Quickening The Molt

With approximately 2000 feathers on each bird, the summer snow is really a mess! It is so light and fluffy that as I try to sweep them up they float away to a clean spot! Thank goodness they can not elude the shop vac!! I can't wait to get this years molt over, can you?

Only fit birds will molt and failure to molt is a sign of illness but the speed at which they molt is dependent not only on their health but also on their age, diet and weather. The later a chick hatches the quicker it will molt. Nature says to these late bloomers, "you have arrived at the party late, now catch up". In my rollers, my best singers are generally the late bloomers, who get weaned only to start the molt and skip the baby twittering.

With feathers being primarily protein, supplying extra protein in nestling food helps speed the process initially. My recipe for molting nestling food was printed July 20th on the blog.

When a broad tract of pin feathers are clearly seen on the top of the head, it is time to cut back on the amount and frequency of protein and increase the carbohydrates in the diet. A small amount of egg containing nestling food should be fed once a day and continue till the molt is finished. After the hens quit trying to nest and showing signs of molting on their wing butts, the hens, like the other birds, get the nestling food once daily. Immediately, their appearance improves better than a trip to the spa!

Its time to increase the portion of carbohydrate in the diet by feeding either regular human oatmeal or steel cut oats. If you are not feeding white bread, this is a good time to feed it once daily to tame the birds, and help finish the molt. Canary seed should be increased and continue increasing in the seed mix and decreasing fattening sunflower pieces for most birds which are shown for type or color.

Refined singers such as German Rollers need the rape seed increased and canary decreased to promote high quality sound at the expense of a quick finish. They also still will need some sunflower pieces and bread to fatten them up for show training.

All additional lighting should either be off or set at no more than nine hours daily. Once song training begins, competition song birds should be on 10.5 hours. Moving up to a maximum of 11 hours per day can be done if necessary for more frequency but some quality may be lost. Day length must be consistent and only moving forward once song training begins.

Falling temperatures signaling the season change is also very helpful. Last night, a cold front came through dropping temperatures from the high of 88 to a low overnight of 56. Great time to open the screen covered windows and let the cool air signal the birds that its time to start getting out their winter coat!

Hand Feeding AGAIN

Mother German Roller hen fed the August 16th hatching chick the first few days but greatly decreased her feeding after that. So here we go again, hand feeding and it is nearly September.

This morning I noticed a long flight feather so it looks like she is finally calling it quits for this year. Unfortunately, when my husband tries to feed the chick, it tries to hide and he gets rather frustrated and worried that if he doesn't eat for him, he will not survive. In spite of its hiding and not eating well when I am working second shift, the parents are feeding some and it is growing just fine.

This Weeks Breeder Reports, Questions and Comments

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Have you been wondering "Whats Happened to Big Bird"?





This has been a very hard summer for me. My fourteen year old Belgian Malinois Tosca, has a life-taking cancer in the pectoral muscle on his chest. His first surgery was on his birthday June 14th.

After two months, the cancer reappeared and since his chest x-rays were clear, he had a second surgery on August 19th. This time they took the maximum chest tissue and recovery has been much slower.

Two weeks after the surgery, in spite of a lot of fluid, the vet took out the stitches. This resulting in bleeding from the stitches and two trips to the vet that day to get fluid drained and more bandages...These times are never easy....

Mixed Blessing

Records are made to be broken! Previous to this year, my latest hatch was July 4th. This year, two German Roller chicks were hatched on July 15th. These chicks did fine, hen feed them totally with no help, and they are now weaned.

Thinking the breeding season was finally over, I turned off all artificial lighting. To my surprise, yesterday, this German Roller chick hatched! But with no artificial lighting, it is very unlikely that the hen will feed.

Being the optimist I am, I turned my lights back on for 9 hours a day to give the hen some encouragement to feed. My first song competition being in late October, and most of my birds just over half way through the molt, that is all the extra lighting I can provide without messing up my other birds.

Today, another chick hatched and it looks like one more egg might hatch. But sadly, this morning, I found the chick on the left on the floor. And it has an unhealthy yellow color. In spite of my attempts to save it with hand feeding, it will likely die.

When I heard the male singing a couple of weeks ago and the hen started laying, I wish, I would have split them up and taken the nest away. It is easier to throw away eggs without knowing then see chicks die because they hatched just too late to survive...

Mousey, Is She A Girl Or A Boy?

Mousey is One of the Late Blooming Stafford Mosaic Chicks.


After my husband Pat reported that Mousey was big enough to shave, I stopped babying it and sure enough it finally started eating on its own. Among its favorites are regular oatmeal, sunflower sprouts, corn and finally egg food.

This morning, Pat took the car in for servicing and I can't wait for him to get back so I can show him these photos, Mousey is not shaving but instead SHE is wearing lipstick!!

This Weeks Breeder Reports, Questions and Tips

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Tip

What's For Breakfast?

In addition to peas and corn and sunflower sprouts, I have added sprouted wheat. I can buy it directly from the farmer as he harvests it or from the feed store or a health food store.

Wash the wheat thoroughly and cover with water for a couple of hours, drain and leave in the bowl for easy sprouting. Rinse daily or as needed if it driers out.

When I am in a hurry, it all gets scrambled!

Critical Concept: Increasing the proportion of dietary carbohydrates after the mid-point of the molt will help finish the molt!


Squirrel enjoying a sunrise tomato breakfast in my back yard! Glad he chose a Celebrity tomato variety and not my precious Heirlooms!

Creating a No Fly Zone

Are some of your birds too thin?

Birds that are too thin are high risk to die during the molt. It is important to provide special conditions for thin birds that promote weight gain, just gaining a few grams can restore their health and save their life!

Separate out thin birds from medium or heavy birds and group the thin birds in as few per cage as possible. Then place numerous perches and extra feed dishes and water that are easily accessible to the birds so that birds will hop around rather than fly.

Watch the birds to determine how many perches are necessary. In my breeder cages, four perches place in the lower middle level of the cage keeps them hopping but still avoids letting them hanging on the wires. If they hang on the wires, you will have to raise the perch level.