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Nature's Cruel Joke

When I’m putting on long johns and an old down coat the chickens are shedding their feathers. It seems odd that when the weather gets colder and the days shorter the chickens often decide it is time to molt. Molting is the process in which the chickens loose their feathers and to only grow back new feathers. During the molting process chickens cease to lay eggs as their energy needs to go into the process of growing new feathers.

In our coops we use hanging feeders for the cracked grains. At the top of the feeder is a large round opening large enough for a chicken to jump into.
We currently have one molting almost featherless chicken with a few stubbly new feathers starting to grow. Each day when I go to the coop she is in the feeder. Her head peaks out as if she is totally embarrassed by her appearance but still wants to see what is going on. I haven’t noticed any of the other chickens cackling at her or teasing her, although I’m not watching them every minute. Maybe as the cooler air whips through the coop she could be donning the feeder just to stay warm. Most likely she probably has massive cravings for the proteins in the grain and is trying to hog all the feed for herself as she needs to speed up the new feather growth before the snow flies.

For us humans the most ironic part of this scenario is that we want to start getting cozy in our houses and do more baking. We want to fill the house with wonderful aromas and sweet treats. As farmers we want to be able to provide those eggs. We all want more eggs from the same chickens that are hiding in the feeders refusing to come out and lay eggs.

Dale who was raised on a dairy farm swears that the cows when listening to rock & roll gave more milk. I’m considering resorting to playing music for them to convince them to grow feathers faster and lay eggs. I’m not sure what music the chickens like if any. Next year I may even resort to freezing the bugs I catch during the summer to give them more protein. For now we will just wait for the chickens to grow back new feathers and hope they start laying eggs again.
Marian Listwak — White Pine Farm