Mothering A Molting Hen
by Rachel Tayse • November 3, 2011 • City Chickens • 8 Comments
This is the face of our molting Australorp hen, Austra. Her pin-like feathers look prickly and uncomfortable. Austra is a generally affable character but molting makes her seem frenzied. I say comforting things to her and only joke about the awkwardness of her feather loss behind closed doors like every good chicken mom.
Her roost in the morning appears as though a pillow exploded overnight. The nest box hasn’t held an egg for over a week. I added excess bedding to be sure our chicken stays warm despite feather loss.
As Austra helps to put the garden beds to rest, one witnesses the full molt. Her downy feathers are showing beneath the missing top feathers. She is eating constantly to fuel growing new clothes. I am feeding her scraps from the kitchen as always and tossing bird seed into her run for extra fun and nutrition.
On the upside, when the molt is complete in a few weeks, her singed tail feathers will be replaced. Our Austra will be returned to her former iridescent black glory, not to molt again for another year.
Have you ever watched a hen molt? I still find everything about chicken rearing fascinating.
Added to Simple Lives Thursday.
Poor chicken losing her feathers when it’s getting chilly.
That leads to a question. How often do you change the bedding, and what do you do with all the bedding, feathers, poop etc? Do you throw it out, or do you compost it?
We practice deep bedding, which means adding more bedding to the top and allowing the base to compost itself. We usually add new stuff when the old gets soiled or wet, every two weeks or so.
The Columbus Department of Heath requires that all waste and bedding be rinsed down the sanitary sewer or placed in the trash. If we were in a rural zone, I would compost in a second because it’s great for soil making!
This chicken is really poor the bedding is so messy..He cant found out the egg because there’s a lot of feathers..
Well Rachel, it looks like a wonderful chicken. Your pet?
Actually chicken’s put tons of things on the nest to keep the eggs nice and warm!
Neither of the two remaining flock-mates here are molting, but we’re getting ready to move them in with their new flock so maybe the stress? Love the pics of Austra (if a bit awkward)!
I am so excited, I am looking to get chickens after the first of the year. That way I have time to build their coop. We have 5 kids and us 2 adults, as is for breakfast we use about 14 eggs. Just wondering about how many chickens would we need to get that for every other day? I love your site. Thanks so much for all the great info!
Thanks Sarah
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