Looking for help

[RJ04]

Hi,

Any idea what happened to her? My other 3 chickens are ok.

 

[Yardmom]

How old is she? Is it molt?

 

[FrostRanger]

Looks like she's molting

 

[alinas2010]

She looks like she is molting. Her comb and wattles will probably shrink and become dry looking in a few weeks. Not a bad idea to up her protein at this time. A treat of scrambled eggs or tuna is always welcome in my flock during molt.

She might start to eat less and isolate a bit. Molt can make chickens feel a little crummy. The pin feathers they grow in can be very sensitive so don’t handle her very much. But do check her over well for lice and mites just to be sure molt is what you’re dealing with.

Check out the molting contest, if anything it’ll make you feel better about her:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/official-byc-contest—post-your-best-worst-chicken-molt-pictures-2025.1675964/

If your other chickens are over a year old, they will likely stop laying and molt, also sometime this fall/early winter. All chickens over a year old do this once a year to replace old feathers. Although some chickens do a soft molt and replace their feathers slowly over the course of several months instead of all at once.

 

[RJ04]

Thank you so much. I feel much better about her now. She's just over a year old.