Hello. New chicken owner here. This is my first winter with my girls. I have a Wyandotte (her name is Louise) and I don't know.. my mystery chicken I guess. Couple different people have given me different answer's to what type of breed she is. So I really don't know. The mystery chicken is named Thelma (She is my pic). So anyhow...after reading quite a bit through the forums here I have come to the conclusion that Thelma is molting. This is about week 7 since she has laid an egg. Around about week 4 to 5 I opened up the house one morning and there were feathers everywhere. Now at week 7 she is really starting to look rough. Her comb is also shriveled up compared to Louise (the Wyandotte) who is still laying every other day and hasn't lost a feather. I guess I am concerned because I was under the impression from reading the posts in the forum's that their first molt would not be a hard molt. She is just shy of a year old. I clicked on the link below and that is very similar to what my Thelma is going through right now only she is a little bit worse than the one pictured. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/580915/for-the-new-folks-that-havent-experienced-a-molt-yet Should I be concerned? I rather ask than just go on assuming. Thank you for your time
I wouldn't be concerned. Some birds molt more heavily than others. Increase her protein in any way you can to help her through the molt. (mealworms, meat scraps, etc) Once she grows all her feathers back in, she will have to get her weight back up before she will lay eggs again. Once her comb turns bright red and no longer looks shriveled, then she's close to laying again.
