Golden Comets losing feathers

madcar

In the Brooder
Jul 19, 2015
70
1
48
Canada
400
400
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These are great birds and the best layers. Lay eggs everyday. Super friendly and come running over to me and start talking a lot. My question is they are a year old I believe and they(4) are losing feather on their butts and just below on their stomachs only. They were like that when I purchased them last month. The lady said they might be moulting. They aren't losing any other feathers. Seems odd to me. There is no parasites that I can see, no vent issues and seem happy and in good health otherwise. As I said, they lay consistently every single day. Any ideas what is causing the feather loss?
 
It looks like molt to me. All birds molt. With chickens, it is usually the second autumn and each thereafter. Feathers get old, brittle and break so they need to be regrown and it is more economical to do it all at once and in time to have a nice tight winter coat for cold weather.

Normally birds won't lay eggs during molt because it takes so much protein to regrow feathers and not enough left to produce eggs. That is also the time when the reproductive tract rejuvenates itself.
 

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