10 month old Rhode Island Red hens losing feathers

[phoneman40]

just a question about my 10 month old Rhode Island Red hens...over the past four or five days I have noticed about 3 out of 10 are starting to lose feathers....there has been to stress or change in diet or anything to cause this that I can think of....any of you chicken guru's know what this could possibly be caused by-they are acting perfectly normal so i don't know where to start.....

THANKS IN ADVANCE!! HELP!!

 

[BrianT]

Is she being pecked? or maybe molting?

 

[NoseyChickens]

They are moulting. Totally normal. Chickens shed thier feathers at least once a year and grow in new ones. Hens may stop laying during this time. Again totally normal.

 

[ZaneyMama]

My 10 month old hen just did the exact same thing. The pin feathers are new feathers coming in and she is molting. She'll look really funny for a while and then back to normal! Mine took about 2 weeks to get back to normal.

 

[TrystInn]

Completely normal moulting. Looks alarming, but isn't. Pump up their protein to help them grow new feathers and they'll be just fine.

 

[phoneman40]

THANK YOU!!! I thought they might be out there smoking crack or something. You are all
awesome

 

[Judy]

We're lying, they're actually smoking something....

Anyway, those funny looking feathers are the indication of molt -- pin feathers.

 

[Jess N Jeff]

Looks like molting to me. My 1 year old Australorp just did an entire body molt...I shouldn't laugh but it looked absolutely alien funny. I felt so bad for her I kept her in the house at night the last couple of weeks. It was soooo cold outside...

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hi Pro. Usually sold as gamebird feed. Thumbs up!

 

[TrystInn]

You might wanna check your weeds just in case.