Buttercup seems to be feather challenged or has a real problem?

[chickentvforme]

So at the start of summer our rooster made Buttercup his favorite. She lost a lot of feathers. Unfortunately a fox ate our rooster in June. I kept thinking she would regrow her feathers by now. Shouldn't she be molting? Do I need to do anything for her? Cold it be something else keeping her from feather growth?

 

[junebuggena]

The damaged, featherless spots won't regrow until she molts. If she's under a year old, she may not molt till next year. Molting can start as early as July, or as late as February. It's all normal.

 

[chickentvforme]

She is about a year and half old. It hasn't been very cold here yet so I didn't know if that had something to do with it. I was beginning to wonder if she would be the first chicken to need a sweater this winter.

 

[junebuggena]

Molting isn't triggered by temperature change, it's all because of the shorter days. Being so southern, it might be another month or so before she molts. She's not likely to need a sweater in Alabama, though. Even my worst molter, in the coldest part of the winter (28* daytime high) did just fine last year.