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!