Chickens usually have their first molt around 18 months. But it can and does happen later. The timing depends a lot on genetics as well as season and length of day. There are also "discrete" molters. They seem to lose feathers at about the same rate as they grow new, so it's not very obvious they are molting.
I had a pullet, Cream Legbar, that was attacked at around six months, and she lost every single back feather to the hawk. She waited until the beginning of the following summer when she was nearly two years old to have her first molt and she went through an entire winter with a smooth bare back.
I had a pullet, Cream Legbar, that was attacked at around six months, and she lost every single back feather to the hawk. She waited until the beginning of the following summer when she was nearly two years old to have her first molt and she went through an entire winter with a smooth bare back.
