[atwickwitch]

please can you advise. i was given an arucana about 8 weeks ago.she seemed very happy although a bit on her own as her mate died and she has had to get used to all the other chickens by herself.as far as i know she gets plenty of food and water (they all roam around the garden all day so its difficult to be positive) today i picked her up and as i stroked her handfuls of her feathers off her breast just fell to the floor. i ruffled her all over and masses fell out.when i went to clean out the hut which i do every day i noticed a load of feathers in there too. all my other chickens have moulted in the late spring summer time so is it normal for her to lose so many feathers now coming upto winter. she has also stopped laying her pretty blue eggs.she was laying 3-4 a week but hasnt laid for about 8 days now. help please. shes so pretty i dont want to lose her. many thanks   jane

[min200]

Hi Jane shes just going through her moult so no need to panic. 
Lots of hens are stupid enough to molt coming up to and into winter 

Ive still got an Orpington going through a heavy moult at the moment.

[3Bluebelles]

Perfectly normal for her to be moulting now. It will take a couple of weeks for the new feathers to come through. In the meantime, I would be careful of handling her too much, especially ruffling her feathers, as once the new ones start to come through they break off really easily, and will then bleed and be quite painful for her.

And it\s normal for them to stop laying as all their energy is going into producing new feathers. She might appreciate some extra protein to help, in the form of mealworms, or a little fishy cat food or tuna in spring water.

All the best.
 

[atwickwitch]

thankyou for your replies. my other chickens all moulted in the late spring.
i have had so much trouble with coco (this bird).. she and her sister both had the sneezes when they came.the sister had badly deformed feet and couldnt see properly. we got well and truly done when we got these two.her sister had to go to sleep in the end because she was so ill.
coco still sneezes a bit but i thought she was getting on ok, then when all her feathers fell out yesterday i panicked.i knew the reason for her not laying any eggs (short daylight) but never realised that they could moult this time of the year.def, a design fault.
i also got two cuckoo moriahs from the same place about 4 weeks ago and they constantly sneeze, but as they are eating and messing around in the garden i havent worried about them.
i do have another question if anyone can help. about once a week i find a strange lumpy solid egg thing in the nest. if you cut it open it smells like boiled eggs.it is dark pink and inside are lots of white rings.its about half the size of a normal egg.one of my chickens had a really bad time last year,got a big egg stuck.between me and her we got it out but she pushed too hard and had a prolapse. i bathed her and pushed it all back in. she recovered really well which i didnt expect but has never laid another egg so i wondered if it is her dropping these strange things.if anyone has any ideas i would be really grateful. kind regards and bright blessings to you all    jane

[kegs]

i do have another question if anyone can help. about once a week i find a strange lumpy solid egg thing in the nest. if you cut it open it smells like boiled eggs.it is dark pink and inside are lots of white rings.its about half the size of a normal egg.

I think the object you're describing is called a 'lash' which (in another thread) AuntSally said "A lash is the lining of the uterus (shell gland) and can be shed in response to an infection.  If you use the search it will give you lots of info and a google images search will confirm if it is the same thing.

[ChristyRose]

My ex batts have decided to start moulting now.  Seems a strange time of the year!!  The rest of them moulted last month and last year they moulted in July!!  The ex batts always seem to moult in the winter though!!
Is there a time of year when they are meant to moult?

[atwickwitch]

i have googled "lash eggs" and they look exactly the same as the thing i keep finding. i think it must come from hettie who had a prolapse last year. apart from not laying since, she is very happy eats fine and runs around all over the garden. i reckon better out than in!  thankyou very much for that advice, i was so curious as to what it was... all the info about it says they are usually a one off occurance but this must be about the 5th one ive found in the last few months. lucky me!! now ive had so many of them they dont make me feel quite so sick. i cut every one in half just out of curiosity and they are all the same, rubbery dark pink smelling of boiled eggs and lots of white rings inside. thankyou for the help j