My BR girl was slow to feather, but has been shedding a good number of feathers lately. She is only 22 weeks. She doesn't seem to be bare anywhere and she is clearly still the top of the pecking order. I had a neighbor check on my birds while I was out of town for Thanksgiving. This is what three days worth of molting looks like. Is this ok? http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/307017
I wish I knew the answer to what a "normal" molt looked like. All of my girls have molted differently, despite what the books say. I can tell you for certain that suddenly, the coop will be full of feathers. An alarming amount of feathers! Also of note, I had not expected the pullets from this spring's hatch to molt this fall. But they are molting. Some look perfectly pitiful, some just have a blood feather or 2 sticking out on their necks or faces, some I don't see any signs of molting yet. I wouldn't worry overmuch about the feathers in the coop. She is probably molting. Also, you probably won't see the blood feathers for a while. Seems that they drop their feathers well before they visibly start replacing them. All this is in my very limited experience. This has been my first ever molt.
I don't think they have a "real"molt until after their first year. My 19 week old girls have dropped feathers everywhere. I think the first year is just different because they are still growing and replacing feathers. I'm just guessing this is normal, but I would like to see what some experienced BYC'ers have to say!
