molt?

[LoneCowboy]

Well, maybe they have PMS Pre Molt Syndrome. Maybe they need a little chicken Midol

 

[speckledhen]

 

[SillyChick]

I think it's funny when chickens molt. They're just standing there still and feathers are falling off them. Silly chickens!

Yes it is also an unpleasant sight, but the feathers will grow back soon.

 

[okiechick57]

Quote:
SO TRUE , my once nice Austrolorps are mean mean right now.........and I cant believe moltin in this ice / snow......weird timing for sure !

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Blood feathers are sensitive as they're growing, that's for sure. They aren't like a mature feather.

When my parrot molts, he's definitely agitated. I give him more special chewy toys to destroy and special treats, as a diversion. When I'm scritching him, which is the term for a type of petting/preening/scratching thing that parrot owners do to the back of a parrot's neck, if I hit a blood feather I didn't see, he really jumps! During the time his neck feathers are coming in, I have to just quit scritching him and interact with him in other ways.

He also has a terrible time the day before a big primary flight feather falls out. He's a real @#$%^&* and I really want him to go live somewhere else that day! I've learned to just take it in stride, though, because then the next morning I usually find a primary laying in the bottom of his cage. Those flight feathers on the front edge of the wing have really large, deep quills and when they start moving out and wobbling around in the follicle, getting bumped around whenever he moves, I can believe it's uncomfortable. Sometimes a tail feather will give him trouble, too.

We usually go for more mellow chicken breeds and ours have usually done a more gradual molt. Fortunately, they haven't been too fussy. I don't think I could take it if they all got as fussy Kirby! I really like chickens...