molting age

[mac-ali eggs]

At what age do the birds molt? does the breed make any differance? thanks

 

[canada-goose]

It depends on lots of factors including, but not limited to:
time of year,
type of feed,
breed,
age,
whether the chicken is in the mood

In other words, it is often quite random.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have 5 chickens and 2 of them started molting at 9 months. 1 of them molted much worse than the other. They started laying again after 3 1/2 months. I imagine the other 3 will molt this fall.

 

[donnavee]

I had a EE do a partial molt at 7 mo - I think it was caused by the stress of moving to a new coop. Then a RIR molted in Jan at 9 mo, just her neck & tail feathers. Again, I think stress may have caused it, she became egg bound in Dec and as new chicken owners, we didn't handle treating her as gracefully as we should have. But she survived in spite of us, layed an egg and then went into a molt. Both of them started laying again after about 2 mo. The other 6, all the same age haven't molted yet but I guess they may in the fall.