molting question

[Cha Cha Chicken]

sorry for double posting.... my previous post was caught awash in the vast sea of new posts.

was wondering if My 12 week old girls will start molting like full grown chickens or will they go through a partial molt because they arent adult?
they have just a teeny bit of feather loss.....

 

[IroquoisEgg]

I am by no means an expert on the subject but my understanding is that the young ones go through a partial molt, and the big full molt is around 18 months or so. So, next year at this time they'll be going through a full molt.

 

[Happy Chooks]

They will go through a juvenile molt. You'll see feathers around, but they won't look bare.

 

[Sunshine Chick 1]

Mine are molting and I am trying to find out how long they molt? this is our first real molting. I have gone from 22-24 eggs a day to some days only 8. My regular customers are getting upset cause I don't have fresh eggs for them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you read these. They go into pretty good detail about molting and what you can expect. There even have pictures!

Cha Cha, I don't think they address your real question though. I agree with Happy Chooks. They will lose a lot of feathers but will not look all that bad.

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

 

[Sunshine Chick 1]

Thank you Ridge Runner. That was very educational reading. This is our first molting cause our hens will be 2 in March so they seem to be right on track with what I read. Thanks again and have a GREAT day.