Long molt

[Cjhudson]

My hens still do not have feathers on their backs. I'm getting stressed. Everything I've read says they molt for 6weeks. It's been a few months. I give them meal worms. Sunflower seeds, daily. I feed scratch feed every day. Fresh water every morning. . It's this normal. They are wyandottes.

 

[Tookie]

Do you have a rooster?
Also treats should not make up more than 10% of their diet.

 

[Cjhudson]

Do you have a rooster?
Also treats should not make up more than 10% of their diet.

Yes I have a roster

 

[Tookie]

Yes I have a roster

Is he rough with them at all?

 

[Cjhudson]

Is he rough with them at all?

Not really. He's molting now also

 

[Ineke9909]

It’s funny, my ameraucaunas are doing the same thing. The Barnevelders aren’t.

 

[Tookie]

There probably fine, they're just slow molters.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you talking about rooster damage? A close-up of the feather loss, the girls and the boy, could be interesting. If the entire shaft is out they will grow new feathers fairly quickly. But if a tiny bit of the feather shaft is left in there they will not replace that feather until their next molt.

When they molt they follow a certain progression. Head and neck is first, then on down their body in a certain sequence. Some hens are over a molt within a couple of months or less, but some can take 4 or 5 months. It is not how fast the feathers grow back, it's how fast they fall out. Feed whatever you want, that will not make them fall out faster.

Here is a pretty good article about it.

https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF2308.pdf

 

[Tonyroo]

Wyandotte molt very slow. Mine did the samething.

 

[Cjhudson]

Are you talking about rooster damage? A close-up of the feather loss, the girls and the boy, could be interesting. If the entire shaft is out they will grow new feathers fairly quickly. But if a tiny bit of the feather shaft is left in there they will not replace that feather until their next molt.

When they molt they follow a certain progression. Head and neck is first, then on down their body in a certain sequence. Some hens are over a molt within a couple of months or less, but some can take 4 or 5 months. It is not how fast the feathers grow back, it's how fast they fall out. Feed whatever you want, that will not make them fall out faster.

Here is a pretty good article about it.

https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF2308.pdf

Thank you