Do Some Chickens Molt in the Winter?

[theoldchick]

To Clarify the Anatomy of a chicken:

My chickens start to molt in December:

 

[M_coosae]

for what ever reason, virtually all my birds decide to molt in the fall or winter. Just seems to be a strange life history tactic to me, even in Florida.....

 

[Jemma Rider]

Wait, what? I thought crop meant their bottom. If it doesn't mean that, then, no, it's not on her breast; it's on her bottom. I saw it a little today, and I either didn't get too good a glimpse at it, or either from what I saw, it's growing more feathers back, as the pink bald spot wasn't as big. The wheezing hen doesn't wheeze after doing what you just mentioned; she just walks up to me, looking for a treat on my hand, and then she'll just 'sneeze' randomly sometimes, or whatever that noise is called/that she's making. And I can certainly lure her over; when she sees me come outside, she'll run towards me, since I hand-feed her a lot. It took a long time before she (who got the other ones on occasion) started taking food from my hand; she is certainly brave. And I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine the owners know. Can external parasites make a chicken sick or sneeze? If so, that's the only reason I'd think she/a couple of them have them. The other Barred Rock with the missing feathers seems to feel ostracized lately?, I think that's what I observed earlier. So either she is molting, or she's being picked on. I got some pictures of the tail, but I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. And to answer your question about one of them grooming, nope; I haven't noticed them grooming themselves. And I'm sure they're fed the typical 16% layer pellets around here.
I got a closer look today, but I still can't tell if I can see pin feathers.
Thank you very much for trying to help! Though now I'm slightly wondering if they have parasites. . .

If you can see new feathers then it sounds like molting, though i would keep an eye out for any redness, swelling, or a smelly liquid to indicate thrush but that's fairly unlikely. As for the wheezing hen, it might be completely normal. Unless it's particularly loud, she seems to be having difficulty breathing, or she has another symptom like nasal discharge or watery eyes. If the chickens have external parasites they will preen, or groom, more then normal. I hope i was able to help, my mind tends to go to worst case scenario so I'm sorry if i was too serious and sort of scattered. I'd just say to keep an eye out for any other problems and until that happens, if at all, don't worry too much.