If chickens skip the moulting season...

[Morgank]

I have a question: are there someone whose chickens skip the moulting season? How important moulting is, and if birds dont moult, are there some consequenses?
In my country there is 3 basic chicken food(I dont mean homemade! )For chicks 0-8 week, for pullets 8-16 weeks and third is for laying hens. Right now i´m laughing, because i just notice that roosters have to eat also food for laying chickens. This is not the point!
I heard (not a rumor) that if chickens eat pullets food after 16weeks and so on, they skip the moulting. Of course they get eggshells, lime, austershells, they must built an egg, it´s sure.
I just wondering, is it possible?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

)For chicks 0-8 week, for pullets 8-16 weeks and third is for laying hens. Right now i´m laughing, because i just notice that roosters have to eat also food for laying chickens. This is not the point!
I heard (not a rumor) that if chickens eat pullets food after 16weeks and so on, they skip the moulting. Of course they get eggshells, lime, austershells, they must built an egg, it´s sure.

The difference in ALL those feeds is basically the protein and calcium content.

*Usually* chicks is about 22% protein and a little over 1% calcium. The pullet grower you mention is usually around 18-20% protein and under 2% calcium. The layer is usually 16% protein and 4-5% calcium.

No chicken will skip molting regardless of what you feed (with rare exception). They will do it as SOME point. Feeding higher protein during molt CAN help the birds recover faster because feathers are made from 90% protein and its' amino acids. So they have more of the building blocks to get on with it. It takes a LOT of energy to regrow feathers and that's why hens don't lay during that time.

Laying is light triggered. You MIGHT be able to trick a bird into not molting by controlling the light. The longer they go without molting the harder it is to off the weather elements. And in the past few years I have discovered that molting is ONE way birds in the wild control parasites.

My roosters don't eat Layer... too much calcium (more than 3%) fed long term to birds NOT in lay, like molting, brooding, juveniles and roosters... *can* (DOESN'T mean will) cause gout and kidney failure. It is usually in birds with some genetic predisposition and/or fed excessive treats at the SAME time.

So here in the US, we have one called flock raiser with 20% protein and 1% calcium. I feed this to all my birds from hatch through finish. providing oyster shell on the side free choice for the layers. Sure chicks and roosters sample it but they don't load up.

Depending on what type of breeds you have they actually have slightly varying needs. 16% protein in layer is the MINIMUM to support light bodies layers like leghorn. While heavier dual purpose breeds like Rock, Marans, Wyandotte, Reds will do best with not less than 18% protein.

So my assessment... no birds won't skip molting by eating pullet food... but they will recover from molt faster when they have it instead of layer. They will already have some nutritional reserve built from not eating the MINIMUM amount in layer everyday.

Hope this answers your question without making your head spin.

 

[NonnasBabies]

I've had plenty of chickens that have either skipped or molted so lightly that I really couldn't tell and it never had any adverse reactions.

 

[calichicken]

X2 I have had chickens that skip molting, molt in phases or drop every feather on their body..lol! Just depends on each individual chicken, but I've never seen any issues no matter how they molt. I just provide extra protein during molts....and mine stop laying during molting.

 

[cmom]

My opinion is, all of the birds will molt to some degree. Some have such light molts that it's almost impossible to notice and some so heavy they loose a lot of feathers. Just my opinion. Good luck and have fun...

 

[Morgank]

This bird breederer whom i heard this, he has probably 40 different chicken breed, also other turkeys, geeses, peacocks and other animals. I bought of him 4 pullets, and i saw parents. The rooster and hen was so huge and beautiful. He always show you her (his) parents. Unbelivable, his chickens skip the moulting. Yes, I understand, this is all about food. Definitely the moulting is so light that we dont identify it.

 

[centrarchid]

All of my chickens molt every year and have been doing it for a long time. It can sometimes be difficult to detect it with birds in very good health that also have soft feathering like many meat and dual purpose breeds possess. I challenge the owner of the non-molting birds to post a current image of an open wing like on my avatar. Then evidence for molting can be shown. Bird photographed must be in it second fall of lice. Estonia is in northern hemisphere of Earth so I am very confident signs will be easy to see. If not now, then with some 45 days from now it will happen.

 

[Morgank]

Sorry about my stuped questions and all. Why i´am here, because in my own country people are diffrent. If you ask something about chickens desease, you get reaction: "Are we smarter than VET" (this is county animal veterinarial) Here is people so kindly.

 

[coach723]

Usually normal annual molting starts at about 18 months old (and this varies just like everything else), so if they are still very young they may not molt until next year.

 

[DobieLover]

Sorry about my stuped questions and all. Why i´am here, because in my own country people are diffrent. If you ask something about chickens desease, you get reaction: "Are we smarter than VET" (this is county animal veterinarial) Here is people so kindly.

In the US, we have a hard time even finding a vet who will work with chickens at all. So this forum becomes an absolute necessity (IMHO) for diagnosing and treating illness and injury. Many a bird has been saved by the highly experienced long timers here on BYC.