I want to apologize for not blogging for several months. 2015 has been the worst year of my life so far. The sudden death of my Mom knocked me off my feet. I am still reeling from that. Add to that family illness and crisis and another death and blogging got lost in the shuffle. I am trying to regain my balance and decided to blog about the girls.
Feathers are everywhere! Mabel's neck is only as thick as a pencil. Barbara looks like a Zombie. Scary!! But we know molting is just the way chickens get ready for winter, getting rid of summer feathers and getting their winter coat. Wish I could lose weight as easy.
Barbara stopped laying a few months ago, which we think is just because of her age which is almost 4. Mabel kept on laying until the her feathers started to fly last week. For the last week, no eggs.
Honestly, that's OK with us. These girls have worked hard and laid eggs for the better part of 4 years. That takes a lot of energy, not to mention must be painful. We love them and are happy to have them as bug eaters, and non-laying garden art.
They are a joyful presence in our yard, and to help them cope with molting, which I think as the equivalent of PMS that can last for weeks.
First of all, then need a higher percentage of protein while they are molting, like up to18%. Yogurt, tuna, car food, dried mealy worms, cottage cheese, eggs etc. will give them the energy to generate those new feathers. Talk sweet to them and give them treats.
Secondly, try not to stress them further by holding them more or moving them around, or God forbid introducing new chickens into the flock. Did you know that chickens can become cannibalistic? To use the PMS example, ladies, think about being full on PMS and having your mother in law surprise you with a visit, intending to stay indefinetly. Uh Huh, you see where I am coming from.
