How long to finish a moult?

[BuckeyeFoodie]

I pity-purchased a really lovely bantam cochin roo in early November (I was already getting a standard trio from the breeder, she offered me the little guy as an alternative to the soup pot, and I am a sucker), and he was well into his moult at that point. Three months later and his hackles are still encased in sheaths almost as much as they were in November. This is the first time I have had a chicken take this long to shed the feather sheath, is there something I should be doing?

 

[azygous]

The rate at which a chicken molts is mostly governed by individual genetics. Most of my chickens complete molt within three months. A few individuals take much longer.

I have a four-year old hen who has only had two molts in her life. Needless to say, she looks pretty awful half the time.

Other chickens may take a long time to molt, and roosters often fall into this category, but they molt so discretely you can barely tell they're molting.

Feeding high grade animal protein can help a slow molting chicken. There's a product put out by Nutrena called Feather Fixer that is high in animal protein. It's pricey, but it may help your little roo. Or you can feed him canned mackerel, tofu, and cooked eggs.