Kevin,

Carol Lloyd, the reporter for that Chron article, might be able to put you in touch with the Colin.

Last winter 3 of my hens molted and stopped laying for a couple of months. I didn’t change their diet, but a reference book I have, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, talks about protein and molting. The author says feathers are 85% protein so a bird’s need for dietary protein goes up when it grows new feathers. She suggests that when the birds are molting, give them a handful of dry cat food every other day until they’re done molting. She says it needs to be cat food (not dog food) because the cat food protein is all animal protein that has the type of amino acids the birds need during molting. Dog food has a lot of grain so isn’t as rich in those amino acids. I’m sure there’s a more sustainable solution than buying a bag of cat food! But that might spark some ideas about what to try.

I had been getting a few soft-shelled eggs recently so suspected my hens weren’t getting enough calcium. When I was passing through Pt. Reyes Station recently, I bought some crushed oyster shells (15 cents a pound) at Toby’s and now keep a cup of it in the coop. The birds snack on it occasionally and so far, no more soft-shelled eggs. I also feed the eggshells back to the birds (dried out on the counter and then crushed) to give them extra calcium, but I think they needed more of a supplement since our yard’s been wiped clean of snails, beetles & other critters that would naturally provide it.

Jennifer