This week I found a white egg in the nest box! Hurray! Olivia is officially done molting. I know this because she’s my only white egg layer. It’s been a couple months since I’ve seen a white egg out there…she’s been too busy with her chicken makeover to worry about laying eggs!
The poor girl was hardest hit in this fall’s molting process. For a while she was almost naked. She looked pretty scraggly. I gave her extra treats. I fed her yogurt and scrambled eggs. And when she was shivering, I even made her a little chicken sweater to keep her warm.
Now she’s finally back to laying eggs. And she’s looking quite smashing in her new shiny feathers! I think she must think so, too. She’s been strutting around like a girl who’s been on a shopping spree. She’s looking fine and she knows it.
I’ve still got a couple of naked-butted chickens out in the coop, but slowly, egg production is picking up again as they all make it over the molting hump. It’s got to be a lot of work, growing a whole new set of feathers every year. I think my girls like it, though; they’re quite fond of the extra treats and high protein breakfasts they get while molting.
Such spoiled chickens. It’s probably a good thing that I’ve only got 9 of them.
- The New Olivia…molting done..shiny and new.
