IS she molting already?

[cottagechick]

I have been finding feathers scattered all over the yard from my bantam wyandotte...isn't it early for molting?

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I have a 20 month old BO who is molting. She molted last fall but I think that was a forced molt. We went away on vacation for a week and our neighbor was watching the hens. We had a bully EE who picked on the BO and I would interfere when I caught it. I would also pull aside the BO and hand feed her special treats.

Well, the neighbor didn't do this. I didn't think it was that necessary. But the EE was smart and I think realized that I was gone and went after the BO and really bullied her away from eating. This forced the BO into a molt.

 

[<3ChickenForever]

Well chickens do start molting during the summer and fall so yes, your chicken/s can be molting at this point.

 

[cottagechick]

so i should force feed her protein shakes???/

 

[cottagechick]

Well chickens do start molting during the summer and fall so yes, your chicken/s can be molting at this point.

ok..thanks. For some reason I thought they molten more towards the fall...

 

[Cindy in PA]

Chickens normally molt at least a year after they start laying. So if they started laying at 5 months, they would molt sometime after 17 months old, depending on how good a layer they are. It doesn't go with the season.

 

[cottagechick]

She started laying this Feb or March....a friend suggested to me today that perhaps because we had a cool spring she is just know losing her winter feathers??? This is the first I have heard of this,,,is that a possiblity?

 

[Cotton42]

She started laying this Feb or March....a friend suggested to me today that perhaps because we had a cool spring she is just know losing her winter feathers??? This is the first I have heard of this,,,is that a possiblity?

Lol, chickens aren't like dogs or cats and don't have winter feathers to lose. That's a good one though!

 

[cottagechick]

hmmm...I thought that was the point of molting so that they could grow new feathers for the winter?

 

[Cotton42]

Well, now that you mention it, you could be right. I've never really thought about why they molted. It just sounds funny to me to say they are losing their winter feathers.