Any way to get a chicken to molt now???

[possumqueen]

MissPrissy, Could artificial lighting have something to do with it? I never used artificial lighting, and my girls always seemed to drop feathers in August -- AND quit laying AND eat like pigs.

btw I'm getting ready to get chickens again after a couple years without them. I CAN'T STAND not having chickens!!! Thank God for BYC!

 

[MissPrissy]

Artificial light is used to promote better egg laying. I don't know the effect of it when it comes to molting. I know darkness and lack of feed sends them into a molt. Hence the shortened days of fall and less sunlight and many chickens begin to molt.

 

[annmarie]

Quote:
I can't say for sure of not if artificial lighting has anything to do with it, but in my case, I do not use artificial lighting and they still molted in the dead of winter.

 

[possumqueen]

oh yikes! Then that really IS odd!

Post again if they do that again. And good luck to ya.

 

[MissPrissy]

Chickens can and will molt at any time of the year. They go through light molts and heavy molts. It is normal.

It is not a set in stone seasonal thing.

Don't fret over it.

It happens when it happens for a reason. It is set in motion by a biological indicator in the chicken. Predictably the heaviest molts often happen in fall but this is not always the case.