Topic of the Week - Managing Your Chickens' Molt

[Folly's place]

It's much easier and more cost effective to feed a 20% all flock diet, with oyster shell in a separate dish, rather than trying to amend a 16% high calcium layer diet for molting birds, who may not be producing many eggs during this time. And sardines? Again, used to be cheap, but not now, and also there's that calcium...
We have a number of white Chanteclers, so molting time looks amazing on the grass right now!
And some birds will be pretty ragged in January, because that's when they decide to molt. It's fine, they do manage okay.
Mary

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

It's much easier and more cost effective to feed an20% all flock diet, with oyster shell in a separate dish, rather than trying to amend a 16% high calcium layer diet for molting birds, who may not be producing many eggs during this time. And sardines? Again, used to be cheap, but not now, and also there's that calcium...
We have a number of white Chanteclers, so molting time looks amazing on the grass right now!
And some birds will be pretty ragged in January, because that's when they decide to molt. It's fine, they do manage okay.
Mary

Thanks Mary. I appreciate your knowledge and time. Hopefully TSC sells a 20% all flock pellet

 

[ShrekDawg]

This is a great thread but I can’t help but laughing at the fact that the chicken in the OP looks like a dinosaur

 

[Ascholten]

The funny thing is, you can have 6 of the same breed, and a few of them will molt fairly constantly thru the entire thing and yet 1 or 2 will just PLOP the feathers just seem to drop off one night !

The cockatoo is molting now too, at least his ass is. They tend to continually be replacing feathers but it seems like parts of the body at a time. Now it's the tail feathers dropping out, two months ago he was a bit cranky because his entire head / plume was full of pin feathers. I wonder which is easier to tolerate, a little cranky at a time but more often or one big BIG grumpy for a few weeks but it's once a year?

Aaron

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

The funny thing is, you can have 6 of the same breed, and a few of them will molt fairly constantly thru the entire thing and yet 1 or 2 will just PLOP the feathers just seem to drop off one night !

The cockatoo is molting now too, at least his ass is. They tend to continually be replacing feathers but it seems like parts of the body at a time. Now it's the tail feathers dropping out, two months ago he was a bit cranky because his entire head / plume was full of pin feathers. I wonder which is easier to tolerate, a little cranky at a time but more often or one big BIG grumpy for a few weeks but it's once a year?

Aaron

Thats a good question Aaron. Personally I would rather go for the BIG grumpy once a year for a few weeks.

 

[Hensintexas]

I feed 20% Flock Raiser all year to everyone, and feel that most birds molt faster/ better than when I fed a 16% feed.
Right now there are some hens with bare patches, look ugly!
Mary

Mine stay on 20% most of the time. It seems to help stop pecking and feather-eating. None of them are in a full blown molt yet.

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

Search for chicken saddles on etsy or ebay

Amazon has saddles too.

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

I had to giggle when i logged on to BYC this morning to do some more research on chickens molting, and what do you know, its the topic of the week! Of course it is! Thank you kindly ByC. You know i love you all. Anyway, my 5 gold laced wyanottes are about 16 months old and we have what looks like a molt starting. (For one chicken) I can notice because of the amount of feathers all around the run. It also seems like the chickens have less of a tolerance for one another. Even best friends are quick to snap . I think its important when discussing molting to consider breed, location, and diet. This is just my opinion. My 5 gals are located in CT and free range up to 4hrs a day. Feed is 16% layer pellets and a side of real oyster shells. Fall season is here so the weather is getting cooler and its almost time to get things winterized! (Sry new england folks) i know your thinkin' it too! Fortunately, preparing for cold new england winter is similar to molting preparation. Upping the protein being the goal.
In order to face molting I will do the following: please offer expertise, advice if possible!
* offer 18% protein feed as a mash morning & evening and leaving the 16% pellets as free choice in run.
* black oil sunflower seeds as a little treat a couple of times a day
* 1 hard boiled egg mixed with wet mash or as a little treat
* today i purchased sardines in water for the first time. I will keep these on hand and offer them at the end of this month depending on how the molting is going. They are expensive and dont stay well in the fridge for more than a couple days. After our first new england winter 2021; this year, i will store a couple of cans of sardines to offer once a month.
* i will find a perfect molt muffin recipe and include that immediately.
* i will offer the save a chic electrolytes once a month through this winter by adding to to their warm, wet mash.
My questions:
* what happens if a molting chicken doesnt have enough feathers to keep warm through very cold new england winter? What can i do to help short of bringing them in the house!?
* what are other edible choices to help a molting chicken?
Thanks everyone and may your flocks thrive always!

I give sardines, salmon, tuna, quality cat food, and BSF larvae. Watch for sales on canned fish and stock up. My girls also steal my dogs food when they can.
Increase the protein percentage of their food too. These things all help.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

- How do you tell if they are molting or infested with parasites?
It is easy for me to tell whether they are molting or infested with parasites. For one, I take immediate notice of how it is fall or close to fall－the month where chickens begin to molt. And not only chickens, as I birdwatch and therefore around the same time my chickens molt, I see birds in my area begin to lose their feathers. A second thing I notice is how there is simply nothing crawling on them like you would see with mites or any alike parasites. And one of the most obvious things I have saved for last is how mites affect chickens over time－while a molt can happen as quick as over night. A few days ago, I woke up to seeing my rooster without his sickle feathers, completely rumpless. And his hackles were beginning to fall off, and so was his beard. Even if he is going through a strange molt sequence, it is relatively easy to tell whether it is parasites or molt.

- Feed supplementation - do you change their diet in any way?
I typically do not change my chickens' diet in any way, but I do give them a lot more chicken feed and cat feed than I usually do. Before you ask, I have found that the cat feed, as long as the chickens like it and it is the right type without any non-natural coloring and all of that other stuff, improves my chickens' overall health and helps them lay better. I also provide them with a few snacks here and there, which they usually don't consume, but in the fall they seem to be hungrier due to molt－they tore up the watermelon I gave them yesterday.

- What do you do to prepare for emergencies during molting?
I am unsure of what this question exactly means. As far as I know, chickens are no more prone to emergencies when they're molting than when they are not molting. Of course, the bare patches on a hen can become easy spaces for a higher-ranking hen to target her due to the pecking order, but that is natural and I do not mess with it.

 

[Ponypoor]

How do you tell they are molting vs parasites

Your coop will look like a feather pillow has exploded inside the coop.

Parasites will cause feathers to be picked out here and there.

Food supplements?

No, but I give anyone who is really stressed and not eating well, special treats like scrambled eggs.

Preparing for emergencies

If there any issues with the molting birds I try not to handle them too much as they are usually very uncomfortable, if I do have to handle them I wrap them in a towel, to minimize their distress as their new feathers are very tender.

The one thing I do make sure of, is to provide a draft free warm area for the poor bald kiddos to roost at night.