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.
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