[wolverine]

this might seem like the norm for you guys bit it's my first moult so please bare with me I'm guessing she is moulting she hasn't laid in about 2-3 weeks and I just got back from work and the garden is full of White feathers is that normal or would it be a more gradual thing??? The only reason o ask is because she used to squat when I'd go near her and this afternoon the ran for her life which I found unusual and also a tarpaulin has been pulled of the guinea pig hutch ( by the wind or cat I don't know ) but I wonder if she could havv got into a fight with a cat? She is 10 months old should she be moulting yet?  and what a silly time the coldest day so far??? chickens are like women I guess I will never know what is going on in there little minds

just realised how badly I worded that I didn't mean to sugestions that women have little minds just the chook 

[Aunt Sally]

Certainly sounds like a moult 

[evie2]

How long does a moult usually last for Aunt Sally?  Our Bantams seem to be going on for ever

[8doubles]

My light sussex is moulting , yesterday she tried to flap up to the handrail where she gets the daily 8 maize kernels and several wing feathers fell out and she ended up in a heap on the ground before wandering off to sulk.
No tail feathers today.
Last winter she waited till there was 6" of snow before moulting.
At least the snow hid the feathers.

[orchardlady]

I think it's unlikely she got in to a fight with a cat but it might be worth giving her the once over just to make sure there are no injuries. It sounds very much like your little hen has gone into her first moult. It can often look like there's been an explosion in a pillow factory or it can be a very slow process it just depends on your particular hen. You may notice she starts to look extremely tatty around the edges but the feathers will grow back...promise. She may also be a little down for a while to. Some people give a nice treat of meaty cat food for the extra protein a few times a week during this time. I would draw the line a chicken flavour though!

[wolverine]

I don't really want to give them meat if they don't REALLY need it firstly I think it's a bit wierd and secondly my girlfriend is vegi and she would stop eating the eggs if I did. bit if they really need it I'll give it to them in secret so she wouldn't know. what about quorn that's high in protien and I have a freezer full of it? I could make them a quorn and layers mash with brocolli. I'm guessing it is just the extra protien in the cat food they benefit from? what about giving them a high protien pellet for meat birds once a week to help out? is a standard layers pellet enough during a moult?? Sorry so many questions but if I can do anything to make it easier then best to ask.
Thanks in advance
 

[Sassy]

In their first year it is usually only a very minor moult at this time of the year but there are always exceptions to the rule

[evie2]

Our poots and bantams live together, the bantams have gone into moult, we have 1 feeder now (we did have 2 before) with a 3 to 1 ratio of growers to layers plus greens, fruit, a bit of corn, rice, baked potatoes . . . . you get the picture, Jules spoils them

[Catsmuvva]

Hey wolverine, I think your girlfriend might just think twice about eating the eggs if she saw the amount of meat in the form of grubs, slugs, snails, small rodents, etc they can put away!

[Aunt Sally]

My chooks love tuna in (spring water). 

[Junie]

Mine are in their first mount, they were born summer last year - Nibbles bless her looked like she was getting herself ready for the oven - right down to the parsons nose!!!  she now looks more like a hedgehog where he feathers are growing back.
I have given mine cat food on occasion  - tend to go for the salmon.  I don't like giving them meat much either, but after seeing them going mad over a shrew that one caught, it seems a natural part of their diet!

[orchardlady]

I quite understand your reservations about meat. I personally do not feed table scrap meat. However the occasional tin of cat food is fine but to qualify that I used to be vegetarian for many years and I know that if I was your partner and caught you giving the hens tinned meat and not offering me the chance to chose between eating their eggs that week or not I would be really really cross.

I have put them on growers pellets in the past but could not say hand on heart that they got over their moult any faster than on normal layers pellets. As suggested plenty of greens, the occasional tin of tuna or salmon in water (NO SALT) baked potato skins etc and they will be just fine.

I found the below about Quorn..now I'm not saying you should not feed it but I do know that my hens will not eat any kind of fungi be it bog standard field mushrooms from Tesco or wild fungi in their paddock or on rotting wood in the hedgerow.

"Mycoprotein is the main ingredient in all Quorn products. It's made from a member of the fungi family (like mushrooms and truffles) and is a high-quality meat-free protein that's naturally low in fat, with very few calories. It's high in dietary fibre (important for your digestive system) and has the essential amino acids your body needs, with no cholesterol or trans fats at all.

This means that Quorn ingredients and meals tend to be lower in saturated fats and calories than similar foods made with meat."

[ehs284]

Ours eat Quorn quite often as we eat a lot of it ourselves. They enjoy it. Simple rule - the more expensive it is; the more they like it 

The Quorn description is a bit, er, misleading. It is a 'fungus', but has no visual resemblence to mushrooms or truffles. Intended for food and grown under controls then processed, it is safe (although some people have a bad reaction to it) and doesn't look or smell like a fungus so probably the birds don't associate it with fungi which they avoid.

On a lighter note: Most of ours are moulting and look awful. Let the monsters out of their pen this windy morning. They have an automatic door to the coop, but are kept in the pen for a while so that they eat pellets. They run madly from the shelter of the pen to an exposed path and I watched as one reached the wind blown area. It was like a Monty Python war film. This poor bird seemed to explode as all the loose feathers suddenly tore free.

[Junie]

Wouldn't feed mine quorn - it's over twice the price here than in UK ( lucky to have found it in an english shop an hour away). Too rare for the chooks.  May try the Tuna though - If I can find it in springwater

[evie2]

Tuna, rice and peas, the chooks love  it