Chicken experts, please answer some questions about molting!

[Granolamom]

Just sitting here, browsing the board, and thinking about all things chicken, and decided to ask a question I've wondered about for quite some time now:
All my chickens are about 1 1/2 years old, and none of them have ever gone through a molt. Do all chickens go thru molts, and if so, what time of the year? Does it happen every year? Will they loose all their feathers? Do they go thru it at pretty much the same time, if they're from the same hatch?

 

[elmo]

According to Storey's guide, chickens molt every year, but not necessarily at the same time or rate of molt. The time of the molt is late summer or early fall, and the process usually takes 14-16 weeks. Chickens don't usually lose all of their feathers at the same time, though. It's a gradual process.

Your girls are about due for their first molt, I'd say. Storey's recommends extra protein during molt, such as offering some commercial cat food kibble.

 

[Granolamom]

Quote:
Thank a bunch, Elmo (I was beginning to feel like a stepchild, because NOBODY replied to my post).
As of yet they're not losing any feathers yet, but I'll be on the lookout for it, and have the catfood ready (I give it to them as treats every once in a while, or when their egg production gets a little sluggish, and it picks them right up every time. I do make sure I don't give them anything with chicken in it, though (just doesn't seem right...).
Thanks again!

 

[elmo]

By the way, I noticed you're in Dallas ...so am I. Have you heard about the chicken meet-up this Saturday at Northhaven Garden Center?

http://www.nhg.com/

My daughter and I are planning to go.

 

[elmo]

Ooops, sorry! Forgot there was more than one Dallas, and then I noticed from your profile that you're in Dallas, Georgia, not Dallas, Texas.

It would be kind of a long commute to come from Georgia to Texas for a chicken meet up on Saturday, eh?

 

[Granolamom]

Quote:

yeah, that's happened to me more than once, trust me! Thanks for the info, though, even though I won't make it...