New Feathers for Minerva

After a few really cold days of being feather-less, Minerva has started growing new feathers. Her head has new little feathers and if you look really closely, you can see the tips of the feathers that have just started "feathering" on her wing, above the couple big, old feathers she has. She has been huddling in a corner of straw in the coop and so I've been letting the hens out more than usual so she can find a sunny patch to sit in. I bet she'll be even warmer tomorrow.

Yesterday, I tried holding Minerva to warm her up, but she squawked loose and felt like a porcupine! It was quite an odd feeling. Normally, the hens are so soft and fluffy.

Minerva, what happened?!

Doesn't it look like there is something terribly wrong with this hen? The weather has turned quite cool and most of the other hens are nearly done with their molting process and here is Minerva in the worst of her molt! She lost nearly ALL her feathers and has a bunch of new quills coming in, though the are very narrow and just look like hedgehog spikes. In this photo, she is happily eating carrot tops.

I learned that during the molting process, the hens need extra protein in order to produce their new feathers. I've been giving them lots of sunflower seeds and pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) that I cleaned out of the pantry. Yogurt and cottage cheese are also good sources of protein.

With the cold weather and the hens molting, we often only get 1 egg a day so I bought eggs this week for baking-- I baked a ton this week for Thanksgiving and Coby's birthday! I think only Ginger and Louise are laying right now.

Who Plucked the Hens?

There are feathers all over the coop! It looks like the plucking station at a chicken processing plant. We have 3 hens molting right now... both Buff Orpingtons and Hawk, the Brown Leghorn. Top hen, Ginger, is still laying, despite molting, but her egg has diminished in size. It used to be so big that it would produce a bulge in the egg carton, but now it is much smaller, though predictably there just about daily! The other two molting hens, Hawk and Buffy, are not laying any eggs. Minerva, Louise, and Doily are laying eggs still.

The other night, a loud "scream" emerged from the backyard. I had forgotten to close the coop that night and a raccoon must've gotten in and tried getting a hen. When she screamed, I turned on the light and ran out. The raccoon left but Louise was confused, clucking and walking towards the light. I picked her up and placed her back on the roost, counted to be sure all 6 hens were there, and then locked up the coop. The next morning, I saw a pile of Louise's feathers all in a clump. A patch of feathers were also missing from her neck, but upon further inspection, she had no bites or scratches. She and I were very lucky that the raccoon attack was unsuccessful!

Snow in August?

Could it be snow in August? In the coop? No, it is actually food-grade diatamaceous earth (DE)-- little broken up glass-like diatoms (from the ocean) pulverized into a powder the consistency of flour. This is the treatment I am using to prevent mites. Earlier this summer, Minerva became infested with mites. Her tummy was raw and featherless, but the other hens seemed fine. I used an insecticide to spray all the hens, the coop, and places in the yard where the hens like to dust bathe or nap. I also used the DE as a second round of defense. In fact, I learned that I can just periodically spread it around the coop and yard to help prevent future infestations and to help limit the amount of flies around. Some people sprinkle it into the food, making the chicken poop poisonous for the flies (the structure of the DE disrupts the life cycle of the flies). DE is relatively safe, however because of the fine particle size, it is an inhalation hazard, so I wear a mask when I work with it.

I even treated the nesting boxes.











This is one of the hens' favorite dust bath spots.

Chicken Fight?

The coop is filled with feathers! Was there a chicken fight? I think that Ginger is molting, a natural process where hens lose their feathers and grow new ones. During this time, the molting hen's reproduction system is halted. No wonder Ginger hasn't resumed egg laying after her broodiness ended! Increasing hens protein in their diet (sunflower seeds, yogurt, mealworms, crickets, tofu, etc) helps them grow new feathers. Yogurt is also good for their digestive system.

Since Ginger has only been molting for a couple of days, she's not looking much different yet. I'll post a picture when she's looking good and scraggly.

Ginger Gone Broody

For about 3 weeks, Ginger was broody. This means that she really felt like being a Mama by hatching an egg. She sat in the nesting box that was preferred by all the hens and stayed in there for about 3 weeks, occasionally getting out to eat. Just about every day, Coby would pull her out of the nesting box so she'd join the flock foraging or dust bathing for a bit, but would go right back to the box after 15 minutes or so. Since it takes about 21 days for an egg to hatch, I guess she got over her broodiness after a few weeks. Besides, we continued to take eggs from under her (laid by other hens... Ginger did not lay during this time). However, Ginger is still not laying eggs... more on that in a future post!

