5 Treats to Help Feather Regrowth from Molting

In the spring, some hens molt from the longer days. Normally you hear of the  fall molt when hens are shedding their old feathers for new, more resistant feathers to face the winter with. The funny thing is many molt in the middle of the winter also, why would that be a good time to be half naked? When a hen(or rooster) starts their molt it could take from 2 weeks to 4 months for those chickens to grow back their new feathers, resulting in molting through the cold season.





Though chickens can molt anytime of the year do to different things, the most common time are fall and spring for their yearly molt. The chicken starts loosing feathers down its neck and head until it reaches the breast, back, and tail feathers. My hens, though, tend to loose their feathers on their backs first, do to my roosters aiding the molting process. When a molting season approaches you'll find it out by looking in the coop and seeing feathers everywhere, looking like there had been a massive pillow fight in the coop. Some new chicken keepers even suspect a predator attack, and run around frantically counting their chickens.

 



Some of my hens when they were molting, they lost a lot of feathers on their backs and head



Some hens go through a soft molt, this is when they loose a feather at a time, you hardly notice they are molting. Some, though, go through a worst time and have a hard molt, when they loose most of their feathers practically instantly!! Most hens who have hard molts take a while to regrow their feathers, while chickens that go through soft molts regrow theirs faster. Growing new feathers is a lot of work, and some stop laying to conserve energy and protein to regrow feathers. Feathers are made up of mostly protein, so feeding treats that have extra protein is good during the molting season. You can sometimes buy chicken feed that helps regrow feathers at your local feed store too. Here are 5 treats filled with protein to help feather regrowth.

5 treats to help feather regrowth

Here are some treats my hens love during molting, just make sure not to over feed on treats!!


Cooked Eggs

Cooked eggs are a great source of protein and are easy to cook up!! My hens love this and like to have it every morning, but I do limit it too. I scramble the eggs or cook them so it doesn't encourage egg eating, a terrible habit hard to break. I love to add different items to the scrambled eggs like cracked corn, scratch, and mealworms for a boost of more protein. Cooked eggs are filled with protein and nutrients to help feather repair and growth.


Mealworms
Mealworms are another protein filled snack that is great for molting hens and they love them! Let me say that again, THEY LOVE THEM!! My hens get such a kick out of mealworms and it is so good for them to have when molting! You can usually find bags of mealworms at your local feed store. Just don't overfeed them with mealworms, which is easy to do!


Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds are filled with protein and chickens eat them right up! You can usually find sunflower seeds in scratch mixes and your feed store, which you can use. You can even try growing your own sunflowers and harvest the heads with the seeds in it.



Peanut Butter 
Peanut butter? Yes!! It is filled with protein and chickens like it!! You can put peanut butter on fruits and give to your chickens extra protein, but remember to have water near!! Make sure to use all natural peanut butter without preservatives or chemicals.


Insects
Crickets and bugs are a main source of protein which chickens enjoy without help!! You can buy crickets from pet stores if your chickens don't free range.