I'm getting the odd empty sack and shell-less egg every few days too, so looks like they're coming to the end of their laying I'm only getting 2-3 from the 5 marans too.

There are more feathers around, but the girls are eating less, I'd thought they'd eat more through the moult? I'm adding Poultry Spice and Limestone Flour to their pellets to help them too.

[its hilly]

Try geese. whan my two started moulting it looked like someone had emptied a couple of white feather pillows in their house.

[Eco-Chic]

For your chilly baldies:

Help us make hen jumpers!

Have a peek at the video at the bottom of the link