Can she just skip her first molt??

[DobieLover]

The White Rock in front of the rooster never molted. I also have a WLH that never molted either but she is not one of the rooster's favorites. Cali is and her feathers are a train wreck!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

How old are they (date of their hatch)?

 

[DobieLover]

How old are they (date of their hatch)?

Not sure. They were TSC bought chicks that I purchased as pullets Oct 2018 from the woman who raised them without much in the way of a balanced diet. They pretty much fended for themselves after coming off the heat. I'm guessing 22 to 24 months.

 

[azygous]

Yep. There are chickens that are downright slobs when it comes to wearing their frowzy feathers twice as long as other more self-respecting chickens.

I have one. Ladybug is a four-year old Cream Legbar/EE mix and she's only molted twice.

 

[DobieLover]

Yep. There are chickens that are downright slobs when it comes to wearing their frowzy feathers twice as long as other more self-respecting chickens.

I have one. Ladybug is a four-year old Cream Legbar/EE mix and she's only molted twice.View attachment 2045609

That brings me to my concern about her back getting sun burned. I'm not a fan of saddles and intentionally stressing her to induce molt is out of the question.
Maybe I should cave and put a saddle on her?

 

[azygous]

I had another hen many years ago that went almost a year with a totally bald back. I noticed it was getting red when she was in the sun, so I got some sun block in a spray bottle and spritzed her each morning. This worked out very slickly. No need for a saddle and she was protected from the sun.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That brings me to my concern about her back getting sun burned. I'm not a fan of saddles and intentionally stressing her to induce molt is out of the question.
Maybe I should cave and put a saddle on her?

I wouldn't worry too much about sunburn.
Stressing the bird to induce molt doesn't have to be inhumane. I've found a force molt to be just as easy by gradually reducing day length. At my latitude, it is currently 11 hours and 40 minutes of day length. By the end of the month, it will be an hour longer. At that point, if you have the right type of housing, you can start decreasing day length till you get to about 8 hours and that should induce molt.

 

[DobieLover]

I wouldn't worry too much about sunburn.
Stressing the bird to induce molt doesn't have to be inhumane. I've found a force molt to be just as easy by gradually reducing day length. At my latitude, it is currently 11 hours and 40 minutes of day length. By the end of the month, it will be an hour longer. At that point, if you have the right type of housing, you can start decreasing day length till you get to about 8 hours and that should induce molt.

My coop has way too much natural light to pull this off. I'd basically have to toss her and the other hen that neglected to molt into my brooder and cover it all up.

But if the 8 hours of light will induce her to molt, why did't she do it when the days shortened naturally?

 

[DobieLover]

I had another hen many years ago that went almost a year with a totally bald back. I noticed it was getting red when she was in the sun, so I got some sun block in a spray bottle and spritzed her each morning. This worked out very slickly. No need for a saddle and she was protected from the sun.

This is exactly what I was thinking about doing. My fawn Doberman had CDA and would get sunburned just sun bathing by the patio door. I sprayed her with children's sunscreen and that worked well.
Maybe I'll give this a try with Cali.