hen is moulting at nine months! (I think)

[plymouthrocksrock]

Hi,
My hen has just started "Moulting" two days ago. But, I thought I read somewhere that hens only start moulting in their second year?
Blueish spiky things are coming out of her neck, and her feathers are everywhere.
I'll post pic ASAP.
I'm just wondering if she IS moulting or if the other ladys are picking on her.
Thanks!

 

[CMV]

Sounds like a mini-molt. As long as she has new blood feathers coming in and they are not being pulled out then I wouldn't worry too much. Just as a precaution I would do a bug check on them. It is not unusual for a 9 month old to have some degree of molt. It's usually so slight as to be unnoticeable, but birds molt in different ways depending on the bird.

Good luck.

 

[plymouthrocksrock]

Here is the pic

 

[Judy]

Those are her new blood feathers on her neck. Looks just like a few of mine. She simply didn't read the book on when she was supposed to molt. Neither did mine.

There was a thread on here recently about a hen who molted unexpectedly. Turned out her feed had been changed a couple of months earlier, to increase her protein. It was felt this was the cause -- not the higher protein, just the change, something different. Just something I read here.

Mine who have finished molting are sure pretty, with all those shiny new feathers!

 

[bambi]

I have a RIR hen that started molting @ 9mths as well. She stopped eating and drinking for a few days but now she is back to eating and drinking and not staying as iolated from the others so I guess this is more common then we think.

 

[KayP]

I'm just worried about my little baldy getting cold.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yep, she's molting. I had 2 at 9 months old last year molt.

 

[plymouthrocksrock]

I think the timing might depend on breeds or just the birds. My australorps Haven't shed a single feather.
The change thing is pretty convincing, because her pal the other barred rock just died and then she started moulting.

Interesting