Molting in Hawaii

Scarlet_in_Hawaii

In the Brooder
Jul 28, 2018
3
16
27
Kailua, HI
Hey all! I'm super new to chicken momming. We have a small flock of four free-roaming in our back yard. I've noticed a ton of feathers all about the place in the last few days. I understand that chickens molt, but I wanted to make sure chickens still molt in Hawaii. It seems like a silly question, I know, but our days are all about the same length and our temperatures don't drop almost at all. Is a molt still common in Hawaii during fall even though we don't have seasonal changes that would usually cause the chickens to molt?

Second question: How do I tell the difference between molting and a parasite or disease? I don't currently see any skin patches on my girls, but I also can't handle them, so I cant look too closely.

I do understand that this topic has been covered a few times in this thread, but I wanted to ask specifically about chickens who live in tropical climates.

Thank you for any information you have!

Edit: I just caught one of my hens grooming and pulling out what look like loose feathers. To me this looks like normal grooming and not neurotic feather pulling. I'll keep an eye on her.

Thanks for your responses!
 
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Hours of daylight is usually what triggers molt. Looking at charts, July 1 you had about 13.5 hours of daylight, Oct 1 you had about 12, so days are getting shorter, which will trigger molt. Most likely that is the cause of all the feathers. To check for mites or lice you would need to examine the bird up close to see the base of the feathers and skin. That would also be when you could check for pin feathers coming in, which means new feathers growing and molt. Severity of molt can vary, soft molt can be so gradual that you almost can't tell, hard molt can leave bald areas, both would be variations of normal.
Even if you can't get close you may be able to see pin feathers coming in around the head and neck, picture below.
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Use a headband type headlight or hat mounted light. Wait about an hour after they have gone to roost at night, then you can check them pretty well without chasing or stressing them out. If they roost where you can reach them.
 
Use a headband type headlight or hat mounted light. Wait about an hour after they have gone to roost at night, then you can check them pretty well without chasing or stressing them out. If they roost where you can reach them.
Ah, I can give them a look while they're roosting! Thanks for the tip! They also seem really calm and they let me pet them when they're nesting. That might be a good time as well.
 

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