My flock looks terrible. They have not molted for the first time yet and they are over 26 months old now. Hens are partly bald from treading roosters which are now removed. Two broody hens I segregated have new feathers on their backs and you can really tell how faded and damaged the old feathers are by comparison. What would be potential reasons why they will not molt? Is there a way to get them to molt before winter sets in?
Some hens molt in such a subtle way that you never even realize that they have. I know you can play around with their light exposure and food to force a molt, but don't know the details.
I've had chickens for a long time and never have seen what I thought a molt would look like. Feathers are lost and feathers grow back... it's all so gradual that I never even knew that they were doing it... nobody ever went bald... they pretty much know what they are doing.
Most of mine are under 2 years old and the only way I can tell who is molting is the color of the feathers in the coop and run. It looks like someone plucked a chicken in there, so many feathers. None went bald either. My egg production is down though.
I think its more like what mmaddies said about gradual. I thought my girls would lose all their feathers and be bald, not true at all. You just notice more feathers in coop, run and yard. In some places you look at the amount of feathers and wonder who got ate. Once you count it's no one.
