Hard versus soft molt?

[mountainbunny]

My hens are almost 1.5 years old and have been laying for a year now. I'm curious as to how to determine whether they are going to soft or hard molt. I'm starting to see a few feathers on the ground of their pen and around the yard so I'm assuming molting is starting. I'm wondering how I will know if they are going to soft molt or hard molt. How do you tell? If they hard molt, how quickly will the feather loss occur? This is my first experience with molting and am curious as to what to watch for and what to expect? Thanks for any input.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally egg production dictates the molt. Hens with better egg production seem to molt harder. Generally one day you find them naked. A soft molt is slow and it can be hard to tell it's going on, except for the feathers.

Generally soft molting birds do it earlier too, but take longer, where some harder molts will wait until later in the season, and will molt within 6 weeks.

 

[mountainbunny]

Well they are pretty dependable layers so I'm guess I have hard molts to expect! I'm looking forward to getting it over with so they can grow pretty new feathers. They still have a good deal of feather loss from our overly aggressive rooster who is no longer with us.

 

[Mrs. K]

There are the rule of thumb, mentioned above, but individually it varies. Once I went down and it looks like a pillow fight, my white chicken I think had 2 feathers left. They just all fell out, but then they grew back fast. New feathers are pretty. As long as they are molting, very limited egg production or none at all.

 

[aart]

Soft molt can be hard to see, sometimes have to look close by parting feathers down to skin to see new pin feathers coming in. Handle carefully tho, they can be uncomfortable...and crabby.

A hard molt is hard to miss, tho there's no way to predict it,
just one day you go down to the coop and see this:

 

[mountainbunny]

Thanks everyone. I guess my only questions left now are...
Are the feathers I'm seeing on the ground a sign that molting is beginning?
Presuming they will hard molt, any idea about how long from now I walk out and find naked chickens?
Partially just curious, bit also want to be ready to have higher protein feed ready for them. I still have about a month's worth of their 16% regular layer crumble on hand and no place to securely store extra food.

 

[aart]

If you see feathers, and they are not laying, and you find pin feathers as described above....it's a molt.
Just watch, it'll be ok.....predictions are futile.
You could just give them some canned mackerel for a protein supplement instead of a different feed.

 

[mountainbunny]

As of now they are still laying. Guess we just wait and see how things progress and give them extra protein. Thanks again.