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Molting...What should it look like?

post #1 of 4
11/15/11 at 10:24am
Thread Starter 

A few of my chickens are dropping feathers...
This is my first year owning chickens and I have never seen a chicken "molt" before...
I don't know what it looks like...or should look like....

Is this there a time of year it normally happens?

Do you guys have any pictures of what it looks like?

-God's Walky talky
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-God's Walky talky
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post #2 of 4
11/15/11 at 10:53am

Hi!

They can look terrible, half naked really, but then they can also just look a bit scraggly.  Usually, they have several mini molts as they grow to maturity, losing those baby feathers, and they don't have their first full molt until their second autumn.

You can really have a very naked bird if they go through a hard, fast molt, and then some just have a more gradual molt.

It really varies!

Proud owner of some nice show quality Buckeyes and Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks.  I love gardening and being outdoors.  I'm lucky to have a great family, and two cute dogs.  I live out in the country on six wooded acres and it's just paradise!  (Except the mortgage payment and bills, of course)

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Proud owner of some nice show quality Buckeyes and Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks.  I love gardening and being outdoors.  I'm lucky to have a great family, and two cute dogs.  I live out in the country on six wooded acres and it's just paradise!  (Except the mortgage payment and bills, of course)

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post #3 of 4
11/15/11 at 11:00am

You might find these first two helpful.  I think together they describe the process fairly well. 

The third one, the molting contest, is for fun.  This shows how bad it can look.  Don't let it scare you.  As Chicmom said, sometimes they just look a little rough.  You would not be sure they are molting if it were not for the feathers laying around.

Mississippi State describes molting
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_feathers.html

Kansas State feather loss
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/mf2308.pdf

Molting Contest
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=394556

Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought....Abraham Lincoln (Freedom carries responsibility)

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.....Judge Learned Hand  (The more sure your are that your way is the only right way, the more likely you are wrong.)
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Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought....Abraham Lincoln (Freedom carries responsibility)

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.....Judge Learned Hand  (The more sure your are that your way is the only right way, the more likely you are wrong.)
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post #4 of 4
11/15/11 at 1:02pm
Thread Starter 

HA HA HA HA! lol

The last link is FANTASTIC! tongue
Those pictures make my chickens molting problem look good!

I feel MUCH better about my birds now...  THANKS!



I think this poor chicken is by far the funniest looking one on that whole molting topic:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/38176_alex_003.jpg


Edited by Steadfast - 11/15/11 at 1:10pm
-God's Walky talky
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-God's Walky talky
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