MJ's little flock

[Grammy60]

Good evening MJ and everyone

 

[MaryJanet]

Good evening folks bumping the thread up

Thanks! I've been tootling around on random other threads instead of paying attention to my own!

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm pleased to see this old lady taking a snack. I worry about her weight when she moults.

 

[MaryJanet]

Ivy is moulting again already! It's only been a few months since her last moult.

 

[RoyalChick]

Ivy is moulting again already! It's only been a few months since her last moult.

View attachment 3074621

I still don't fully understand this molting thing - Maggie is molting again too - why is that sensible?!

 

[MaryJanet]

I still don't fully understand this molting thing - Maggie is molting again too - why is that sensible?!

I suspect both age and season are implicated.

Chicks will drop feathers in a few stages as they mature, right? Then they have a proper coat of feathers.

For late hatching chicks, suddenly it's winter and the perfectly good, quite new feathers hang on because they're going to be perfectly fine for sheltering chicks in spring.

6 months later, feathers are old, drop most of them.

3 months after, winters coming and it's time to drop the remaining few old feathers.

???

Anyway that seems to be Ivy's schedule.

 

[Lexicon]

Ivy is moulting again already! It's only been a few months since her last moult.

View attachment 3074621

I have read that hens often do a mini-moult after being broody, so perhaps this is related to her broody schedule?

 

[MaryJanet]

@LozzyR how is the new coop going?

 

[MaryJanet]

I have read that hens often do a mini-moult after being broody, so perhaps this is related to her broody schedule?

She was broody in January. I think her last moult followed from broodiness. I need to check my older posts to find out for sure.

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks