Molting complication!

[newchickmom]

I have 26 hens and right now about 8 of them are in full blown molt (bear backs) and another 5 are molting less!

I have a heat light over the roost so they won't get too cold and they seem to be doing good. I do have a couple of questions though.
How long does the molt last? (started about 6 wks ago)
Is there a way to speed it up?
If a feather breaks and bleeds, should I pull the remainder of the shaft out? Thats what I would do if it was my parrot.
Can anyone give me any ideas?

 

[rooster-red]

Moults last from 2 weeks to as long as 3 months.

Do not pull the shafts out!

The only thing you can do to help is up their protien intake to help grown new feathers.

 

[newchickmom]

If a broken feather is bleeding, how do you stop it? This an old feather that hasn't fallen out yet. Not a new one. I have a hen with 2 old feathers that broke off at about 1/2 and 3/4 inches.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Are these broken feathers actually bleeding now? I've never heard of old feathers bleeding. Normally, only new feathers bleed. As they mature, the blood supply recedes. If they are bleeding, I suspect they aren't that old, but maybe grew in much earlier in the molt.

For bleeding feathers, you can press flour on the end of the feather to help it clot. You could pull the feather, but that's very painful for the chicken. I would only do that if I worked on the feather repeatedly and it was still bleeding.

Some chickens do gradual molts, over a few months. Other chickens do a hard molt and drop a lot of feathers all at once. So, how long they take to molt can vary.

To help chickens grow feathers faster, you can give them a little extra protein. I also like to give more sunflower seed.

 

[rdranch]

I added some game bird grower (crumbles) to their normal layer pellets and it helped them get through it faster. I mixed about 2 parts layer feed to 1 part game bird. They surprised me by not billing out the layer feed to get to the game bird feed. Hope this helps.

 

[kinnip]

Mine are in a slooooow molt. I've been sauteeing catfish for them. Spoiled brats.

 

[Redfeathers]

Mine are taking on average almost two months to go through the molt. I've added protien and extra bedding to keep them warmer. They seem fine though, just not as friendly as they used to be when they were fully feathered and laying. I have to buy eggs at the store now.