For the new folks that haven't experienced a molt yet.

[donrae]

That's just pitiful

.

I have a good before and after shot...same bird, believe it or not...





and that was even after her feathers had started growing in again. You can tell by the ice in the water it was winter, but she did just fine.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I love her beard, or lack thereof. They look pathetic while molting, but then they come back so beautiful again.

My hatchery BR has yet to molt, and hers is usually a good one.

 

[aart]

That's just pitiful

.

I have a good before and after shot...same bird, believe it or not...





and that was even after her feathers had started growing in again. You can tell by the ice in the water it was winter, but she did just fine.

What kind of mix is that...looks like a Welsummer with a beard and a funky comb!

 

[favacluck]

 

[vpatt]

Oh my......when this happens to my girls I am supposed to give them extra protein, is that right?

 

[donrae]

Quote:
She was one of my EE/brown Leghorn crosses. I put them under my home made bsl rooster for a few years and had colorful, barred hens who usually laid green eggs.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Oh my......when this happens to my girls I am supposed to give them extra protein, is that right?

Yes, extra protein will help them through the molt.

 

[Vickis Girls]

This is my girls'first molt, and I think two are just beginning to grow feathers their back. The third hen is just now starting to lose hers. Here are my questions: Is it true this happens each year? Is it always the same time of year? Is it always just as "hard" of a molt each year?

 

[vpatt]

This is my girls'first molt, and I think two are just beginning to grow feathers their back. The third hen is just now starting to lose hers. Here are my questions: Is it true this happens each year? Is it always the same time of year? Is it always just as "hard" of a molt each year? 

I have those same questions. I have four girls that (according to what I was told) are the right age for moulting. I was told they are 2-3 years old. Only one of them looks like she had her feathers trimmed in a new, shorter style and I'm pretty certain she is not laying right now. The other three just look like they are losing a feather here or there and they have all been seen in the nest and singing their egg song. The other seven do not seem to be moulting and are all probably 3-5 months old. They are not laying and one of them may never lay an egg.....I am expecting to hear her crow any time, lol.

 

[Happy Chooks]

This is my girls'first molt, and I think two are just beginning to grow feathers their back. The third hen is just now starting to lose hers. Here are my questions: Is it true this happens each year? Is it always the same time of year? Is it always just as "hard" of a molt each year?

Yes, it happens every year in the fall, as the daylight hours decrease. Not all of mine have molted yet. I have some that are right in the middle of their molt, and others that are still laying for me, they will molt later.

No, it's not necessarily as hard of a molt every year. It depends on how tattered their feathers are. My hatchery Barred Rock (pictured last year in this thread) looks perfectly fine this year. She looks like she didn't need a hard molt this year. (it's just more fun taking pictures of the hens that molt hard)