I’ve been going a bit crazy lately. As you know I have two websites, this one, Backyard Hencam, and Central Coast Gardening. Keep in mind, I’m not technically gifted. In fact, I’m barely functional. While I was updating the two websites, I ran into all kinds of technical problems and my poor hens have suffered from neglect. They’ve missed my company and their egg production is down from 2-3 eggs per day to 0-1.
Now I don’t expect an egg every day from my hens. “Take it easy,” I tell them. “Pace yourselves.” I want them to lay less and lay longer. I won’t have the heart to put them down or make them into soup when they finish their laying career, so the longer they lay, the better. A bunch of old “layless” hens doesn’t excite me but I love these girls. They are pets.
Well, while I’ve been throughly involved in updating my websites, Poppy and Tulip have been throughly involved in shedding their feathers. This process, called moulting (or molting) is also known as sloughing, or shedding. Birds do it, dogs do it, reptiles do it and my hens do it. It takes a month or two for them to moult and regrow their beautiful new covering. Until then, I’ll have to make do with fewer eggs.
Until their feather are regrown, the hens will be getting a serving of tuna and sunflower seeds each day which are supposed to have nutritional ingredients that will help them regrow feathers. Poor girls. Setting on eggs and moulting are the two events in a healthy hens life that interrupt their egg-laying process. They’ll just have to endure it and I will just have to buy eggs at the farmers market.
Cadbury, my EE is also in an ugly, heavy molt. I’m glad to know about tuna AND sunflower seeds. Do you give hulled sunflower seeds or will the Girls crack them themselves?
My White laced Wyandotte, Princess, is just starting her molt too!
My Americauna looks so pathetic I just wanted a little reassurance that the appearance of her quills around her neck was part of how she ought to look, rather than me ignoring some major health problem. I too am interested in whether they can crack sunflower seeds. I know that my birds ate the shelled sunflowers that filtered out of my wild bird feeder, but I wasn’t sure if that might pose them some trouble. I enjoy your web page–you’ve got a nice writing voice.
Thanks for reading my blog, Mary. Glad you like it!
Evidently whole sunflower seeds are fine for hens and have nutrients to help them grow feathers.