XL Nesting Box

Cracked eggs on the ground! We wondered how it happened. Did the hens roll out eggs from the nesting box to crack and eat them? We noticed a pattern-- it was always Doily's egg! Did the other hens pick on her? After wondering about this for several weeks, I was cleaning the coop while she was in the nesting box. PLOP! It landed right on the ground. Doily is a fluffy hen and maybe she likes to face towards the back of the nesting box, rather than facing out like the rest of the hens. So her eggs were falling to the ground as she laid them! My father constructed a new, extra-large nesting box and we have not had any more cracked eggs. In fact, she seems to know it is just for her because she lays in that box all the time now (but the other hens like it too). Thanks Dad!

Which way do eggs come out?

Ever wonder which way eggs are laid (pointy side first or rounded side first)?




















Well, this egg didn't have enough padding when it "plopped" out of the hen and so the tip got cracked. Guess it makes sense... the more pointed end of the egg is the first part out, unless of course, the egg is breach! hehehe

It has been two months since I've updated the blog and lots has happened since then! During our nice warm weather, the hens like to join us in the hammock.




















In other news...

-- Hawk started laying her white eggs regularly again, after going on strike this winter. She laid about an egg a month during the cold, shorter days and now lays an egg just about every day!

-- Another shell-less egg was laid by Doily. This time, it was intact and so both kids brought it to "show and tell" at their respective schools, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

-- The cats and hens get along fine outside together! Sometimes the cats startle the hens, but usually if one is scared of the other species it is the cats afraid of the hens who come running to the door when I open it, waiting for treats. The cats are afraid to come inside when the hens are all blocking the door. Below is a photo of one cat and one hen getting along.

"Worms"

I threw a package of bean sprouts into the coop today because they got old before I could use them... the hens gobbled them up. Seems like the "girls" thought they were eating worms!

Treats!

The hens sure do enjoy their treats. Recently, we spoiled them with some mealworms (photo above) and yogurt (photo below). Remi and Coby enjoy throwing the mealworms for the hens to find. Remi tries to be tricky and throws them into the bushes for the hens to find. Coby likes to make sure that all the hens get some, so he tries to throw them closest to the more timid hens. The hens are funny when they eat yogurt because their beaks get all white. It didn't show up much in these pictures though. Minerva seemed to be posing for the camera (last photo)! The chickens can be such clowns!

Shell-less Egg

I've heard of this before, but it is the first time I see it. One of the hens laid an egg without a shell. It did have a thick membrane, but not a shell. When I found it on the ground of the coop this morning, it looked like a popped balloon because the chickens ate out the inside. I'm guessing it was Doily who laid it because Minerva, Louise, and Ginger all laid eggs today. Hawk "tried" to lay late this morning and her eggs are white, but this one was slightly brown. We didn't get an egg from Buffy today, but her eggs are much darker than this one was. I think it is normal for hens to have some weird eggs the first year of laying.

First Day of 6 Eggs!!

This is the first day that all six hens lay their eggs! In the picture above, starting with the white egg and going clockwise, the eggs were laid by: Hawk, Doily, Minerva, Buffy, Ginger, and Louise. It has been a month and a half since Hawk has laid an egg, so it was quite a surprise to find her egg out there this morning. Then this afternoon, the other 5 hens had laid their eggs. Such a proud hen Mama I am!

What Do Holly Oak Hens Eat?

Perhaps you're wondering just what do chickens eat?

The kids and I made a list of all the foods we feed to our hens. They also roam free in our backyard and eat whatever they please like my entire asparagus fern, the lower leaves of my potted Japanese maple tree (photo above), insects, and worms. Fortunately, the vegetable garden is in the front yard, in an area the hens don't go. Here is our comprehensive list as of January 1, 2010.

lettuce
watermelon/melon
bread
tortillas
corn on the cob
carrot greens
swiss chard
cucumber
zucchini
yogurt
beet greens
collard greens
bok choy
cabbage
oats/oatmeal
avocado
crushed egg shells (calcium supplement)
oyster shells (calcium supplement)
quinoa
scrambled eggs
millet
flax seeds
mealworms
crickets
kale
banana
bamboo leaves
tomatoes
persimmons
apple cores
sunflower seeds
"scratch" (cracked corn, barley, cracked wheat)
laying crumbles chicken food (corn, soy, wheat, vitamins, and minerals)

Usually, the hens just eat their chicken food and whatever they find in the yard, but we feed them scratch, black sunflower seeds, and flax seeds when we put them in their coop in the evenings. They get other treats/scraps when it is on sale, when we have excess in our refrigerator, or when they need to spend more time in their coop.