The Big Molt Down Continues

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! 

Sixteen Months - Melting or Molting?

The one-year old Orloffs are in a full on feather dropping molt. Don't know if all the very hot weather over the past two weeks set this in to motion, or the fact that they are getting ready for the fall... this week was much cooler. They have all stopped laying eggs.  We were only getting about two eggs per week from each one, which we attributed to the extreme warm temps this summer.

While the ladies don't look any less feathered, in all reality, it is obvious in their coop and pen that feathers are a flying off their bodies at a rapid rate. I didn't want to stress them out any more than they already are, so I tried to take the snap shots outside their pen which kinda put a bit of a blur through the middle of the photos. 

Playing Catch UP and no Ketchup

The Orloffs will be twenty-two weeks on Wednesday. Here's a couple photos of one of my favorites, and then someone else decided to squeeze in for a close up!  No egg layers yet. Nesting boxes are open and ready with lots of fresh timothy hay.  

Chickens are notorious  for knocking their feed on the ground, every chance they get.  Well, that's fine and good if its crack corn or something, but the expensive stuff breaks into such fine dust after it's trampled on, that it basically becomes mouse food ;( 

Last spring I decided to try my hand at creating my own chicken feeder that can be hung up, not too easy to access by little critters at night and rain doesn't saturate the food. I've been patiently waiting for the guys to decide to try it out.... Today, they have installed my home-made rain-proof hanging feeder.  I need to tweek a few things, but basically I made it from a $4,00 chick feeder, five-gallon bucket and lid, some 1" PVC pipe, a plastic corrugated piece of signboard and a few screws to hold things in place. It holds up to 10 pounds of food at a time.   The other feeder that I made is built inside the coop, and it works real well, so far. (My apologies for the poor graphics on the last image. The angle was difficult to work with through the wire mesh. )