Our flock is just over a year old now (except the roo, who is just under), but this is their first round of adult molting. Our roo started molting about 3 weeks ago. No big deal, he's been steadily dropping feathers ever since, but in nothing epic and he hasn't even gotten ratty looking. However, we knew it was a harbinger of things to come with our girls...we just didn't know the scale.
Our EE started noticeably dropping a few feathers last week. But in the past 3 days, she's dumped almost 40% of her plumage! She looks like she's been beaten with a tennis racket and when they were free ranging in the yard last night you could tell everywhere she went by the clumps of feathers all over the place. She's started walking curiously upright, like a roo, but we think that's because her back end is almost entirely bare...and yesterday her whole tail fell out. My DH and I just can't believe how fast she's dropping feathers! She keeps going and she's going to be a bald chicken.
Our BA and DOM are molting lightly (for now)...barely noticeable at all and they and the EE have quit laying. Our wellie and BR don't seem to notice and have been picking up the laying slack while not losing a single feather, yet.
We feed them all higher protein flock raiser for feed already, so hopefully that'll help with the feather recovery. Plus, they get any scrap meats and get to forage in the yard daily. Everyone is eating and mostly acting normal, but is there anything we may need to watch out for during their fluffy mess-making?
Our EE started noticeably dropping a few feathers last week. But in the past 3 days, she's dumped almost 40% of her plumage! She looks like she's been beaten with a tennis racket and when they were free ranging in the yard last night you could tell everywhere she went by the clumps of feathers all over the place. She's started walking curiously upright, like a roo, but we think that's because her back end is almost entirely bare...and yesterday her whole tail fell out. My DH and I just can't believe how fast she's dropping feathers! She keeps going and she's going to be a bald chicken.
Our BA and DOM are molting lightly (for now)...barely noticeable at all and they and the EE have quit laying. Our wellie and BR don't seem to notice and have been picking up the laying slack while not losing a single feather, yet.
We feed them all higher protein flock raiser for feed already, so hopefully that'll help with the feather recovery. Plus, they get any scrap meats and get to forage in the yard daily. Everyone is eating and mostly acting normal, but is there anything we may need to watch out for during their fluffy mess-making?