Yes, the older gals are in their first molt. Two are in worse shape, but definitely, all three are muddling through without too much distress. We have a lot of live mealworms ready for them to consume which are high in protein. I read that we should try to stay above 16% protein, trying to get closer to 18% if possible in their feed and limit crack corn or oatmeal to less than 10% or it will dilute the amount of protein that they get in their feed. I read that feathers are 85% protein! But, it's not just "protein" but keratin filament protein, which is the same stuff our skin, hair and nails consist of. So, the little extra protein in their diet gets converted directly into making those new feathers.
We have put the hens back onto the organic "developer" feed which is about 16%. I think (just thinking out loud here) if we stay with the developer but do supplement it with cooked eggs and mealworms, we should be fairly safe in that regard. We just don't want to over do with the protein, because that can also be bad by causing diarrhea.
We need to rake all the feathers out of their pen so that they have access to the pasture!
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